Who is Emma Walton Hamilton?
Emma Katherine Walton was born on 27 November 1962, in London, England. She is an actress, author, and theatre director, heavily involved with literature projects for children in the UK. She is also known as the daughter of star actress and singer Julie Andrews, who rose to fame in the 1960s and ‘70s with numerous successful film projects that have continued until recent years.
The Net Worth of Emma Walton Hamilton
As of mid-2020, Emma Walton Hamilton’s net worth is estimated to be over $1 million, earned through success in her various endeavors.
Aside from acting work, the royalties she’s gained from her books have helped her consistently in financial gains.
Early Life, Family, and Education
Emma grew up in London, and at a young age became accustomed to living with parents who were both busy with careers in the entertainment industry. Her mother is an internationally renowned actress, known for many Hollywood hits, while on the other hand her father Tony Walton worked behind the scenes as a costume and set designer for various British-based projects. She was acting royalty, with some of her relatives and family friends including Vic Oliver, Carol Burnett, and Svetlana Beriosova.
With her mother’s career, she spent time in both London and Los Angeles, and also frequented New York, where her father often worked a part of the very vibrant theatre scene there. During this period, she attended the UCLA Lab School, which is an elementary school associated with the University of California, Los Angeles. Her parents, who often spent time away from each other due to work, eventually divorced when she was five years later. She remained close to both of them, though her mother later remarried to film director Blake Edwards, whom Emma also spent a lot of time with growing-up.
Acting Career
Emma started an acting career in the 1980s, following in the footsteps of her mother. Her first appearance was in a small role in “Curse of the Pink Panther”, a comedy film that didn’t fare well at the box office, as it received generally negative reviews. In 1984 she appeared in a small role in “Micki + Maude” playing the role of a nurse, in the film starring Ann Reinking and Amy Irving as the titular characters. Her work continued over the next few years, as she mainly took on unnamed characters or minor roles, including in “Blind Date” and “A Fine Mess”.
Her last project was the film “Switch”, in which she played the role of an unnamed protestor. The film is based on the play “Goodbye Charlie”, and starred Ellen Barkin alongside Jimmy Smits. After deciding to move away from mainstream film work, she focused on theatre, and started the Bay Street Theatre in New York, alongside actress Sybil Christopher, serving as one of its artistic directors. The theatre’s goal was to help provide more awareness and opportunities to a younger demographic, and is still running today.
Writing Career
In the 2000s Emma found her stride in writing, and focused on books for children, a project that she had been interested in working on alongside her mother.
The two created the character and the books “Dumpy the Dumptruck”, and she’s written 13 books about the character, with its designs primarily made by her father who remained close with her mother despite their divorce. She’s written many other books too, often with her mother contributing.
She also wrote “The Great American Mousical”, “The Very Fairy Princess” and “Thanks to You: Wisdom From Mother and Child”, and created two novels aimed at middle schoolers with its main character “Bonnie Boadicea”. Aside from her writing work, she has also lent her voice to various audiobooks, including “All Kinds of Kisses”, “Me… Jane” and “School of Fear”.
In 2010, she gained a lot of attention for her narration of her mother’s collection book “Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies”, leading her to win a Grammy Award for Best spoken Word Album.
Recent Projects
In 2012, Hamilton helped with the project “Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project”, a collaboration with Jodi Glucksman and Kate Dawson, contributing both content and her voice with the book and accompanying CD. She also endeavored to write for adults, mainly self-help books. One of her most popular is “Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment” which as the name denotes, helps parents strategize and lead kids to a lifestyle involving reading.
She won several awards for the book, including the Best Book of the Year award given by “Foreword Magazine”.
One of her latest projects is the television series “Julie’s Greenroom”, a project which she also worked on with her mother, and aimed at preschoolers, released in 2017 through Netflix. The show featured numerous original puppets that were created by The Jim Henson Company of “Muppets” fame. She still appears on television, though mostly as a guest personality thanks to her work as an author and collaborations with her mother. She’s been a frequent guest in the show “Rachael Ray”, a talk show that airs in the US and Canada.
Personal Life
Emma married Stephen Hamilton in 1991 after being in a relationship for a few years, following which she adopted his last name into her professional name; they have two children together. The couple often collaborate on business endeavors. Due to her mother’s fame, she is often asked what it’s like to be the daughter of a famous Hollywood star, but of course she can’t compare. She does say that she couldn’t find anyone as good as her mother. In recent months, she’s been promoting online libraries and audiobooks, some of which were narrated by her mother.