The 'Harry Potter' star - who plays Hermione Granger in the series, which completed shooting on its final film earlier this year- has recently had a drastic new short crop and admitted it was a symbolic gesture, to mark her leaving her character behind.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I'm 20 now, so I'm not a child any more. I've been on Harry Potter for ten years now, so I felt the need to mark the end of it in some way - I needed some way to say to myself, 'Right, you're entering a new phase of your life now'. I needed a change, and that's what the haircut is about."

Emma, who played Hermione from the age of nine, added her father was initially worried about her new look, but that her pixie-like hairdo has since grown on him.

She said: "When I first told him that I was thinking about doing it, he said, 'Don't get carried away. You're not Audrey Hepburn yet.' But he loves it now, and so he's eating his words."

Emma, who is also the face of fashion chain Burberry and attends Brown University in the US, admitted she finds it difficult to juggle her life as an A-list actress and a hardworking student, but she puts in as much effort to both as she can.

The actress added: "I'm not going to lie. I have to just work really hard when I'm at university and earn my professor's respect and trust that I'm hardworking, take it seriously and that I will come up with the goods somehow.

"You have to be really organised with your time. I tell professors in advance that I have to leave for this period of time, and I hope they'll understand."

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One' is in cinemas now.