Watson beats Beyonce to become most inspiring celebrity

The Beauty and the Beast actor, 27, was picked from a list of stars which included celebrities such as Cheryl, Ariana Grande, Beyonce and Zayn Malik, reports metro.co.uk.

Both girls and boys selected Watson from the line-up of 43 actors, musicians, fitness personalities, YouTubers and reality stars.

The research was commissioned by youth empowerment programme National Citizen Service (NCS) and conducted by ICM, with 1000 young people taking part.

As per metro.co.uk, many cited Watson's feminist stance as the reason she is so inspiring.

One respondent said: "She uses the power and fame she gained from the Harry Potter series to speak about important issues like feminism."

"She's a big feminist. She frequently speaks out on sexism and other discrimination issues such as racism and homophobia, and what she says really inspires me," another said.

The research also found that "feminist" is now the top tribe for teenage girls (29 per cent), outranking labels such as "sporty" (10 per cent) or "bookworm" (19 per cent).