Watson's post-Potter acting doubts

Emma Watson has revealed she had doubts about a career in acting after the Harry Potter films ended.

The 23-year-old, who played Muggle wizard Hermione in the blockbuster series, told The Sunday Times she threw herself into academia after filming finished in 2011.

She said she found it "intimidating" emerging from the shadow of JK Rowling's magical characters.

The star of upcoming Biblical epic Noah told the paper that her agent did not even send her scripts for the first year after leaving Hogwarts in ruins in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

She did a year at Oxford University before dropping out and enrolling at Brown University in Rhode Island in the United States, while still taking acting roles.

They included last year's The Bling Ring for Sofia Coppola.

She said: "After Harry Potter, all that mattered was university. I didn't even know if I wanted to be an actress."

She added: "For a while it was amazing, as the American press afforded me so much privacy."