Emily Margaret Watson OBE born 14 January 1967 is an English actress She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992 She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her debut film role as Bess McNeil in Lars von Triers Breaking the Waves 1996 and for her role as Jacqueline du Pré in Hilary and Jackie 1998 winning the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress for the latter Watsons other films include The Boxer 1997 Angelas Ashes 1999 PunchDrunk Love 2002 Red Dragon 2002 Equilibrium 2002 The Life and Death of Peter Sellers 2004 Corpse Bride 2005 Miss Potter 2006 Synecdoche New York 2008 The Theory of Everything 2014 Kingsman The Golden Circle 2017 The Happy Prince 2018 and Gods Creatures 2022 For her role in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award She won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for playing Janet Leach in the 2011 ITV television biopic Appropriate Adult and was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Actress for the 2017 BBC miniseries Apple Tree Yard