Emma Katherine Walton Hamilton (née Walton; 27 November 1962) is a British-American children's book author, theatrical director, and actress. She is an instructor in the MFA program at

Stony Brook Southampton Stony Brook Southampton is a campus location of Stony Brook University, located in Southampton, New York between the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on the eastern end of Long Island. History Southampton College, ...

, where she serves as Director of the Southampton Children's Literature Fellows program and the Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP). She is the daughter of singer and actress Dame

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

and set/costume designer

Tony Walton Anthony John Walton (24 October 1934 – 2 March 2022) was a British set and costume designer. He won three Tony Awards for his work on ''Pippin'' (1973), ''House of Blue Leaves'' (1986), and ''Guys and Dolls'' (1992). For his work in movies he ...

Early life

Walton was born in

The London Clinic The London Clinic is a private healthcare organisation and registered charity based on the corner of Devonshire Place and Marylebone Road in central London. According to HealthInvestor, it is one of England's largest private hospitals. Histor ...

in central

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Her parents are British actress and singer

and

, a British

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

and costume designer. Her godmothers were actress Carol Burnett and

Svetlana Beriosova Svetlana Nikolayevna Beriosova (russian: Светла́на Никола́евна Берёзова; 24 September 1932 – 10 November 1998), also spelled Beriozova or Beryozova, was a Lithuanian-British prima ballerina who danced with The Royal B ...

, ''prima ballerina'' of

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

; her godfather was British actor Vic Oliver. In 1967, her parents divorced, and two years later, her mother married film director Blake Edwards, who became her stepfather."Julie Andrews Marries Director Blake Edwards "
''Desert Sun'', Volume 43, Number 89, 15 November 1969 (via cdnc.ucr.edu), accessed 29 October 2019. Walton's childhood was spent between London,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where her mother worked, and New York City, where her father lived. She attended

UCLA Lab School UCLA Lab School is the laboratory school of the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies (Ed&IS). Located on UCLA's main Westwood campus since the 1950s, it currently serves 450 students ranging in ages from 4 to 12. Founded as a demonstra ...

, according to her mother.

Career

From 1983 to 1991, she had a few

bit parts In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, ...

in films and television, including ''

Micki + Maude ''Micki & Maude'' is a 1984 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Dudley Moore. It co-stars Tony Award-winning actress and dancer Ann Reinking as Micki and Amy Irving as Maude. With the exception of appearances as ...

'' and ''

That's Life! ''That's Life!'' was a satirical TV consumer affairs programme on the BBC, at its height regularly reaching audiences of fifteen to twenty million, and receiving 10–15,000 letters a week. The series broadcast on BBC1 for twenty-one years, ...

''. In 1991, she, her husband, and British-American actress

Sybil Christopher Sybil Christopher (née Williams; 27 March 1929 – 7 March 2013), formerly known as Sybil Burton, was a Welsh actress, theatre director, and founder of popular celebrity New York nightclub "Arthur".Paul Vitello"Sybil Christopher, Actress and Nig ...

founded the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, New York. This independent non-profit theatre is still in operation as of 2022. Walton-Hamilton was the theatre's Artistic co-Director and Director of Education and Programming for Young Audiences for 17 years. She has voiced many audiobooks, including Gitty Daneshvari's ''School of Fear'', Patrick McDonnell's ''Me . . . Jane'', and Nancy Tafuri's ''All Kinds of Kisses''. In 2010, she won the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for voicing ''Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies''. In 2000, she began writing books for children in collaboration with her mother, starting with ''Dumpy the Dumptruck''. They wrote 13 "Dumpy" books, of which 12 were illustrated by her father Tony Walton, who had remained friends with her mother despite their divorce. Walton-Hamilton and Andrews have co-written 31 children's books, including the "Dumpy" books, ''The Great American Mousical'' (2006), also illustrated by Walton, two "Bonnie Boadicea" novels for middle schoolers, ''The Very Fairy Princess'' (2010) series, and two unrelated novels. They have also co-edited two anthologies of poetry and songs, and one concept book, ''Thanks to You: Wisdom From Mother and Child''. Walton-Hamilton has also written a book for adults, ''Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment'' (2009). The book won a Parent's Choice Gold Medal, silver medals from the Living Now and

IPPY The Independent Publisher Book Awards, also styled the IPPY Awards, are a set of annual book awards for independently published titles. They are the longest-running unaffiliated contest open exclusively to independent presses. The IPPY Awards ar ...

Book Awards, and Honorable Mention from ''ForeWord Magazine's'' Best Book of the Year. Walton-Hamilton and Andrews contributed to Kate Dawson, Jodi Glucksman, and Barbara Buck-Aronica's ''Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project'' (2012), a book with accompanying CD.Listings for Emma Walton-Hamilton in WorldCat. In 2016, Walton Hamilton created the preschool television series ''

Julie's Greenroom ''Julie's Greenroom'' is an American educational pre-school television series that was released on Netflix on March 17, 2017. Characters * Miss Julie (portrayed by Julie Andrews) – The director of the Wellspring Center for the Performing Arts. ...

'' with her mother Julie Andrews and Judy Rothman. The show stars Andrews, joined by her assistant Gus (Giullian Yao Gioiello) and the Greenies, a cast of original puppets built by The Jim Henson Company. The show premiered on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in 2017.

Personal life

In 1991, Emma Walton married actor/director Stephen Hamilton. The couple are parents to a son and daughter.

Filmography

Publications

* ''Dumpy the Dumptruck'' (2000) * ''Dumpy at School'' (2000) * ''Dumpy and His Pals'' (2001) * ''Dumpy Saves Christmas'' (2001) * ''Dumpy's Friends on the Farm'' (2001) * ''Dumpy and the Big Storm'' (2002) * ''Dumpy and the Firefighters'' (2003) * ''Simeon's Gift'' (2003) * ''Dragon: Hound of Honor'' (2004) * ''Dumpy to the Rescue!'' (2004) * ''Dumpy's Apple Shop'' (2004) * ''Dumpy's Happy Holiday'' (2004) * ''Dumpy's Extra-Busy Day'' (2006) * ''Dumpy's Valentine'' (2006) * ''The Great American Mousical'' (2006) * ''Thanks To You: Wisdom From Mothers and Children'' (2007) * ''Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies'' (2009) * ''Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment'' (2009) * ''Little Bo in Italy: The Continued Adventures of Bonnie Boadicea'' (2010) * ''The Very Fairy Princess'' (2010) * ''Julie Andrews' Treasury for All Seasons: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Year'' (2012) * ''Little Bo In London: The Ultimate Adventure of Bonnie Boadicea'' (2012) * ''Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project'' (2012) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: A Very Fairy Christmas'' (2012) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: Here Comes the Flower Girl!'' (2012) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: A Christmas Reader'' (2012) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: A Fairy Merry Christmas'' (2012) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: and the Sparkly Wedding Surprise'' (2012) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: Follows Her Heart'' (2013) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: Sparkles In the Snow'' (2013) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: Teacher's Pet'' (2013) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: Graduation Girl!'' (2014) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: Makes the Grade'' (2014) * ''The Very Fairy Princess: A Spooky, Sparkly Halloween'' (2015)

Awards

* Three Time #1 Bestseller * Parents Choice Gold Medal * Living Now Silver Medal * IPPY Book Awards Silver Medal * Grammy Award, Best Spoken Word Album for Children

References

External links

Personal Website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Emma Walton 1962 births Living people 20th-century English actresses 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers 21st-century English actresses 21st-century English women writers 21st-century English writers Actresses from London Audiobook narrators British expatriate academics in the United States British expatriate actresses in the United States British women children's writers English children's writers English film actresses English television actresses English theatre directors English voice actresses English women writers Grammy Award winners Stony Brook University faculty Writers from London