Emily Watson
Emily Margaret Watson (born 14 January 1967) is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse. She was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress for the latter. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her debut film role as a newlywed in Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves (1996) and for her portrayal of Jacqueline du Pré in Anand Tucker's Hilary and Jackie (1998).
Watson's other films include The Boxer (1997), Angela's Ashes (1999), Gosford Park (2001), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Red Dragon (2002), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), Corpse Bride (2005), Miss Potter (2006), Synecdoche, New York (2008), Oranges and Sunshine (2010), War Horse (2011), The Theory of Everything (2014), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), God's Creatures (2022), and Small Things like These (2024).
She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her role in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. She won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for playing Janet Leach in the 2011 ITV television biopic Appropriate Adult. She was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Actress for the 2017 BBC miniseries Apple Tree Yard. In 2024, she portrayed the lead role of Valya Harkonnen in the HBO science fiction series Dune: Prophecy.
Known for
Corpse Bride
Victoria Everglot (voice)
Chernobyl
Ulana Khomyuk
Genius
Elsa Einstein
Dune: Prophecy
Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen
The Oscars
Self
Performance
Rosalie
Steve
Jenny
The Legend of Ochi
Dasha
Equilibrium
Mary O'Brien
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Chief of Staff Fox
Hamnet
Mary
Anna Karenina
Countess Lydia Ivanova
Everest
Helen Wilton
War Horse
Rose Narracott
The Theory of Everything
Beryl Wilde
Punch-Drunk Love
Lena Leonard
The Book Thief
Rosa Hubermann
The Third Day
Mrs. Martin
Fired on Mars
Sheila (voice)
Belle
Lady Mansfield
Testament of Youth
Mrs. Brittain
Little Women
Marmee March
Cemetery Junction
Mrs. Kendrick
Breaking the Waves
Bess McNeill
Little Boy
Emma Busbee
The Water Horse
Anne MacMorrow
Cradle Will Rock
Olive Stanton
A Royal Night Out
Queen Elizabeth
Gosford Park
Elsie
Cold Souls
Claire
The Proposition
Martha Stanley
Midas Man
Queenie Epstein
Fireflies in the Garden
Jane Lawrence
Separate Lies
Anne Manning
Angela's Ashes
Angela McCourt
Synecdoche, New York
Tammy
Miss Potter
Millie Warne
The Boxer
Maggie Hamill
The Luzhin Defence
Natalia Katkov
God's Creatures
Aileen O'Hara
King Lear
Regan
Small Things Like These
Sister Mary
Trixie
Trixie Zurbo
Monster Family
Emma Wishbone (voice)
The Dresser
Her Ladyship
Weinstein
Narrator (voice)
Apple Tree Yard
Yvonne Carmichael
Too Close
Dr. Emma Robinson
Monster Family 2
Emma Wishbone (voice)
Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier
Working Shakespeare
Red Dragon
Reba McClane
The Making of Gosford Park
Self
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Caroline Gil
Hilary and Jackie
Jackie Du Pré
Midday Sun
Sarah
The Happy Prince
Constance Wilde
The Mill on the Floss
Maggie Tulliver
Metroland
Marion
The Politician's Husband
Freya Gardner
Late in Summer
Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism
Miss Trinklebury
Some Girl(s)
Lindsay
A Summer Day's Dream
A Song for Jenny
Julie Nicholson
Appropriate Adult
Janet Leach
Wah-Wah
Ruby Compton
Crusade in Jeans
Mary Vega
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe
Grace McKee
On Chesil Beach
Violet Ponting
Within the Whirlwind
Evgenia Ginzburg
A Director's Journey: The Making of 'Red Dragon'
Self
Oranges and Sunshine
Margaret Humphreys
Ballchewer
Self
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Anne Sellers
Fado!
Meerkats 3D
Narrator
The Early Show
Self