Emma Watson Transformation: From 'Harry Potter' to Now

She’s not a witch anymore! Harry Potter alum Emma Watson has changed so much since the start of her 20-year career — but at the same time, the longtime actress looks nearly the same as she did when she was discovered. Needless to say, her transformation over the years has been iconic.

Emma was born in Paris in 1990 but moved to England when she was 5 years old after her parents’ divorce. She knew she wanted to be an actor from a young age and started training at age 6, shortly after she moved to Oxford with her mother. She was cast as Hermione Granger in the renowned children’s film series in 1999 after a whopping eight rounds of auditions. Casting agents for the film discovered her through her acting teachers at the Stagecoach Theatre Arts school.

Since becoming a breakout star through the 8-film franchise — alongside costars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint — she has gone on to star in many films, including The Bling Ring, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Colonia and Little Women. From 2011 to 2014, she juggled her acting career and her education while attending Brown University, an Ivy League college in Providence, Rhode Island. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature.

Throughout her time in the spotlight, the actress has dated several guys — but it appears she has found her Mr. Right in boyfriend Leo Robinton, whom she started dating in October 2019. “Emma seems to have found the guy she wants to be partnered with in Leo,” an insider exclusively revealed to Life & Style in May 2020. “She’s even stopped saying she’s ‘self-partnered.’”

Her beau is “handsome and smart” and all of the couple’s mutual friends “approve of their romance,” the source dished. Emma has introduced the businessman to her family, “who are very picky,” the insider noted. “But they’ve all given her their thumbs up. Leo’s definitely a keeper.”

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It seems the private A-lister may have been set up with Leo by friends. “I’m very lucky in the sense that because I went to university and because I’ve done these other things outside of film,” Emma told Vogue in 2019. “My friends are really good at setting me up. Really good. And what’s really nice is some of my best friends are people I got set up on a date with and it didn’t work out.”

Emma was thrilled to announce in November 2021 that she, Daniel and Rupert would be joining forces once again for a reunion special entitled Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts on HBO Max on January 1, 2022. “I am proud not just of what we as group contributed as actors to the franchise but also as the children that became young adults that walked that path,” she wrote on Instagram. “I look at my fellow cast members now and I am just so proud of who everyone has become as people. I am proud we were kind to each other that we supported one another and that we held up something meaningful.”

Scroll through the gallery below to see photos of Emma’s complete transformation since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone!