Emma Watson to Take Year Away from Acting for 'Personal Growth'

Following her role in Bill Condon's live-action adaptation of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Emma Watson will be stepping away from acting, she confirmed this week.

"I'm taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really. My own personal development is one," Watson said in an interview with Paper. "My own personal task is to read a book a week, and also to read a book a month as part of my book club. I'm doing a huge amount of reading and study just on my own."

"I almost thought about going and doing a year of gender studies, then I realized that I was learning so much by being on the ground and just speaking with people and doing my reading," she said. "I actually wanted to keep on the path that I'm on. I'm reading a lot this year, and I want to do a lot of listening."

Watson added: "I want to listen to as many different women in the world as I can. That's something that I've been doing on my own, through the U.N., the HeForShe campaign, and my work generally."

Click here for the full interview.

Watson is best known for her role of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series; she was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays. She starred in all eight Harry Potter films, alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. Watson's work on the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards. She will next be seen in Disney's live adaptation of The Beauty and The Beast.

She made her modelling debut for Burberry's autumn/winter campaign in 2009. In October 2013, she was voted Sexiest Female Movie Star in a worldwide poll conducted by EMPIRE magazine.

In 2007, Watson announced her involvement in The Tale of Despereaux and the television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes, which was broadcast on 26 December 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million. The Tale of Despereaux, based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo, was released in 2008 and grossed more than US$86 million in worldwide sales. In 2012, she starred in Stephen Chbosky's film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and in 2014, she played Ila in Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah.

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