The Cast Of 'Harry Potter': Where Are They Now?
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Warner Bros. Pictures
Everyone’s favorite boy wizard grew up right in front of our eyes. Viewers watched orphaned Harry endure the Dursleys, the grueling academia of Hogwarts, intense competition on the Quidditch field, heartbreak over losing his parents, girls, and, oh yeah, that noseless He Who Shall Not Be Named guy trying to end him all the time.
- Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Radcliffe was 11 when he first played Harry Potter and he instantly became an icon to children and adults pretty much all over the planet. Although Radcliffe seems grateful for the fame Potter-mania brought him, he’s been trying to break his chains (by speaking Parseltongue to them and pranking on his own image in Extras) in the post-Harry era.
Since Harry Potter, Radcliffe has proven that he has solid acting chops with fine performances in A Young Doctor’s Notebook, Kill Your Darlings, and Horns. He's also done plays, most recently the 2018 production of The Lifespan of Fact.
Radcliffe appeared on an episode of the comedy special 2 Dope Queens, as well as the critically acclaimed BoJack Horseman. Though none of his other films can meet the magnitude of Harry Potter, the young star seems to be enjoying his time taking roles for Now You See Me 2, Beast of Burden, and the 2019 animated feature Playmobil: The Movie.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Warner Bros. Pictures
The Smarty McSmarterton, teenage witch - with shades of a younger Minerva McGonagall - might not have ever let her hair down had she not met Harry and Ron. Also, if she hadn’t seen the light and realized that Ron was the bomb diggity, Hermione could have easily ended up as prime minister or surrounded by 29 feral (albeit enchanted) cats, writing complaint letters to Hoarders.
Watching the big-brained, big-hearted Hermione bend and break the rules to take on Voldemort’s evil forces and defend her friends felt, in many ways, more entertaining than anyone else's storyline.
- Photo: David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0
The Harry Potter franchise saw Watson blossom from a little girl to a wildly popular and in-demand actress, starring in everything from Beauty and the Beast and The Bling Ring to award-winning films like The Perks of Being A Wallflower and Greta Gerwig's Little Women.
She's a smarty pants in real life too, attending both Brown and Oxford University between Potter films. She's also been a fashion consultant, a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, and even launched the HeForShe global movement dedicated to gender equality. In fact, her non-film projects and philanthropic works have been her main focus for a few years now. She decided to take an acting hiatus shortly after appearing in Little Women, citing a lack of control at work, and the effect it was having on her mental health.
“I think I felt a bit caged,” she said in an interview about the decision, “The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over… I was held accountable in a way that I began to find really frustrating, because I didn’t have a voice, I didn’t have a say.” Of course, she clarified, she still loves acting, and has plans to return… but only when the time is right.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Warner Bros. Pictures
Everyone's favorite ginger and sixth son of seven children from a ramshackle, yet warm home who keeps a hand-me-down rat, found his place when he met Harry and Hermione. But Ron is no Samwise Gamgee as he pushes back when he sees fit (he’s also funnier than Sam). Ron was probably destined to get a soul-killing job with the Ministry of Magic, like his pops, until he became part of the otherworldly version of the Mod Squad.
- Photo: rupertgrint / Instagram
Grint is the oldest of five in a real-life Muggle family. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was his first acting gig, and since the series, he’s continued to thrill fans everywhere with roles in Into the White, Charlie Countryman, and CBGB. He, like Radcliffe, tried to besmirch his squeaky clean image by appearing in Cherrybomb, where he engaged in some adult acting.
In 2017, Grint starred in several television series. He played Daniel Glass in Sick Note followed by the character of Charlie Cavendish in Snatch. He also appeared as Julian Pearce in 2019's Apple TV series Servant.
In April 2020, Grint and his long-term girlfriend Georgia Groome announced they were expecting their first child. Their baby girl was born May 7, 2020. Grint waited until November 2020, however, to share the baby's name and a photo - on his first Instagram post after joining the platform. To accompany a picture of him holding her, Grint wrote, "Hey Instagram... only 10 years late, but here I am. Grint on the Gram! Here to introduce you all to Wednesday G. Grint. Stay safe, Rupert"
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Warner Bros. Pictures
Good guy? Villain? A little bit of both? Snape is one of the most vivid and hotly-debated characters in the Harry Potter series, at times looking as though he is protecting Harry, and then there was that thing he did at the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Oh snap, Snape!
Snape endlessly fascinated readers with his systematic torture of Neville Longbottom and his stage seven clinger thing for Harry’s mum. In the end, though, he tried to do the right thing. Snape wins ultimate points for rocking a middle part for the entire run of the series.
- Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
With his distinctive voice and tons of experience, Rickman was THE actor to master this multi-layered role. He made Snape complicated, infinitely interesting, and a lightning rod for fan discussion. Before and after the Harry Potter series, Rickman was an accomplished actor, appearing in everything from Shakespeare to Tim Burton directed films such as Sweeny Todd and Alice in Wonderland. His performance as Hans Gruber in the original Die Hard is still a goal for aspiring villainous actors everywhere.
Rickman passed from pancreatic cancer in 2016, but his voice lives on in film and in viewers' hearts.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Warner Bros. Pictures
Perhaps one of the best-named Potter characters, we got to see Neville evolve from putz to hero. Overlooked by Voldemort and greatly underestimated by all, Longbottom would bide his time until he was called upon by fate to bring the hammer, er... wand, down.
- Photo: Joella Marano / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Who knew the awkward kid who first appeared in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would turn out to be a stone-cold fox? Neville is all grown up and mighty fine. Lewis had a few roles before Harry Potter and since then he’s barreling forward with his acting career, appearing on TV’s The Syndicate, Bluestone 42, and The Brontes.
In May 2015, he appeared on the cover of Attitude magazine. The shoot was so steamy, it even prompted a response from J.K. Rowling herself who tweeted, "@Mattdavelewis Not as bad as watching Dan in Equus, but close. Warn me next time, for God's sake."
Lewis has since continued to build his resume with roles in the TV series Ripper Street, and Drunk History, as well as the romantic drama, Me Before You.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Warner Bros. Pictures
Hodor’s brother from another mother (only with a lot more words in his vocabulary), Hagrid is Harry’s lovable, mountainous friend and protector. When we first met the Hogwarts gamekeeper and Keeper of Keys and Grounds at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, viewers knew they were in for a wonderful journey.
The half-giant, half-human, who loves to take in dragons and other beasties for pets, really had you when he messed with the Dursleys, Harry’s bigoted and reluctant adoptive relatives.
- Photo: clogdancer / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Before he played Hagrid, Coltrane was known to audiences as the popular Dr. Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald, the eccentric forensic psychologist on Cracker. He also appeared in From Hell with Johnny Depp and provided his talents to many films and TV shows as an actor and voice actor. Since Harry Potter, he’s voiced the Gruffalo in The Gruffalo’s Child and Lord Dingwall in Brave. He also appeared in Great Expectations and Effie Gray.
In 2019, Universal Studios launched the Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure ride and Coltrane agreed to appear in the pre-show. At the launch, the actor arrived in a wheelchair as a result of osteoarthritis. He opened up about his condition to fans. Coltrane passed away on October 14, 2022.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Warner Bros. Pictures
Whip smart and brave, the original rule-follower knows how to wear a hat properly. McGonagall might run a tight ship but she’s also got some pirate in her, bringing the boom down when Hogwarts comes under attack. With her crisp accent and her fixed gaze, McGonagall has time for a quick joke before she casts a protective dome around the school.
But her power and authority extend beyond the classroom. For a lady of a certain age, she can still kick wholesale Death Eater butt.
- Photo: Downton Abbey / PBS
A national treasure, Dame Maggie Smith took the stage in 1952 and has been our favorite wisecracking dowager on Downton Abbey season after season. She is so masterful at throwing shade, she could teach it to the contestants on Rupaul’s Drag Race. Smith has won two Oscars (Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Best Supporting Actress for California Suite), four Best Actress BAFTA Awards (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, A Private Function, A Room with a View, and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne), and one Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for Tea with Mussolini.
Besides her work on Downton, Smith is still demonstrating why she’s amazing with performances in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Motel, The Best Exotic Marigold Motel, Gosford Park, and Sherlock Gnomes. She is set to appear in the 2020 film, A Boy Called Christmas.
In early 2019, at the age of 84, Smith returned to the stage for A German Life, a one-woman play about the life of Brunhilde Pomse. This was her first theater performance in 12 years.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix / Warner Bros. Pictures
Oh Bellatrix, you are so deranged, but viewers kind of love you. Well, they did, until you did Dobby wrong. Demented, clever, and goth-fashion forward, Lestrange is the number one Voldemort groupie, probably because he lets her run amok. But make no mistake, Lestrange would not hesitate to rise up and start her own witchy, corseted army if given the chance.
- Photo: Siebbi / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0
Bonham Carter is another British and American gem, logging over 80 film credits. Besides becoming a Tim Burton film mainstay (with whom she has a connected residence and two children), Bonham Carter has been busy since her days as Bellatrix. She’s appeared in The Lone Ranger, Great Expectations, Les Misérables, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass.
She also made an impression on viewers in Fight Club. It’s no accident that Bellatrix has shades of Marla Singer.
In 2018, Bonham Carter voiced Madame Mirela in the video game, Black Ops 4: Dead of the Night, and she also appeared in Ocean's Eight. Bonham Carter played Princess Margaret in the TV series, The Crown, and she appeared as Eudoria Holmes, mother of Sherlock and Enola, in the 2020 film Enola Holmes.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban / Warner Bros. Pictures
Harry was delighted to find out that he had a godfather when Padfoot showed up to give his protection and guidance. Even a hard time at Azkaban couldn’t dampen Black’s obvious affection for Harry. Black was one of Lord Voldemort’s AND the Ministry of Magic’s most wanted but risked it all to defend his godson.
- Photo: Sam / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
Oldman has impressive credits. He's been Sid Vicious, Rosencrantz, Dracula, Lee Harvey Oswald, Drexl Spivey, Ludwig van Beethoven, Albert Milo, Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, and Sirius Black. Oldman has worn many disguises in his long career so depending upon your age and tastes in genres, you’ve probably got your favorite.
Since his Snuffles days, Oldman has appeared in The Dark Knight Rises, RoboCop, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, shockingly bereft of any get-up.
In 2018, he won the Oscar for Best Actor in response to his role as Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Darkest hour. He also played Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz in the 2020 drama Mank.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix / Warner Bros. Pictures
Delightfully odd, oh-so smart, and definitely intuitive, Luna lit the way for Harry when it came to finding clues and unlocking mysteries. She also marches to the beat of her own drum, which is probably made out of radishes. Luna is strange magic indeed.
- Photo: Andrea Francesco Berni / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Before she was cast as Luna Lovegood, Lynch and J.K. Rowling were pen pals. Lynch wrote to Rowling about her anorexia and Rowling encouraged the young Irish girl during her recovery. Years later, when Lynch auditioned for the role of Luna, she had no idea she’d have a chance over 15,000 other girls. Turns out, she was “perfect” to play Luna, according to Rowling.
Since her stint in the Potterverse, Lynch has focused on extending her range with roles in Sinbad, G.B.F., It Don’t Come Easy, and My Name is Emily.
In 2015, she voiced Luna Lovegood in the Lego Dimensions video game. In 2019 she played Abbie Fox in the film Madness in the Method.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban / Warner Bros. Pictures
Harry’s beloved mentor and the best headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Dumbledore has proven to be one of the most popular characters in the series. Like Gandalf from The Hobbit series, Dumbledore has his secrets and plays his cards close to the vest. The half-blood wizard helped Harry & Co. face and defeat Voldemort, breaking our hearts all along the way.
- Photo: Fortitude / Sky Atlantic
When Richard Harris passed away in 2002 (two weeks before the American premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), Michael Gambon stepped in to play Dumbledore for the remaining six films. Gambon had some pretty big shoes to fill, not only in the role but also in the face of Harris’s place in the hearts of all of Britain. But Gambon was very much up to the task and soon became a fan favorite just as Harris was.
With over 140 acting credits under his belt, Gambon remains a versatile comedy and drama actor, appearing in Sleepy Hollow, Gosford Park, and on the TV series Fortitude. Gambon passed away in Sept. 2023 after a bout of pneumonia.
Slightly flashier than his twin, Fred (at left) shares his brother’s love of pranks and foul-tasting confections. He and George were popular Hogwarts students, superb Beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, members of Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix as well as successful businessmen with their Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley. Fred’s ultimate sacrifice broke Potter fans' and his family’s hearts but none more than George’s.
George (at right), the pranks entrepreneur is one of our favorite Potter characters. Great at Quidditch, quick with a joke, but also a formidable foe against the forces of Voldemort, George sacrificed a lot for his family and friends, most notably his ear.
James Phelps's (at left) career has been mostly dedicated to the Potter franchise. Since wrapping up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Phelps has appeared in Silent Witness, Ward 3, and Own Worst Enemy.
Older than his twin James by 13 minutes, Oliver's (at right) career has similarly mainly been entrenched in the Potter series. And there’s nothing wrong with that. As soon as his schedule was freed up, though, Phelps had the time and money to explore future projects. He appeared in Own Worst Enemy in 2015.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows / Warner Bros. Pictures
Reborn and ready to launch his final attack in a new body backed by a horde of Death Eaters and a huge snake named Nagini, Voldemort sets out to fulfill the prophecy and destroy Harry Potter.
- Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
Fiennes turned out to be a genius bit of casting. He has built a career on playing exacting characters and embodies Voldemort in such away that he is all you see when you hear that name. This isn’t Fiennes's first villain rodeo, though. His Nazi Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List was chilling and his mob boss Harry from In Bruges was hilariously diabolical.
Since he’s slipped his nose back on, the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA winning actor has been busy starring in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Skyfall, Two Women, The Menu, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets / Warner Bros. Pictures
For a minute, we thought Harry was going to end up with Cho Chang or maybe even Hermione. But Ginny Weasley was always there, hiding in the ginger shadows until WHAMMO! Harry was sprung. But she’s not just another pretty face for Harry to gaze upon. Ginny is an accomplished witch and can hold her own. No slouch, this one.
- Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Wright is a natural redhead and a seemingly sweet and talented person. Since she got the idea of auditioning for Ginny from her brother who said she reminded him of the character, Wright has enjoyed a blossoming career. Besides Potter, Wright has appeared in The Sea, After the Dark, and Before I Sleep.
- Photo: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Warner Bros. Pictures
Oh, Draco - poor little racist rich boy. But once you meet Lucius and Narcissa, you kind of get it. Always trying to foil Harry and his mates, Draco surrounds himself with thick-headed cronies. Once he realizes what goes into being a pure-blood Death Eater, though, he’s not really down with the violence and murder the position requires.
Turns out, Draco actually might have a decent soul tucked in that well-fitted wizard’s cape, but it takes seven books and eight movies to get there.
- Photo: DFree / Shutterstock.com
Felton has done all right for himself since his days of the blonde ambition tour of Draco. Right out of the gate, he landed Rise of the Planet of the Apes then quickly went on to appear in The Apparition, Belle, Murder in the First, and Against the Sun. Felton seems to have easily cast off his Draco persona.
