Daniel Radcliffe

The son of a Jewish immigrant and a working-class protestant man, he was educated at three independent day schools. First expressing his desire to act at five years old, he earned his first professional role for a BBC One adaptation of David Copperfield (1999), playing a young version of the character. He made his film debut a few years later with The Tailor of Panama (2001). He was specifically asked to audition for Harry Potter by the producer David Heyman, who saw him in David Copperfield. After showing the miniseries to the director, Chris Columbus, Heyman states Columbus exclaimed “This is Harry Potter!” Though the original six film contract for work in LA was originally turned down by Radcliffe’s parents, the producers made a compromise to film in the UK and shorten the contract to only two films. His parents accepted, and in 2001, he starred as the title role in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone). The role catapulted the young actor into global superstardom, and he continued the series for the remaining films in the series (Chamber of Secrets (2002), Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Goblet of Fire (2005), Order of the Phoenix (2007), Half Blood Prince (2009), Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), and Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)), changing directors three times. He was nominated for Saturn Awards for the first five films. During that time, he also appeared in Rod Hardy’s December Boys (2007), played himself in an episode of Extras (2006), starred in the television film My Boy Jack (2007), and starred in his first theatrical production, the West End revival of Equus. The show made news, as the part required Radcliffe to show full nudity. Due to nudity laws in the US, the producers were not allowed to transfer the show over to Broadway until Radcliffe had turned 18, so the team had to take a fairly long hiatus before the transfer actually occurred. When he was 18, he passed his A Levels, but decided against going to college in order to continue acting. In 2011, after the final Harry Potter film had been released, he appeared in another Broadway revival, this time in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (2011-2012), co-starring John Larroquette and Tammy Blanchard. The show was a hit, and the cast album was nominated for Best Musical Theater Album at the Grammy Awards in 2012.

His first major film after the Harry Potter series ended was the gothic horror film, The Woman in Black (2012). 2013 showed the actor starting to branch out to independent features like The F Word, Kill Your Darlings, and Horns. He had a very memorable cameo in the Amy Schumer comedy Trainwreck (2015), with images of Radcliff walking happily with dozens of dogs circulating the internet as a meme. The same year, he starred in Victor Frankenstein as the titular hero’s sidekick, Igor. Though the film was both a critical and commercial flop, it didn’t stop Radcliffe from taking unexpected roles in films. One of the prime examples of this is his role as a farting corpse in the surrealist comedy-drama Swiss Army Man (2016). That same year, he appeared in Imperium (2016) and Now You See Me 2 (2016). In 2019, he starred with Samara Weaving in the action film Guns Akimbo, where his character, who had pistols bolted to his hands, was forced into a fighting tournament to the death. The same year, his TBS series Miracle Workers (2019-2021) premiered. He also starred as Tim Jenkin in the thriller film Escape from Pretoria, based on the real-life prison escape by three young political prisoners from jail in South Africa in 1979 and he played the role of Prince Frederick in the Netflix special Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt opposite Ellie Kemper. Radcliffe reunited with multiple cast members of the Harry Potter film series for an HBO Max special titled Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, which was released on 1 January 2022. He starred as the villain in the box office smash The Lost City with Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Brad Pitt. He played musician "Weird Al" Yankovic in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a biographical film produced for The Roku Channel, He just received an Emmy nomination for his role. Radcliffe splits his time between homes in the Fulham area of London and the West Village neighborhood of New York City's Manhattan borough. He has been in a relationship with American actress Erin Darke since 2012, after having met on the set of Kill Your Darlings. Radcliffe is supportive of the LGBTQ community. Speaking out against homophobia, he began filming public service announcements in 2009 for The Trevor Project, promoting awareness of gay teen suicide prevention. He first learnt of the organization while performing Equus on Broadway in 2008 and has contributed financially to it. He said in a 2010 interview, "I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it." In the same interview, he stressed the importance of public figures advocating for equal rights. He received The Trevor Project's Hero Award in 2011 for his contributions.