Touted worldwide as one amongst the most influential women, the celebrated author Joanne Kathleen Rowling is also a screenwriter and producer. She successfully wrote the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has over the time become a classic work of literature. The books have also been adapted into a blockbuster film franchise.

On a delayed train from Manchester to London, in 1990, J.K. Rowling was struck by an idea which was soon going to change the course of fictional writing. She did not have a pen at that time so she kept thinking about it and immediately sat down to write as soon as she reached her house. Then after seven years, the first book of the fantasy series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone was published. The response generated by the first one led her to write six more- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the seventh and so far last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which got published in July 2007. These books have also been successfully adapted into films of the same names.

For her phenomenal contribution to the global art and literature, J.K.Rowling was honored with an OBE, which is the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Early Life
Born in Yate, England to a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, Peter James Rowling, and a science technician, Anne Rowling, J.K. Rowling has a younger sister Dianne. Rowling had a fairly complicated childhood as her mother was always ill and her relationship with her father was sour. In 1982, after being rejected by Oxford University, Rowling completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Classics from the University of Exeter. In December 1990, Rowling's mother died after suffering for 10 years from multiple sclerosis. She was penning down the initial plot of her first Harry Potter book at that time and documented her own sufferings and pains through the character of Harry.

Personal Life
After graduating from Exeter University, in 1990, Rowling shifted to Portugal. There, she met and married the Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes. The couple's daughter, Jessica, was born in 1993. After her marriage ended in divorce, Rowling moved to Edinburgh with her daughter to live near her younger sister, Di. While struggling to support Jessica and herself on welfare, Rowling worked on a book, the idea for which had reportedly occurred to her while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. After a number of rejections, she finally sold the book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The book, and its subsequent series chronicled the life of Harry Potter, a young wizard, who went to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Movie Career
As a Writer
The first movie adaptation of the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone was released in 2001. Directed by Chris Columbus, the film starred Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, and Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry's best friends, respectively. The movie, predictably opened to record-breaking success, ending as the year's top-grossing film. The second film in the series- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), also directed by Columbus replicated the success of the first one. In 2004, Alfonso Cuaron-helmed the third sequel- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which went on to receive two Academy Award nominations. Unfortunately, the film at that time was ranked as the lowest-grossing film in the series.

The fourth movie adaptation, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, follows the story of Harry Potter as he unwillingly enters the deadliest tournament in the wizardry world. The film was highly praised for its production designs and was a blockbuster hit. Released in 2005, Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire was directed by Mike Newell. The fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, directed by David Yates, was released in 2007, featuring a script by screenwriter Michael Goldenberg, who replaced Steve Kloves, writer of the first four films. The movie was acclaimed as “the best one yet”, by Rowling. David Yates then directed the final three instalments of the Harry Potter series as well. The movie version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released in July 2009. Subsequently, the final film was released in two parts- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011). Part 2 received humongous success, with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times giving it 31⁄2 out of 4 stars and said, "The finale conjures up enough awe and solemnity to serve as an appropriate finale and a dramatic contrast to the lighthearted (relative) innocence of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone all those magical years ago."

Her 2016 release as a writer includes the fantasy film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Directed by David Yates and produced by J.K.Rowling, the movie is a spin-off of the Harry Potter film series and also marks Rowling's screenplay debut.

As a Producer
J.K. Rowling has produced Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them. She has also served as an executive producer for the television miniseries The Casual Vacancy, based on her novel of the same name.