Emma Watson joins Robert Patterson as star with roots in their big roles.
Johnsie Donaldson
Anastasia Taylor, a genealogist from Acnestry.com did some snooping into Emma Watson’s roots and discovered that she is a distant relative of a witch.
She was not as fortunate as Hermione Granger; her name was Joan Playle and lived in Essex County, England. Playle was convicted of witchcraft in 1592 and excommunicated from the Church of England.
Tyler told People “It’s not every day we’re able to trace the branches of a family tree back to 16th-century witch trials. Combine that with a celebrity connection to Emma Watson and the fact that she plays a witch in Harry Potter: You couldn’t script it any better.”
Tyler also looked into the genealogy of the other Harry Potter stars; but they don’t have any roots in the Craft. Daniel Radcliffe descended from bakers, grocers and plumbers; Rupert Grint has roots in gunsmiths. Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Bellatrix Lestrange and wife of Tim Burton, great grandfather Herbert Henry Asquith, Earl of Oxford and Asquith, served as prime minister of the U.K. from 1908 to 1916.