Born in Islington, London, on January 14, 1967, Emily Watson was trained at the British Shakespeare School of Acting, then spent two years at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
An intense actress specializing in playing complex, challenging women, Watson has often projected immense emotional vulnerability underscored by sturdy determination.
Watson made a splashy screen debut as the tormented, slightly slow woman in Lars von Trier's “Breaking the Waves,” for which he received her first Oscar nomination. She then played Daniel Day Lewis' strong-willed lover in Jim Sheridan's “The Boxer,” and the doomed cellist in “Hilary and Jackie,” for which she received a second Best Actress Oscar Nomination.
These performances were followed by playing the matriarch in “Angela' Ashes,” a homeless actress in Tim Robins' “Cradle Will Rock,” and a security guard in Alan Rudolph's noir comedy “Trixie.”
Oscar Alert
In 1996, Watson lost the Best Actress Oscar to Francis McDormand in “Fargo,” and in 1998 to Gwyneth Paltrow in the comedy, “Shakespeare in Love.”
