Emma Katherine Walton Hamilton (née Walton; born 27 November 1962)[1] is a British-American children's book author, theatrical director, and actress. She is an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton, where she serves as Director of the Southampton Children's Literature Fellows program and the Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP).[2] She is the daughter of singer and actress Dame Julie Andrews and set/costume designer Tony Walton.
Walton was born in The London Clinic in central London.[3] Her parents are British actress and singer Julie Andrews and Tony Walton, a British set and costume designer. Her godmothers were actress Carol Burnett[4] and Svetlana Beriosova, prima ballerina of The Royal Ballet; 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.[5] Walton's childhood was spent between London, Los Angeles (where her mother worked), and New York City, where her father lived. She attended UCLA Lab School, according to her mother.[citation needed]
From 1983 to 1991, she had a few bit parts in films and television, including Micki + Maude and That's Life!.[1]
In 1991, she, her husband, and British-American actress Sybil Christopher founded the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, New York.[2][6][7] 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.[8] In 2010, she won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for voicing Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies.[9]
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,[10] 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.[11] Walton-Hamilton has also written a book for adults, Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment (2009).[12] The book won a Parent's Choice Gold Medal, silver medals from the Living Now and IPPY Book Awards, and Honorable Mention from ForeWord Magazine's Best Book of the Year.[2]
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.[12] In 2016, Walton Hamilton created the preschool television series Julie's Greenroom 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 in 2017.[13]
In 1991, Emma Walton married actor/director Stephen Hamilton.[7] The couple are parents to a son and daughter.[7]
