As incredible as Hermione is in the books and movies, she doesn’t hold a torch to Emma Watson in real life. Born in Paris and raised in Oxfordshire, England, Watson always knew that she wanted to be an actress. Her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise was actually her first professional role. Can you believe it? Aside from becoming an internationally known face, the role also earned her roughly $60 million! After that, Watson also starred in one of our personal favorites – The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and made a stunning rendition of Belle, in Beauty and the Beast.
With all the fame she acquired, Emma continued her education and graduated from Brown University, with a BA in English literature. She still works as an actress, and has also expanded her career into the fashion world, becoming a model and fashion consultant. In 2014, she became the UN Women Goodwill ambassador, and continues to fight for gender equality. Yes, she’s a pretty tough cookie.
Jessie Cave Now
As opposed to the one track mind of Hogwarts Lavender, real-life Jessie seems to be a jack of many trades. Ex-swimming champion and Tennis player, Jessie Cave rerouted her life due to an early-on unfortunate sporting injury. Fortunately for us, that injury landed her on the Harry Potter set, right where she belonged. From a young age, Jessie has proved to be immensely talented in sports, arts, writing, acting and basically, anything she sets her mind on.
Jessie is still enjoying her acting career today, so when she's not appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival or at any West-End productions, she's starring in popular TV shows, like Black Mirror. When she's not acting, Cave is illustrating, cartooning and writing. Lately, she published a book which she called ‘Love Sick', based on her doodles. The future looks bright for Ms. Cave!
Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
What else is there to say about Hermione Granger? As one of Harry's closest friends (along with Ron Weasley), Hermione is THE leading lady in the Harry Potter franchise, and boy, is she a girl to be proud of. She may come across as an intelligent know-it-all sometimes, but she is also pure at heart, a loyal friend and all-in-all, a true Gryffindor. It's not her fault nobody else completed the summer reading list - seriously! All jokes aside, Hermione seems super confident, but she actually had to go through quite a few hardships to get to where she is.
Being born to a muggle family, and after receiving her Hogwarts acceptance letter, Hermione entered and adapted to the wizardry world all on her own. Yet, she still proved to be there for Harry, time after time, and showed bravery like nobody's business. Hermione proved to everyone (and to herself) that you can be clever, and still be courageous, loyal but conscientious, and she wows everybody when she enters that ballroom in the fourth book, looking stunning!
Afshan Azad as Padma Patil
There were many changes when adapting J.K. Rowling's original characters to film, and Padma Patil is a perfect example. We all know that Padma is only one-half of the giggly Patil twins, but in the books, Padma is actually sorted into the Ravenclaw House (as opposed to her sister, Parvati Patil, whose fate lies among the Gryffindors).
However, in the movies, Padma is a Gryffindor, too, just like her sister Parvati. Either way, they both prove themselves to be on the good guy's team, and add to the overall picture of our bewitching middle school setting, as well as being vital members of Dumbledore's Army.
Afshan Azad Now
Just like Bonnie Wright (and unlike most of the other women on this list), Afshan Azad was not a professional actress before being cast as Padma Patil. She actually admitted to only having auditioned for the role just for the fun of it! Crazy, right? But that does explain why we haven't seen her since. Shortly after the end of the Harry Potter series, Afshan's father and brother were charged with threatening her life.
At the young age of 22, she became intensely entwined in a seemingly never-ending court battle for her livelihood. Not quite the fame and fortune we imagined for this star. But what a beautiful, strong woman she has turned into.