People magazine,<\/a>\u00a0the 35-year-old \u201cHarry Potter\u201d star reflected on her acting career and the parts of the job she has missed since taking a step back from on-screen work.\u00a0<\/p>\nWhile looking back on her career as a child star, Watson admits, \u201cIn some ways I really won the lottery [with acting],\u201d and that what she experienced was \u201cso unusual,\u201d but noted that there were parts of the job she is happy to leave behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut a bigger component than the actual job itself is the promotion and selling of that piece of work, this piece of art,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe balance of that can get quite thrown off. I think I\u2019ll be honest and straightforward, and say: I do not miss selling things. I found that to be quite soul-destroying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson shot to stardom when she starred as Hermione Granger in the first \u201cHarry Potter\u201d movie, at the age of 11. <\/p>\n
Emma Watson arrives to Excelsior Hotel pier during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 6, 2025 in Venice, Italy. AbacaPress \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n
She went on to play the character in all eight films in the franchise, turning 21 when the final film was released in 2011.<\/p>\n
After the franchise ended, Watson continued appearing in starring roles on the big screen, most notably as Belle in Disney\u2019s 2017 live-action remake of \u201cBeauty and the Beast.\u201d <\/p>\n
Her most recent feature film was the 2019 adaptation of \u201cLittle Women,\u201d in which she played the eldest sister, Meg March.<\/p>\n
(L-R) Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint in a scene from the 2005 film, \u201cHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I do very much miss using my skill set, and I very much miss the art,\u201d she said. \u201cI just found I got to do so little of the bit that I actually enjoyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
When speaking with People, Watson explained that actors often feel the need to \u201cfracture yourself into multiple personalities,\u201d noting that in addition to becoming the character they are playing on screen, they also deal with \u201chaving the weight of a public persona.\u201d<\/p>\n
The public persona often requires \u201cconstant feeding and sprucing and glamorizing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very energy-intensive stuff. And shedding the multiple identities has freed up so much space, I think, for me to be a better sister, daughter, friend, granddaughter and then artist,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd someone who\u2019s trying to do some critical thinking of her own.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In October 2022, Watson\u2019s \u201cHarry Potter\u201d co-star, Tom Felton, released his memoir, \u201cBeyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard,\u201d with Watson penning the foreword.<\/p>\n
Emma Watson in the 2017 film \u201cBeauty and the Beast.\u201d Moviestore\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
In the foreword, Watson touched on\u00a0her close friendship with Felton, sharing that the two of them have always \u201cloved each other in a special way.\u201d <\/p>\n
She referred to him as her \u201csoulmate,\u201d and added that their friendship is \u201cone of the purest loves I can think of.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know that person in your life who makes you feel seen? That person who is somehow a witness to all that unfolds? That person who knows \u2013 really knows \u2013 what is happening to you and what you\u2019re going through, without anything having to be said? For me, that person is\u00a0Tom Felton.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Watson\u00a0is getting real about the acting world. In a recent interview with\u00a0People magazine,\u00a0the 35-year-old \u201cHarry Potter\u201d star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[1508,73410,88,9346,1506,206],"class_list":{"0":"post-176038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-actors","9":"tag-emma-watson","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-harry-potter","12":"tag-hollywood","13":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}