---
name: "Emily Watson"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/emily-watson"
fi1m_id: "emily-watson"
imdb_id: "nm0001833"
tmdb_id: 1639
wikidata_id: "Q229535"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "14 January 1967"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 21
average_fi1m_score: 71
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 21
updated: "2026-10-07T15:49:42.173237+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Emily Watson

## Identity

Emily Watson

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/emily-watson
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** emily-watson
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001833
- **TMDB ID:** 1639
- **Wikidata ID:** Q229535
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Watson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q229535, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001833/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1639

Actor. Born 14 January 1967 in Islington, London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 14 January 1967, Islington, London, England, UK
- **Active:** 1996–present
- **Also known as:** Emily Anita Watson, Emily Margaret Watson
- **Frequently works with:** [Alan Moloney](https://film.one/person/alan-moloney.md), [Cillian Murphy](https://film.one/person/cillian-murphy.md), [Felicity Jones](https://film.one/person/felicity-jones.md), [Jessie Buckley](https://film.one/person/jessie-buckley.md), [Philip Seymour Hoffman](https://film.one/person/philip-seymour-hoffman.md), [Ralph Fiennes](https://film.one/person/ralph-fiennes.md), [Stellan Skarsgård](https://film.one/person/stellan-skarsgard.md), [Tim Mielants](https://film.one/person/tim-mielants.md)
- **BAFTA Television Awards:** 1 BAFTA (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 71, as actor, over 21 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 75 (2), 2000s 78 (6), 2010s 65 (10), 2020s 74 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 70 to 67 across 20 titles
- **Score spread:** 6 at 80+, 13 at 60–79, 2 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 6 of 20 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 18, Romance 8, Comedy 3, Crime 3, History 3, Mystery 2
- **Screen time:** 37 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1,673m across 17 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Watson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q229535, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001833/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1639

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*Hamnet*](https://film.one/film/hamnet.md) (76), [*The Theory of Everything*](https://film.one/film/the-theory-of-everything.md) (72), [*Steve*](https://film.one/film/steve.md) (68), [*On Chesil Beach*](https://film.one/film/on-chesil-beach.md) (65)
- **Peacock:** [*Appropriate Adult*](https://film.one/tv/appropriate-adult.md) (84), [*Red Dragon*](https://film.one/film/red-dragon.md) (64)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Punch-Drunk Love*](https://film.one/film/punch-drunk-love.md) (84), [*The Proposition*](https://film.one/film/the-proposition.md) (79)
- **HBO Max:** [*Chernobyl*](https://film.one/tv/chernobyl.md) (86)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*Synecdoche, New York*](https://film.one/film/synecdoche-new-york.md) (84)
- **MUBI:** [*Breaking the Waves*](https://film.one/film/breaking-the-waves.md) (82)
- **Hulu:** [*Small Things Like These*](https://film.one/film/small-things-like-these.md) (79)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Emily Watson

> Emily Watson can make an unguarded face painful to watch and a polite question frightening. We rate her most when directors trust those small choices, rather than supplying music to tell us how much they matter.

Emily Watson’s Sister Mary smiles through a conversation that becomes harder to sit through with every question. In Tim Mielants’s *Small Things Like These* (2024), she asks after Bill’s girls and casually lets him hear how much she knows about his family. She never raises her voice. We found ourselves holding our breath because that ordinary politeness made the threat harder to answer.

That control looks different from the exposure of her film debut, *Breaking the Waves* (1996), but the conviction is there in both. As Bess McNeill, she makes devotion so unguarded that we want to protect her before we have decided what to think of her faith. Lars von Trier asks us to accept too much suffering as proof of love, and Watson’s performance cannot excuse all of it. Robby Müller’s raw cinematography keeps us uncomfortably close to Bess, while Anders Refn’s editing gives the performance time, sometimes more than the film needs. Joachim Holbek’s music adds pressure that her performance scarcely needs.

She followed that debut with Jacqueline du Pré in *Hilary and Jackie* (1998), learning the cello for the role. Paul Thomas Anderson’s *Punch-Drunk Love* (2002) brought a quieter comic part as Lena Leonard, loosening the early association with harrowing drama. She has also worked in television, including *Chernobyl* (2019), while continuing to take leading and supporting film parts. Sister Mary should discourage anyone from judging her only by how convincingly she suffers.

*Hamnet* (2025) shows what can get in her way. Her Mary speaks plainly about having buried children of her own, and that plainness is welcome in Chloé Zhao’s film. But Zhao and co-editor Affonso Gonçalves hold the grieving faces after they have told us enough, while Richter’s strings keep pressing for tears. Watson is caught in the same prolonged weeping as the other actors, with too little opportunity to do anything else.

Start with *Small Things Like These* for how much she can do in one long scene. Try *Breaking the Waves* when there is room in the evening for its cruelty as well as her tenderness. Do not expect Watson’s performance to settle the doubts about what von Trier puts on screen.

## Biography

Emily Watson is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002 she appeared in productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse, receiving an Olivier Award nomination for the latter.

Watson received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her film debut in Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves (1996) and for Hilary and Jackie (1998). Her other film credits include Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Red Dragon (2002), War Horse (2011), The Theory of Everything (2014), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), God's Creatures (2022), Small Things Like These (2024) and Hamnet (2025). On television she won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress for Appropriate Adult (2011) and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for Chernobyl (2019). She played Valya Harkonnen in the series Dune: Prophecy (2024).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (21)

- *Hamnet* (2025), Fi1m 76, as Mary — [page](https://film.one/film/hamnet.md)
- *Steve* (2025), Fi1m 68, as Jenny — [page](https://film.one/film/steve.md)
- *Small Things Like These* (2024), Fi1m 79, as Sister Mary — [page](https://film.one/film/small-things-like-these.md)
- *Chernobyl* (2019), Fi1m 86, as Ulana Khomyuk — [page](https://film.one/tv/chernobyl.md)
- *On Chesil Beach* (2018), Fi1m 65, as Violet Ponting — [page](https://film.one/film/on-chesil-beach.md)
- *Kingsman: The Golden Circle* (2017), Fi1m 42, as Chief of Staff Fox — [page](https://film.one/film/kingsman-the-golden-circle.md)
- *Everest* (2015), Fi1m 61, as Helen Wilton — [page](https://film.one/film/everest.md)
- *The Theory of Everything* (2014), Fi1m 72, as Beryl Wilde — [page](https://film.one/film/the-theory-of-everything.md)
- *The Book Thief* (2013), Fi1m 49, as Rosa Hubermann — [page](https://film.one/film/the-book-thief.md)
- *Anna Karenina* (2012), Fi1m 64, as Countess Lydia Ivanova — [page](https://film.one/film/anna-karenina.md)
- *Appropriate Adult* (2011), Fi1m 84, as Janet Leach — [page](https://film.one/tv/appropriate-adult.md)
- *War Horse* (2011), Fi1m 62, as Rose Narracott — [page](https://film.one/film/war-horse.md)
- *Cemetery Junction* (2010), Fi1m 61, as Mrs. Kendrick — [page](https://film.one/film/cemetery-junction.md)
- *Synecdoche, New York* (2008), Fi1m 84, as Tammy — [page](https://film.one/film/synecdoche-new-york.md)
- *Corpse Bride* (2005), Fi1m 72, as Victoria Everglot (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/corpse-bride.md)
- *The Proposition* (2005), Fi1m 79, as Martha Stanley — [page](https://film.one/film/the-proposition.md)
- *Punch-Drunk Love* (2002), Fi1m 84, as Lena Leonard — [page](https://film.one/film/punch-drunk-love.md)
- *Red Dragon* (2002), Fi1m 64, as Reba McClane — [page](https://film.one/film/red-dragon.md)
- *Gosford Park* (2001), Fi1m 85, as Elsie — [page](https://film.one/film/gosford-park.md)
- *The Boxer* (1997), Fi1m 68, as Maggie Hamill — [page](https://film.one/film/the-boxer.md)
- *Breaking the Waves* (1996), Fi1m 82, as Bess McNeill — [page](https://film.one/film/breaking-the-waves.md)

## Complete filmography (78)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Hamnet* (2025), as Mary — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/hamnet.md)
- *Steve* (2025), as Jenny — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/steve.md)
- *The Legend of Ochi* (2025), as Dasha
- *Dune: Prophecy* (2024), series, as Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen
- *Small Things Like These* (2024), as Sister Mary — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/small-things-like-these.md)
- *Midas Man* (2024), as Queenie Epstein
- *Fired on Mars* (2023), series, as Sheila (voice)
- *God's Creatures* (2022), as Aileen O'Hara
- *Monster Family 2* (2021), as Emma Wishbone (voice)
- *Too Close* (2021), series, as Dr. Emma Robinson · Executive Producer
- *The Third Day* (2020), series, as Mrs. Martin
- *Chernobyl* (2019), series, as Ulana Khomyuk — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/chernobyl.md)
- *King Lear* (2018), as Regan
- *The Happy Prince* (2018), as Constance Wilde
- *Weinstein* (2018), as Narrator (voice)
- *On Chesil Beach* (2018), as Violet Ponting — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/film/on-chesil-beach.md)
- *Little Women* (2017), series, as Marmee March
- *Kingsman: The Golden Circle* (2017), as Chief of Staff Fox — Fi1m 42, [page](https://film.one/film/kingsman-the-golden-circle.md)
- *Monster Family* (2017), as Emma Wishbone (voice)
- *Genius* (2017), series, as Elsa Einstein
- *Apple Tree Yard* (2017), series, as Yvonne Carmichael
- *The Dresser* (2015), as Her Ladyship
- *Everest* (2015), as Helen Wilton — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/everest.md)
- *A Song for Jenny* (2015), as Julie Nicholson
- *The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe* (2015), series, as Grace McKee
- *A Royal Night Out* (2015), as Queen Elizabeth
- *Little Boy* (2015), as Emma Busbee
- *Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism* (2015), as Miss Trinklebury
- *Testament of Youth* (2015), as Mrs. Brittain
- *The Theory of Everything* (2014), as Beryl Wilde — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/the-theory-of-everything.md)
- *The Book Thief* (2013), as Rosa Hubermann — Fi1m 49, [page](https://film.one/film/the-book-thief.md)
- *Some Girl(s)* (2013), as Lindsay
- *Belle* (2013), as Lady Mansfield
- *The Politician's Husband* (2013), series, as Freya Gardner
- *Anna Karenina* (2012), as Countess Lydia Ivanova — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/anna-karenina.md)
- *War Horse* (2011), as Rose Narracott — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/war-horse.md)
- *Meerkats 3D* (2011), as Narrator
- *Appropriate Adult* (2011), series, as Janet Leach — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/appropriate-adult.md)
- *Oranges and Sunshine* (2010), as Margaret Humphreys
- *Cemetery Junction* (2010), as Mrs. Kendrick — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/cemetery-junction.md)
- *Within the Whirlwind* (2009), as Evgenia Ginzburg
- *Cold Souls* (2009), as Claire
- *Synecdoche, New York* (2008), as Tammy — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/synecdoche-new-york.md)
- *Fireflies in the Garden* (2008), as Jane Lawrence
- *The Memory Keeper's Daughter* (2008), as Caroline Gil
- *The Water Horse* (2007), as Anne MacMorrow
- *Miss Potter* (2006), as Millie Warne
- *Crusade in Jeans* (2006), as Mary Vega
- *The Proposition* (2005), as Martha Stanley — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/the-proposition.md)
- *Separate Lies* (2005), as Anne Manning
- *Corpse Bride* (2005), as Victoria Everglot (voice) — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/corpse-bride.md)
- *Wah-Wah* (2005), as Ruby Compton
- *The Life and Death of Peter Sellers* (2004), as Anne Sellers
- *Working Shakespeare* (2003), series, Actor
- *Equilibrium* (2002), as Mary O'Brien
- *Punch-Drunk Love* (2002), as Lena Leonard — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/punch-drunk-love.md)
- *Red Dragon* (2002), as Reba McClane — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/red-dragon.md)
- *Gosford Park* (2001), as Elsie — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/gosford-park.md)
- *The Luzhin Defence* (2000), as Natalia Katkov
- *Trixie* (2000), as Trixie Zurbo
- *Angela's Ashes* (1999), as Angela McCourt
- *Cradle Will Rock* (1999), as Olive Stanton
- *Hilary and Jackie* (1998), as Jackie du Pré
- *Metroland* (1998), as Marion
- *The Boxer* (1997), as Maggie Hamill — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/the-boxer.md)
- *Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier* (1997), Actor
- *The Mill on the Floss* (1997), as Maggie Tulliver
- *Breaking the Waves* (1996), as Bess McNeill — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/breaking-the-waves.md)
- *A Summer Day's Dream* (1994), Actor
- *Performance* (1991), series, as Rosalie
- *Fado!*, Actor
- *Midday Sun*, as Sarah
- *Amri*, as Marie Antoinette Gottesman
- *A Christmas Child*, as Emily Watson ( Self/Narrator )
- *The Clockmaker’s Secret: Lost in Spindlewood*, as The Keeper of the Keys
- *London Fog: A Ruby Gale Mystery*, as (The Detective)
- *Late in Summer*, Actor
- *Holly Noel: The Winter Ball (Christmas 3)*, as ( Host )

## Gallery

- ![BAFTA 2007](https://film.one/media/person/7408/gallery-5f6e37000f5d.jpg) BAFTA 2007 — S Pakhrin from DC, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/BAFTA_2007_%28387031832%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Emily Watson](https://film.one/media/person/7408/gallery-f11431b695f8.jpg) Emily Watson — Raph_PH, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Emily_Watson.jpg/1280px-Emily_Watson.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Emily Watson](https://film.one/media/person/7408/gallery-77a4974a233b.jpg) Emily Watson — Image via TMDB
- ![Emily Watson](https://film.one/media/person/7408/gallery-0e7967a7bdc7.jpg) Emily Watson — Image via TMDB
- ![Emily Watson](https://film.one/media/person/7408/gallery-8f5aeb3100e5.jpg) Emily Watson — Image via TMDB
- ![Emily Watson](https://film.one/media/person/7408/gallery-55acb799a4dc.jpg) Emily Watson — Image via TMDB
- ![Emily Watson](https://film.one/media/person/7408/gallery-5364b7156f2d.jpg) Emily Watson — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1999: Best Actress (nominated), for *Hilary and Jackie*
- 1997: Best Actress (nominated), for *Breaking the Waves*

### BAFTA Television Awards — 1 won

- 2011: Best Actress (won), for *Appropriate Adult*

### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won

- 2024: Best Supporting Performance (won), for *Small Things Like These*

### Other awards — 3 won, 1 nominated

- Donostia Award 2015: Donostia Award (won)
- Jameson People's Choice Award for Best Actress 2002: Jameson People's Choice Award for Best Actress (nominated), for *Gosford Park*
- Bodil Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role 1997: Bodil Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role (won), for *Breaking the Waves*
- European Film Award for Best Actress 1996: European Film Award for Best Actress (won), for *Breaking the Waves*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/emily-watson