Emma Watson picked up the first ever gender-neutral prize at the MTV TV & Movie Awards this weekend, as Beauty and the Beast emerged as the main winner of the night.

The ex-Harry Potter star, famous for her role as Hermione Granger, picked up the best big-screen actor award at the fan-voted ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night (May 7th). Her role as Belle has helped generate worldwide revenue of over $1 billion for Beauty and the Beast since its release just over a month ago.

Emma WatsonEmma Watson won the first gender-neutral MTV award

“The first acting award… that doesn't separate nominees based on their sex says something about how we perceive the human experience,” 27 year old Watson told the crowd as she accepted her trophy.

“MTV's move to create a genderless award for acting will mean something different to everyone. But to me it indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and that doesn't need to be separated into two different categories.”

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“Empathy and the ability to use your imagination should have no limits. This is very meaningful to me.”

Beauty and the Beast’s director, Bill Condon, told the crowd as the film also won for Best Movie: “Thank you to the audience who embraced this movie so much but especially to the women because women are proving that they are a huge and powerful audience and that's going to change the movie business.”

Stranger ThingsThe 'Stranger Things' cast earlier in 2017

MTV announced earlier this year that the 2017 TV & Movie Awards would be gender-less, meaning that Watson beat out competition from the likes of James McAvoy and Hugh Jackman.

It was a good night for Brits overall, as Millie Bobby Brown, one of the central child stars of Netflix sensation ‘Stranger Things’, won the prize for best actor on the small screen, and with Daniel Kaluuya picking up the next generation award for his starring role in Get Out.

More: ‘Books and Bravery’ – comparing Emma Watson’s Belle to Hermione Granger