EMMA WATSON WAS cast in the role of Hermione Granger at the tender age of 9 – and 11 years later, her acting career is still going strong.

In fact, she is so busy that she will be taking a little break from her studies to concentrate on her film career.

Watson plays Hermione in the film adaptations of the Harry Potter books, which have become hugely popular worldwide.

The 2o year old enrolled to study literature at Brown University in Rhode Island in 2009. She says she still plans to finish her studies but will take some extra semesters to complete her degree.

According to the Press Association, she explained:

As you know, I love Brown and I love studying pretty much more than anything but recently I’ve had so much to juggle that being a student and fulfilling my other commitments has become a little impossible.

I’ve decided to take a bit of time off to completely finish my work on Harry Potter (the last one comes out this summer) and to focus on my other professional and acting projects. I will still be working towards my degree, it’s just going to take me a semester or two longer than I thought.

Her next film is Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which will be released this summer, and she has just finished filming My Week With Marilyn, opposite US actress Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe.

She earned an estimated £19 million in 2009, and in February 2010 she was named as Hollywood’s highest paid female star.