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). and A Pariare Farm Girl ( 2026). 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. Watson is a supporter of the children's charity the NSPCC. In 2004, she was inducted into the society's hall of fame for spearheading the successful campaign to appoint a Children's Commissioner for England. Receiving her award in the crowded House of Commons, she spoke out against the possibility that the Children's Commissioner become a figurehead with little real power.

Filmography

• 2025Hamnet — Mary
• 2025Steve — Jenny
• 2025The Legend of Ochi — Dasha
• Dune: Prophecy — Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen
• 2024Midas Man — Queenie Epstein
• 2024Small Things Like These — Sister Mary
• Fired on Mars — Sheila (voice)
• 2022God's Creatures — Aileen O'Hara
• 2021Monster Family 2 — Emma Wishbone (voice)
• Too Close — Dr. Emma Robinson, Executive Producer
• The Third Day — Mrs. Martin
• Chernobyl — Ulana Khomyuk
• 2018King Lear — Regan
• 2018On Chesil Beach — Violet Ponting
• 2018The Happy Prince — Constance Wilde
• 2018Weinstein — Narrator (voice)
• Apple Tree Yard — Yvonne Carmichael
• Genius — Elsa Einstein
• 2017Kingsman: The Golden Circle — Chief of Staff Fox
• Little Women — Marmee March
• 2017Monster Family — Emma Wishbone (voice)
• 2015A Royal Night Out — Queen Elizabeth
• 2015A Song for Jenny — Julie Nicholson
• 2015Everest — Helen Wilton
• 2015Little Boy — Emma Busbee
• 2015Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism — Miss Trinklebury
• 2015Testament of Youth — Mrs. Brittain
• 2015The Dresser — Her Ladyship
• The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe — Grace McKee
• 2014The Theory of Everything — Beryl Wilde
• 2013Belle — Lady Mansfield
• 2013Some Girl(s) — Lindsay
• 2013The Book Thief — Rosa Hubermann
• The Politician's Husband — Freya Gardner
• 2012Anna Karenina — Countess Lydia Ivanova
• Appropriate Adult — Janet Leach
• 2011Meerkats 3D — Narrator
• 2011War Horse — Rose Narracott
• 2010Cemetery Junction — Mrs. Kendrick
• 2010Oranges and Sunshine — Margaret Humphreys
• 2009Cold Souls — Claire
• 2009Within the Whirlwind — Evgenia Ginzburg
• 2008Fireflies in the Garden — Jane Lawrence
• 2008Synecdoche, New York — Tammy
• 2008The Memory Keeper's Daughter — Caroline Gil
• 2007The Water Horse — Anne MacMorrow
• 2006Crusade in Jeans — Mary Vega
• 2006Miss Potter — Millie Warne
• 2005Corpse Bride — Victoria Everglot (voice)
• 2005Separate Lies — Anne Manning
• 2005The Proposition — Martha Stanley
• 2005Wah-Wah — Ruby Compton
• 2004The Life and Death of Peter Sellers — Anne Sellers
• Working Shakespeare
• 2002Equilibrium — Mary O'Brien
• 2002Punch-Drunk Love — Lena Leonard
• 2002Red Dragon — Reba McClane
• 2001Gosford Park — Elsie
• 2000The Luzhin Defence — Natalia Katkov
• 2000Trixie — Trixie Zurbo
• 1999Angela's Ashes — Angela McCourt
• 1999Cradle Will Rock — Olive Stanton
• 1998Hilary and Jackie — Jackie du Pré
• 1998Metroland — Marion
• 1997The Boxer — Maggie Hamill
• 1997The Mill on the Floss — Maggie Tulliver
• 1997Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier
• 1996Breaking the Waves — Bess McNeill
• 1994A Summer Day's Dream
• Performance — Rosalie
• A Christmas Child — Emily Watson ( Self/Narrator )
• Amri — Marie Antoinette Gottesman
• Fado!
• Holly Noel: The Winter Ball (Christmas 3) — ( Host )
• Late in Summer
• London Fog: A Ruby Gale Mystery — (The Detective)
• Midday Sun — Sarah
• The Clockmaker’s Secret: Lost in Spindlewood — The Keeper of the Keys

Appearances as themselves (8)

• 2025Inside Look: Hamnet — Self (archive footage)
• 2003A Director's Journey: The Making of 'Red Dragon' — Self
• 2002Ballchewer — Self
• 2002The Making of Gosford Park — Self
• The Early Show — Self
• 1998In Doctor von Trier's Laboratory: Back to the Magic of Cinema — Self
• The Oscars — Self
• RSC Meets USA: Working Shakespeare — Self