Emma Watson, the British actress who made Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies the epitome of smartness, graduated from college yesterday.

The British actress, who was born in Paris, graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She was among 2,000 graduates that received their degrees May 25 from the famous Ivy League university that is so selective it accepts less than 10 percent of all freshman applicants every year.

Emma began at Brown in 2009, a very busy year for the actress, and graduated after five years from a course that should have taken only four years. She was a visitor student at Worcester College, Oxford for the 2011-12 academic year.

Emma admitted she was nervous about trying to blend in with her fellow students at Brown.

"On the first day, I walked into the canteen and everyone went completely silent and turned to look at me," she told The Sunday Times last March.

"I had to say to myself, 'It's okay, you can do this. You just have to take a deep breath and gather your courage."

She told TV  host Ellen DeGeneres early this year it took her five years to graduate since she "ended up taking two full semesters off" because of her movie work. Her latest film was the Bible-inspired movie, Noah.

Between 2009 and her graduation, Emma was named the highest-grossing actress of the decade by the Guinness Book of World Records; starred in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; The Perks of Being a Wallflower; This is the End and Noah.

Emma, or Emma Charlotte to use her full name, starred in all eight Harry Potter films with lead Daniel Radcliffe and and co-star Rupert Grint. She made more than US$17 million from the Harry Potter franchise.

Emma, 24, made her modelling debut for Burberry in 2009, and in October 2013 was voted the Sexiest Female Movie Star in a worldwide survey conducted by Empire magazine.