Emma Watson has revealed that she is taking a year off acting to focus on activism.
The Harry Potter actress, who has appeared in The Bling Ring and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower since that franchise ended, is taking a twelve month sabbatical in order to focus on her work with the United Nations’ HeForShe gender-equality project.
She explained her plans in an interview for Paper Magazine: “I’m taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really. My own personal development is one. 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 reading a lot this year, and I want to do a lot of listening. I want to listen to as many different women in the world as I can.”
The actress also outlined her UN work for 2016: “Our HeForShe IMPACT champions are ten CEOs who for the first time will be releasing to the media what their companies look like internally. Big companies like Vodafone, Unilever and Tupperware will be standing up to the media and really acknowledging the issues within their own companies and talking about how they are planning to address these issues as HeForShe IMPACT champions … We’ll be making all of these statements completely transparent, which is huge. It’s never been done before.”
Watson is scheduled to appear in one film this year, starring opposite Tom Hanks in The Circle. The sci-fi drama also stars John Boyega, Karen Gillan, Patton Oswalt, and Bill Paxton.