Emma Watson Hollywood's highest paid female star 2009

Harry Potter star, 19-year-old Emma Watson was 2009’s highest-paid actress in Hollywood, after being paid £20million for the final two Deathly Hallows movies, in which she plays Hermione Granger.

She  earned more than established stars such as Cameron Diaz and Sarah Jessica Parker on a list of Hollywood’s top 40 earners. 

Her 2009 income was put at £20 million in the inaugural list compiled by Vanity Fair magazine. 

Early life of Emma Watson

Emma Watson was born in Paris, the daughter of British lawyers Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson.  Watson has one French grandmother,  and lived in Paris until the age of five. Later, following her parents' divorce, she moved with her mother and younger brother, Alex, to Oxfordshire.  

From the age of six, Watson wanted to become an actress,  and for a number of years she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and acting.  By the age of ten, she had performed in various Stagecoach productions and school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince,  but she had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series. "I had no idea of the scale of the film series," she stated in a 2007 interview with Parade; "if I had I would have been completely overwhelmed.

The top ten are: 

1. Michael Bay, producer-director ($125 million)

2. Steven Spielberg, producer-director ($85 million)

3. Roland Emmerich, producer-director ($70 million)

4. James Cameron, producer-director ($50 million)

5. Todd Phillips, director ($44 million)

6. Daniel Radcliffe, actor ($41 million)

7. Ben Stiller, actor ($40 million)

8. Tom Hanks, actor ($36 million)

9. J. J. Abrams, producer-director ($36 million)

10. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer ($35.5 million) 

Tip: To make money, start young and be attached to stars.