Actress Emma Watson, who got fame from the Harry Potter movie series, has been banned from driving for six months. Best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, she was banned after being caught speeding in Oxford.
The 35-year-old actress, now a student at the University of Oxford, was clocked driving her blue Audi at 38mph in a 30mph zone on the evening of July 31, 2024.
At the time of the offence, she already had nine penalty points on her licence. The additional speeding violation brought her total to the threshold for automatic disqualification.
Emma Watson of Harry Potter faces fine
Watson was fined £1,044 by High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court during a brief five-minute hearing, which she did not attend.
Her lawyer, Mark Haslam, informed the court that Watson is pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing and is “in a position to pay the fine.”
She rose to fame in 2001 with the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and went on to appear in all eight films of the franchise. Since then, she has starred in Beauty and the Beast, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Little Women (2019). In 2023, she co-founded a sustainable gin brand with her brother.
Zoe Wanamaker Also Fined and Disqualified
In a separate case, fellow Harry Potter actress Zoe Wanamaker, who portrayed Madam Hooch, was also banned from driving for six months.
Wanamaker, aged 76, was caught speeding at 46mph in a 40mph zone on the M4 in Newbury on August 7, 2024. Like Watson, she had nine points on her licence prior to the offence. She received a fine of £1,044 and had three additional points endorsed on her licence, triggering the six-month disqualification.
Her lawyer, Duncan Jones, told the court that Wanamaker was not seeking “special treatment” and fully accepted the penalty.
New Harry Potter Series in Production
Meanwhile, a new HBO adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books is currently in production. The series, expected to span a decade, stars Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Arabella Stanton as Hermione, and Alastair Stout as Ron. The cast also includes John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Nick Frost as Hagrid, and Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape.
