Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor.

He rose to fame at age 12 when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name.

Daniel Jacob Radcliffe was born at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, London, England on 23 July 1989, the only child of casting agent Marcia Jeannine Gresham (née Jacobson) and literary agent Alan George Radcliffe.

His Jewish mother was born in South Africa, traces her ancestry to Jewish immigrants from Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia, and was raised in the English town of Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex.

His Northern Irish father was raised in a "very working-class" Protestant family in Banbridge in County Down.

After one of his mother's casting agent friends secured him an audition, he made his acting debut at age ten in BBC One's two-part adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield (1999), portraying the title character as a young boy.

In 2000, producer David Heyman met Radcliffe while he was at the theatre with his father, a well-known literary agent who Heyman was friends with.

He asked him to audition for the role of Harry Potter for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the best-selling book by British author J. K. Rowling.

Rowling had been searching for an unknown British actor to personify the character, and the film's director Chris Columbus recalled thinking, "This is what I want. This is Harry Potter" after he saw a video of the young actor in David Copperfield.

Eight months later, following several auditions, Radcliffe was selected to play the part.

Rowling endorsed the selection, saying: "I don't think Chris Columbus could have found a better Harry."

Radcliffe's parents originally turned down the offer, as they had been told that it would involve six films shot in Los Angeles.

Warner Bros. instead offered Radcliffe a two-film contract with shooting in the UK; Radcliffe was unsure at the time if he would act in more than two Harry Potter films.

Radcliffe portrayed Potter in all eight films in the series, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and concluding with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011).

The series made him one of the world's highest-paid actors.

He made his film debut in The Tailor of Panama (2001), an American film based on John le Carré's 1996 spy novel, which was a moderate commercial success.

The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone took place in 2001.

Radcliffe received a seven-figure salary for the lead role, but asserted that the fee was "not that important" to him; his parents chose to invest the money for him.

The film was highly popular and was met with positive reviews, and critics took notice of Radcliffe: "Radcliffe is the embodiment of every reader's imagination. It is wonderful to see a young hero who is so scholarly looking and filled with curiosity and who connects with very real emotions, from solemn intelligence and the delight of discovery to deep family longing," wrote Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle.

A year later, Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series.

Reviewers were positive about the lead actors' performances but had polarising opinions on the film overall.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) was the third film in the series.

He achieved A grades in the three AS level exams that he took in 2006, but decided to take a break from education and did not attend university.

Part of his reasoning was he already knew he wanted to be an actor and screenwriter, and it would be difficult to have a normal college experience.

Radcliffe first expressed a desire to act at age five.

Radcliffe branched out to stage acting in 2007, starring in the West End and Broadway productions of Equus.

He returned to Broadway in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (2011), earning a Grammy Award nomination.

Radcliffe has contributed to many charities, including Demelza Hospice Care for Children and the Trevor Project; the latter awarded him its Hero Award in 2011 for his advocacy with LGBTQ youth.

Radcliffe also expanded his film roles, acting in a variety of genres such as the horror film The Woman in Black (2012), surreal drama Swiss Army Man (2016), thriller Now You See Me 2 (2016), and comedy The Lost City (2022).

He also portrayed Allen Ginsberg in the biopic Kill Your Darlings (2013) and "Weird Al" Yankovic in the musical Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022).

The latter earned him nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a British Academy Television Award.

His other Broadway roles include Martin McDonagh's drama The Cripple of Inishmaan (2014) and Stephen Sondheim's musical Merrily We Roll Along (2023).

His other West End roles were in revivals of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (2017) and Samuel Becket's Endgame (2020).

He has also played multiple roles in the anthology comedy television series Miracle Workers since 2019.

In 2019, he explored both sides of his family history in the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? Radcliffe's parents had both acted as children.

As a casting agent, his mother was involved in BBC productions including The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

Radcliffe was educated at three private schools for boys in London: Redcliffe School, Sussex House School, and the City of London School.

After the release of the first Harry Potter film, attending school proved difficult for him as some fellow pupils became hostile, though he states they were just trying to "have a crack at the kid that plays Harry Potter" rather than acting out of jealousy.

As his acting career began to consume his schedule, he continued his education through on-set tutors.

He has admitted to not being a very good student, considering school useless and finding the work "really difficult".