PotterHead

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter

Being the star of the Harry Potter films, it’s an understatement to say that Daniel Jacob Radcliffe has had a lot to come to terms with.

Born in the Fulham area of London, on the 23rd of July, 1989, Daniel's interest in acting came very much from his own accord. Years before he would make his film debut as one of the most famous book characters in history, Daniel began acting in school productions - most noticeably playing a monkey.

Though Daniel's parents were not initially very keen on Daniel auditioning for roles in British television adaptations of books, Daniel persisted in his intent to be an actor and finally got the breakthrough role of Charles Dickens's David Copperfield. Before he successfully auditioned for this role, Daniel had narrowly missed out on auditioning for the part of another Charles Dickens's character, Oliver Twist. Unaware of his natural talent for acting, Daniel described getting the role of David Copperfield as "a huge suprise," having beaten hundreds of young male actors to get the part. Daniel's rare talent was already making itself known, and in a big way.

Already having worked with stellar British stars such as Bob Hoskins, and Dame Maggie Smith - who would later star again with him in the Harry Potter movies - Daniel took his next step toward becoming a star. In 2001, he was cast as Mark Pendel in the Tailor of Panama, a film which was an adaptation of the John Le Carré novel and featured major stars such as Pierce Brosnan (James Bond), Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean), Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween and Freaky Friday) and Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). This was the role that gave Daniel the helping hand towards his biggest role to date, Harry Potter.

Ironically enough, Jamie Lee Curtis had commented herself, while filming the Tailor of Panama, that Daniel bore resemblance to Harry. At this time, of course, the search was very much underway to find a boy of Daniel's age and appearance to play Harry Potter. After Curtis had made her suggestion to Daniel's mother, he caught the eye of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone's director, Chris Columbus and producer, David Heyman.

Second Time's a Charm

It's easy to see why Daniel was a front running candidate for the role of Harry Potter. With his previous acting experience, genuine nature and striking resemblance to the boy wizard, this was one role which Daniel was headhunted for. Chris Columbus requested that Daniel attend a private audition for the role. However, Daniel's parents were hesitant, as if worried their son might be unsuccessful in getting this once-in-a-lifetime part, they were very much aware as to what this would do to their son's passion for acting, not to mention his confidence. They declined Chris Columbus's invitation for the audition, but this was most certainly not enough to deter Columbus from casting Daniel as Harry.

One night, as Daniel attended a theatre production of "Stones in Pockets" with his parents, he was spotted in the audience by none other than Harry Potter producer David Heyman and screenwriter Steve Kloves. After Heyman had said hello to Daniel and his parents during the play's interval, he couldn't get the thought of casting Daniel as Harry out of his head, and called Daniel's parents the very next morning. It turned out that Daniel's parents had been having second thoughts about letting him play the part of Harry and agreed to meet David to discuss the conditions of Daniel accepting the role.

As Daniel was just 11 when the discussions were taking place for his potential role of Harry Potter, it is understandable that Marcia and Alan wanted to shield their son from the media and try to keep his life as normal as was possible. Once they were assured that Daniel would be as protected as possible, they agreed to let him audition for the part.

In the Spotlight

As we all know, Daniel's impressive acting qualities secured him the role, and Daniel and his two main co-stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint (who would play Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley) were unveiled to the world in August 2000.

Filming for the first film ended in 2001, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was subsequently released on the 16th November 2001. The world went mad for the first film version of the best-selling series, and Daniel, Rupert and Emma were adorned on the front covers of the world's premiere magazines and newspapers.

Daniel said of the impact of the first film, "I knew it was going to be big news, but I didn't know it was going to be that bigger news because within 20 minutes of the announcement the press were outside my house, apparently, which was pretty funny." This was only the start of Dan's newfound star status.

The trio of Daniel, Rupert and Emma gelled well together and that was apparent both on screen and off. Daniel said, "We're all quite like our characters and Rupert's very funny, Emma's very intelligent and I'm in between because that's, I think, how Harry is."

The first film certainly tested out Daniel's previous acting experience, and he found that he had to really become Harry and to focus on this to be able to make his performance as brilliant as it was. Though it was arduous, Daniel still managed to have a fun time on the set of the film, with the Quidditch scenes being, "very fun to do."

Daniel could only express enthusiasm for his return for the second film, which he marked out as, "probably my favourite."