Since her years as Hermione ended, Emma Watson has fought to assert her own identity. 

Now that she has found her voice—most notably as a U.N. ambassador—she’s revamping a classic stereotype.

The Disney princess, in Beauty and the Beast, the live-action musical coming out in March. 

Watson talks to Vanity Fair about her metamorphosis from child star to leading woman.

Emma Watson and I are standing on the 23rd Street platform of an uptown-bound E train in New York City and we’re littering. Literally. And literature-ly. 

The 26-year-old actress is scattering hardcover copies of Maya Angelou’s book Mom & Me & Mom throughout the station—tucking them between pipes.

Placing them on benches, atop the emergency call box—in hopes that New York commuters will pick them up and put down their smartphones. 

This display of civil disobedience was conceived by Books on the Underground, a London-based organization that plants books on public transportation for travelers to discover.

“We’re being ninjas,” she says with a conspiratorial grin as she digs in a big black rucksack of books. “If there were anyone to be a ninja for, it’d be Maya Angelou.”