Harry Potter: Where Are They Now?

We grew up with their questionable hairstyles and magical mishaps, but with Rupert Grint - aka Ron Weasley - celebrating his 27th birthday on August 24th, we decided to check in on the cast of the Harry Potter movies. Just where are they now?

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)

After playing such an iconic character on the big screen for most of his youth, you’d forgive Radcliffe for not being able to convince audiences that he could portray anyone else. But at only 17 years old he did just that when, on a break from filming the Harry Potter films, he signed on to the West End revival of the controversial play Equus – which included one memorable scene that required Dan to flash his wand to the audience. 

More recently, the boy wonder has found success at the box office with British horror The Woman in Black and indie fave Kill Your Darlings, where the pint-sized babe played American poet Allen Ginsberg.  Next up, Dan’s playing Igor in Victor Frankenstein alongside James McAvoy, and appearing in the no doubt action-packed sequel to magician caper Now You See Me.

Career Highlight Post-Potter: Working as Nylon magazine's receptionist for an hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM2uXBcfLCs

Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley)

Since playing Harry Potter’s trustworthy BFF and eventual love interest for Hermione Granger, Rupert has starred in Broadway show It's Only a Play, and voiced the character of Josh in the recent Postman Pat movie.  Although not as present on the big screen as Daniel and Emma, the talented redhead continues to play interesting offbeat characters, and will next appear in the comedy Moonwalkers.

Career Highlight Post-Potter: Rupert's thank you speech at the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 world premiere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFcjxMbAVPY

Emma Watson (Hermione Granger)

From sassy know-it-all witch to ditzy teen robber in Sophia Coppola’s The Bling Ring, Watson has made the transition from teen star to super successful A-lister look pretty darn easy. The brunette beauty also finds time in her busy schedule – which includes playing Belle in the upcoming live-action musical version of Disney classic Beauty and the Beast – to campaign for gender equality and the empowerment of women in her new role as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador.  No doubt, this one will continue to charm us for years to come!

Career Highlight Post-Potter: "I wanna lead a country one day for all I know."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQgD-yr09tw

Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory)

Pretty boy Diggory may not have lived long enough to graduate from Hogwarts thanks to a pesky Killing Curse, but only three years later the handsome Hufflepuff re-emerged on our screens as sparkly teen dream Edward Cullen, in The Twilight Saga. Currently playing the role of his life as FKA twigs’ boyfriend, Rob can next be seen in Life, a film which sees him play a photographer who is assigned to shoot pictures of iconic film legend James Dean.

Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley)

Since her character found forever love with Harry Potter, Bonnie has not only graduated from the University of the Arts: London College of Communication with a degree in Film and Television Production Management, she has also made her screenwriting and directorial debut with the film Separate We Come, Separate We Go. Bonnie started her own production company called Bon Bon Lumiere and managed to act in four films this past year alone.  So you could forgive her for not having time to, say, master the Spanish dancing lady emoji pose, right?  Wrong.  He doesn’t know how lucky he is that Harry Potter.

Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)

After stumbling across Evanna Lynch’s brilliant Instagram feed, we are pretty convinced that this “aspiring cat” and Luna Lovegood, the dotty upside down magazine reading character she played in Harry Potter, are basically the same wonderfully kooky person. Her grumpy looking cat Lil Puff may disagree, but we’ve fallen in love all over again with this bug-eyed blonde.

Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley)

One of the most promising actors to emerge from Hogwarts, Domhnall Gleeson’s career has gone from strength to strength since playing Bill, Ron’s older brother who developed werewolf tendencies after being attacked by one! Having already slayed in Ex Machina earlier this year, the handsome ginger will star alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy in next year’s much buzzed about The Revenant, but not before he pops up in the new Star Wars film playing an apparently not very nice person called General Hux.

Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour)

French stunner Clémence Poésy has a certain je ne sais quoi about her that we just can’t place, which is why it’s little surprise that the former i-D cover girl has worked in the past as a model, actress, and muse for designers Karl Lagerfeld and Nicolas Ghesquière. Currently playing Elise Wassermann in detective drama The Tunnel, Poésy provided many a LOL quote as Fleur Delacour - Bill Weasley’s eventual wife – but none so better than this one when commenting on Bill’s facial scars: "What do I care how 'e looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk!” Straight out of the Hailee Steinfeld ‘Love Myself’ playbook, that one.

Katie Leung (Cho Chang)

After playing Harry Potter’s first love interest Cho, Katie took a break from imdb.com and attended the University of Arts London and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, before making her stage debut in Jung Chang’s Wild Swans. The Scottish beauty recently starred in the TV miniseries Run and One Child.

Freddie Stroma (Cormac McLaggen)

Proof that playing Quidditch does a body good, Freddie Stroma (who played the slightly smug Slug Club member who fails to makes a lasting impression on Hermione in four Potter films) has been playing a game of peek-a-boo with us on screen over the last few years. Flashing his abs in Pitch Perfect, his perky pecs in British indie 4.3.2.1, and most recently his BUM in UnREAL, a show that follows the lives of a reality show camera crew whilst they film a fake Bachelorette show, we’re not complaining about any of Freddie’s post-Potter career moves.

Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)

It appears that Harry Potter’s arch-nemesis couldn’t be more different from the man who played him on screen, who regularly posts gushy Instagrams declaring his love for his beautiful girlfriend (who FYI played his wife Astoria in Deathly Hallows: Part 2), and fun snaps that show he has a lot of love for the boy wizard!  Another cast member unlikely to disappear from our screens anytime soon, Tom has appeared in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, American TV show Murder in the First and has three films scheduled for release next year.

Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom)

When puberty gives you rock hard abs and you celebrate by posing in your pants on the cover of Attitude!  That’s what Matthew Lewis’ life is like right now and he is totally unrecognisable from the earlier Potter films, which required him to wear a fat suit and fake teeth to get into character, as awkward klutz Neville.  When not starring in British comedy Bluestone 42 or training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Matthew likes to take selfies with universally adored babes like Ariana Grande and Emilia Clarke. 

- By Portis Wasp