Background

Ethnicity: Radcliffe's father is from a Northern Irish Protestant background, while his mother was born in South Africa, to a Jewish family (from Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Germany).

Daniel Jacob Radcliffe was born on July 23, 1989 in Fulham, London, England, to casting agent Marcia Gresham (née Jacobson) and literary agent Alan Radcliffe.

Education

Radcliffe was educated at two independent schools for boys: at Sussex House School, a day school in Cadogan Square in Chelsea in London, followed by the City of London School, a day school on the North Bank of the River Thames in London's financial district, known as the City of London. As his acting career began to consume his schedule, Radcliffe continued his education through on-set tutors.

Career

David Radcliffe did perform in a school play at age six - cast as a monkey - and enjoyed the experience so much that he continued to ask his parents to let him try out for other shows. When casting began for a film adaptation of nineteenth-century English author Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, Radcliffe renewed his pleadings with his parents. They initially refused to let him audition, concerned that he was too young. By the time they had changed their minds, it was too late - the film had been cast.

Another opportunity arose when, in the late 1990s, a television production based on another classic Dickens novel, David Copperfield, was searching for an actor. Radcliffe auditioned for the role of the young David Copperfield, and he won the part, thus beginning his career as a professional actor. The film, which was jointly produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States, aired in 1999 and earned positive reviews. Radcliffe's performance was praised, in a review at the Web site culturevulture.net, for being believable and down-to-earth: "Daniel Radcliffe has a naturalistic presence - rare enough in child actors - and he seems like a real boy." Radcliffe later earned a small role in the feature film The Tailor of Panama (2001), portraying the son of characters played by Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis. Starring Pierce Brosnan and directed by John Boorman, the film - which was based on a book by esteemed spy novelist John LeCarré - was modestly successful at the box office and earned the admiration of a number of reviewers.

Radcliffe went overnight from being a boy who dabbled in acting to the instantly famous actor who would embody Harry Potter in a highly anticipated film adaptation. The first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in England and Canada), had made a literary superstar of author J. K. Rowling. Millions of fans all over the globe were ready to shower their intense Potter devotion to the film - or to condemn it to obscurity if it betrayed the spirit of the beloved novel. To the relief of the book's fans, Rowling was involved in the film's casting and other aspects of production. As reported by Dana Harris in Variety, the author gave Radcliffe her seal of approval: "Having seen Dan Radcliffe's screen test, I don't think Chris Columbus could have found a better Harry." In the midst of his newfound celebrity, Radcliffe began shooting the first film, joined by a cast of notable English actors and fellow novices Rupert Grint and Emma Watson portraying Harry's best pals Ron and Hermione.

Released in November of 2001, the first film in the series scored a huge success at the box office, earning close to $1 billion worldwide. The movie chronicles Harry Potter's journey from his unhappy life with an emotionally abusive aunt and uncle to his enchanted existence as a young wizard learning his trade at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Thrilled at the prospect of seeing Rowling's vividly described world come to life on the big screen, millions of fans in countries all over the world flocked to theaters. Some fans, and many critics, left theaters somewhat disappointed, complaining that the film was competent and faithful to the book but lacked sparkle and imagination. Mindful of the importance of staying true to the much-loved book, the filmmakers had tread carefully, creating a film that many described as a slavish imitation. Time magazine's Richard Corliss expressed the feelings of several reviewers when he wrote, "The film lacks moviemaking buoyancy - the feeling of soaring in space that Rowling's magic-carpet prose gives the reader." Even many who found the film lacking approved of the casting and praised the actors' performances, including Newsweek 's David Ansen: "His eyes dancing with intelligence, Daniel Radcliffe is a mercifully unsentimental Harry Potter, likable and inquisitive but slightly aloof, his self-possession the necessary defense of an orphan raised by hostile Muggles [non-magical humans]."

The second chapter in the projected seven-film series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was released one year later, in November of 2002. Again approaching the $1 billion mark in global box-office tallies, the film intensified Pottermania while drawing some of the same criticism that had been aimed at the first. Some reviewers praised the actors and filmmakers for what they perceived as increased confidence and adventurousness in the second film. Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, described the film as "visually alive," concluding his review with the exclamation, "What a glorious movie."

Others, however, felt that for all its faithfulness to the original work, this film failed to capture the wonder and glory of Rowling's book. The San Francisco Chronicle 's Mick LaSalle wrote: "It's still possible, at times, to tell that Chamber of Secrets has, at its foundation, a work of extraordinary imagination and spiritual generosity. But just as often the film is as monotonous and despair-inducing as three hours on an airplane with nothing to read but the in-flight magazine." Regardless of any negative reviews, the Chamber of Secrets increased the media and fan frenzy surrounding Radcliffe. Even as he was recognized and approached by fans more and more often, however, the young actor tried hard to continue his normal life, getting together with friends and attending school whenever he wasn't filming.

A year and a half after the release of Chamber of Secrets, the third installment of the film series was released, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban signaled a number of significant changes. A new director, Alfonso Cuaron, had taken over, replacing Columbus, who needed a break after the intense workload of the first two films. Cuaron had achieved fame - and won an Academy Award - for his racy Mexican coming-of-age film Y Tu Mamà Tambièn (2001), but he won the Harry Potter job in part because of his direction of the film A Little Princess, a 1995 children's film that happened to be one of Rowling's favorites. While Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson were initially devastated by Columbus's departure from the series, they eventually embraced Cuaron and credited him with expanding their acting abilities. Cuaron began his acquaintance with the young actors by asking them to write an essay about their characters, prompting them to think about their characters' personality and motivation in ways they had not done with the first two films.

Other major changes involved Radcliffe and his fellow "child" actors, all of whom had grown up considerably during the time between Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban. In spite of the filmmakers' best efforts to complete the films quickly, the young actors were maturing faster than the characters, causing tremendous speculation about whether they would be able to continue in their roles for all seven films. For the time being, however, the actors' plunge into adolescence suited the darker material in Prisoner of Azkaban, which brings to the fore the sense of frustration and isolation felt by so many during the transition from childhood to adulthood. In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry is forced to confront complex and sometimes unpleasant realities—about himself, his parents' murders, and the possible betrayal of his parents by their friend Sirius Black. Radcliffe explained to Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly that his deep discussions with Cuaron about Harry's emotional state helped him immeasurably. "I'll forever be in his debt," Radcliffe told Jensen. "It [Cuaron's guidance] basically affected the way I approached everything after that."

The series' new direction earned a higher degree of praise from critics and continued to draw in record-breaking crowds at theaters around the world. Opening on June 4, 2004, Prisoner of Azkaban earned nearly $100 million in its first weekend alone. Radcliffe's fame continued to swell, with his every move making headlines. The press wrote that he had surpassed singer Charlotte Church to become the second wealthiest teenager in Britain, behind Prince Harry, grandson of the queen of England. Asked by the Cincinnati Post how it feels to grow up in the public eye, Radcliffe shared his strategy for retaining normalcy: "I never read the articles or read what people are saying about me on the Internet. If you read all that you just become so self-conscious." Instead of fretting about the lack of privacy that accompanies fame, Radcliffe focuses on the benefits of his association with Harry Potter. He has had the opportunity to meet and work with many actors he admires, he learned from Prisoner of Azkaban costar Gary Oldman how to play the bass guitar, and his grades have actually improved since he became a film star. He has developed a passion for movies and thinks about one day becoming a writer or director. Cuaron speculated to Jensen that Radcliffe would grow up to be either an actor, a director or a rock star. When asked which career he thought he might choose, Radcliffe displayed the self-confidence he has acquired in recent years, querying, "Can't I be all three?"

Radcliffe’s other film credits included the Australian coming-of-age December Boys (2007); What If (2013), a romantic comedy; Kill Your Darlings (2013), in which he portrayed American poet Allen Ginsberg; the supernatural thriller Horns (2013); the thriller Victor Frankenstein (2015), based on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s classic horror novel; and the heist flick Now You See Me 2 (2016). He won plaudits for his portrayal of a corpse who befriends a man (Paul Dano) stranded on a desert island in the surreal comedy Swiss Army Man (2016). Radcliffe followed with Jungle (2017), which recounts the true story of a man’s harrowing effort to survive in the Amazon jungle after a rafting accident. He later starred in the action comedy Guns Akimbo and lent his voice to the animated Playmobil: The Movie (both 2019).

Radcliffe also appeared on television in the British movie My Boy Jack (2007) and in the series A Young Doctor’s Notebook (2012-2013). In 2019 he was cast in the show Miracle Workers, playing a low-level angel working in the offices of Heaven, Inc.

Off-screen, Radcliffe starred in Peter Shaffer’s Equus, which opened in London’s West End in 2007. He played the challenging role of psychotically deranged teenager Alan Strang, whose unnatural love of horses drives him to blind six of them with a hoof pick. He debuted on Broadway in Equus in 2008 and also appeared in a 2011 Broadway revival of the satirical musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and in a 2014 Broadway production of The Cripple of Inishmaan. Off-Broadway, he starred in Privacy (2016) at New York’s Public Theater. Radcliffe returned to Broadway in 2018, playing a scrupulous fact-checker in the stage adaptation of the book The Lifespan of a Fact (2012).

Achievements

• 

  Radcliffe is best known for playing the wizard-in-training Harry Potter in the landmark Harry Potter film franchise. The role earned him numerous awards including multiple Teen Choice Awards and MTV Movie Awards as well as a National Movie Award for Best Male Performance in 2007.
  
  He has been ranked as the Most Valuable Young Stars by the Forbes magazine.
  
  His portrait was displayed in London’s prestigious National Portrait Gallery and thus became the first youngest non-royal to have his portrait displayed there. He was 14 at that time and it was made by the artist Stuart Pearson Wright.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Escape from Pretoria

    (Escape from Pretoria is a thriller film co-written and di...)

    2020
  • My Boy Jack | Prime Video

    (Daniel Radcliffe, in his first television role since Harr...)

    2007
  • Now You See Me 2

    (The Four Horsemen return for a second mind-bending advent...)

    2016
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    (In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry, Ron a...)

    2004
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    (When Harry Potter's name emerges from the Goblet of Fire,...)

    2005
  • David Copperfield

    (The tale of David Copperfield from his birth and idyllic ...)

    1999
  • Trainwreck

    (Amy (Amy Schumer) enjoys a life free from stifling romant...)

    2014
  • Beast Of Burden

    (Pilot Sean Haggerty (Daniel Radcliffe) must deliver cocai...)

    2018
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

    (Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission...)

    2011
  • The Woman in Black

    (Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a widowed lawyer, is sen...)

    2012
  • The Tailor Of Panama

    (The Tailor of Panama is a 2001 Irish-American spy thrille...)

    2001
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

    (Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission...)

    2010
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    (Lord Voldemort has returned, but the Ministry of Magic is...)

    2007
  • Horns

    (Blamed for the murder of his girlfriend, Ignatius Perrish...)

    2013
  • What If

    (What if is the story of medical school dropout Wallace (D...)

    2013
  • Kill Your Darlings

    (A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the be...)

    2013
  • Lost in London

    (Woody Harrelson takes a live, single take misadventure th...)

    2017
  • Playmobil: The Movie

    (A young woman travels to the animated world of Playmobil ...)

    2019
  • Imperium

    (An FBI agent goes under cover to disrupt a local terroris...)

    2016
  • Guns Akimbo

    (A guy relies on his newly acquired gladiator skills to sa...)

    2020
  • Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

    (Voldemort is tightening his grip on Hogwarts™ and it is n...)

    2009
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

    (Harry returns to Hogwarts, still famous and a hero, when ...)

    2002
  • Jungle

    (A group of friends trek into the Amazon jungle with a gui...)

    2017
  • December Boys

    (Four teens have no hopes of joining a family and form the...)

    2007
  • Swiss Army Man | Prime Video

    (Hank (Paul Dano) is stranded on a deserted island and giv...)

    2016
  • Victor Frankenstein

    (In their attempts to aid humanity, Dr. Frankenstein (Jame...)

    2015
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    (Based on the wildly popular J.K. Rowling's book about a y...)

    2001

• TV series

  • A Young Doctor's Notebook and Other Stories

    (Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe star in this wry comedy dra...)

    2012
  • Miracle Workers

    (Miracle Workers stars Steve Buscemi as God, who is ready ...)

    2019

Religion

Regarding religious belief, Daniel has declared himself as an atheist but he also gives respect to his parent’s religion. "There was never [religious] faith in the house. I think of myself as being Jewish and Irish, despite the fact that I’m English."

Politics

Daniel has been a vocal supporter of Obama in the United States. Being from London, he was originally a supporter of the Liberal Democrat party but, when disappointed by their head, switched to the Labour Party. In the United States, he is not shy about talking about his love for Obama. He said that Obama is a, “pioneer and a symbol of progress”. He has also accused Hollywood of not being as progressive as they think, saying racism still exists even within their community.

He once said: “I think the reason why people don’t vote is because the politicians are all so central now, it doesn’t seem to matter who you vote for.”

Views

Apart from his work in cinema, Radcliffe is also renowned for his philanthropic works. Besides being one of the key contributors for the Demelza Hospice Care for Children, he established the Trevor Project which aims at the prevention of suicide in youth in the LGBT community. For his work, he was honored with the Hero Award in 2011.

Quotations: “There’s no blueprint for where I should be. I see myself as a young, good actor who still has a lot to learn. There’s nobody at any point in their career who is the finished article.”

“Go badly and honestly through the world. Learn to love the fact that there is nobody else quite like you.”

“It’s mainly about working hard and proving to people you’re serious about it and stretching yourself and learning.”

“You never want to be forced to do something. But the world around you starts to influence you in ways you never expected.”

“If you can wake up every day and be emotionally open and honest regardless of what you get back from the world then you can be the hero of your own story.”

Membership

Radcliffe is a member and a supporter of different charity organizations, such as Book Aid International, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Charity Projects Entertainment Fund, Comic Relief, Debate Mate, Demelza House, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Kids Wish Network, Luke Neuhedel Foundation, Lupus Foundation of America, Northampton Welfare Rights Advice Service, Only Make Believe, Project Last Stand, Rebuilding Sri Lanka, Robert F Kennedy Memorial, Save the Children, Small Steps Project, The Make A Difference Trust, The Trevor Project, UNICEF and others.

• Charity Projects Entertainment Fund , United States

• 

  Comic Relief , United States

• 

  Debate Mate , United States

• 

  Demelza House , United States

• 

  Great Ormond Street Hospital , United States

• 

  Book Aid International

• 

  Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

• 

  Kids Wish Network

• 

  Lupus Foundation of America , United States

• 

  Only Make Believe , United States

• Project Last Stand , United States

• Rebuilding Sri Lanka , Sri Lanka

• Robert F Kennedy Memorial , United States

• 

  Save The Children , United States

• 

  Small Steps Project , United States

• The Make A Difference Trust , United States

• The Make A Difference Trust , United States

• 

  The Trevor Project , United States

• 

  Luke Neuhedel Foundation

• Northampton Welfare Rights Advice Service

Personality

Daniel possesses a cheerful and positive personality.

He likes to share a little part of his earning among the needy people. This shows that he has a caring nature and a lovely heart that can feel the pain of others and want to support poor children.

He is not on social media.

During his later years on the set of Harry Potter, he was nicknamed Harry Puffer as a result of his smoking habit.

He is known for losing his cigarette lighters, and regularly asks his fans if he can borrow one.

Daniel Radcliffe has described himself as having an addictive personality and has said that he almost developed an alcohol addiction in 2009.

As well as acting, Daniel Radcliffe has a talent for poetry. His has published some work under the name Jacob Gershon.

His favorite TV show: The Simpsons, films: The Royal Tenenbaums, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Moulin Rouge, 12 Angry Men.

His favourite comic book hero: Spider-Man.

Physical Characteristics: Radcliffe's body carries 57kg weight. His chest size is around 38 inches, waist size is almost 30 inches and his biceps are of 16 inches. He has a fair complexion. His hair color is dark brown and his beautiful eyes are blue. The height of Harry Potter is 1.65 meters. While talking about his height, he told to MTV News that:

"I didn’t get particularly worried because as long as Emma and Rupert weren’t shooting up too quickly either, I’d look (fine). We’d all look relatively (the same height). It was all going to be okay."

Over the years, the actor slowly accepted his lack of height but here’s how he deals with it: "I was worried on a personal level because I wanted to be slightly taller than I am, ideally. But I’ve now accepted it."

In 2008, Radcliffe told the media that he suffers from a neurological disorder development coordination disorder. He said that it gets so bad that he cannot even do day to day activities.

During his childhood, he suffered from memory problems i.e dyslexia due to which he could not gain much success in school.

Radcliffe told Wired that if he did get tattoos, makeup artists would likely end up needing to cover them up for movie and TV roles. "Every time I think about getting one, in my head, the voices of all my makeup artist friends come into my head being like, 'Screw you. You think we want to come in half an hour earlier to cover your tattoos before you do a topless scene? We don't," the actor explained.

Interests

• writing, running, reading

• Politicians

  Barack Obama

• Writers

  Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan, Holes by Louis Sachar, The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

• Artists

  Stuart Pearson Wright

• Sport & Clubs

  Soccer (fave team is Fulham), Formula One Racing, gymnastics

• Music & Bands

  Jane’s Addiction, The Rage Against The Machine, Brendan Benson, Zwan, Muse, Blur, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stratovarius, The Beatles, Huey Lewis, The News, Tom Robinson, Sex Pistols, The Zutons, Razorlight, The Libertines, Kaiser Chiefs, Hopes Of The States, Bloc Party, The Futureheads, The Killers, The Strokes, The Clash, The Pixies

Connections

Since 2012 Daniel Radcliffe has been dating an American actress Erin Darke.

Father:

Alan George Radcliffe

Mother:

Marcia Jeannine Gresham

She was involved in several films for the BBC, including The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Walk Away And I Stumble.

Friend:

Gary Oldman

girlfriend:

Erin Darke

Erin, who works in the casting department in movies and is also an actress, started dating Radcliffe in late 2012. They first met during the filming of Kill Your Darlings. There were rumors of their engagement in mid 2014, but Ian Darke, Erin Darke’s dad denied of any such rumors.

colleague:

Mark Ruffalo

colleague:

Jesse Eisenberg

colleague:

Woody Harrelson

colleague:

Morgan Freeman

colleague:

Jon Hamm

References

• Daniel Radcliffe Takes readers through Daniel Radcliffe's journey as the lead character in the popular Harry Potter film series; discusses life and career highlights from birth to present day.
  2012
• Daniel Radcliffe: Film and Stage Star (Hot Celebrity Biographies) Daniel Radcliffe may not be a wizard, but he has put quite a spell on his fans. He became an instant celebrity at the age of eleven when he won the role of everybody's favorite boy wizard, Harry Potter. Radcliffe is proving he's more than a teen heartthrob he s a talented actor whose career has just begun.
  2009
• Daniel Radcliffe: The Biography The true story of the Half-Blood Prince who has become a full-blooded actor and level-headed young adult Danielle Radcliffe went from shy schoolboy to the world's most famous boy wizard overnight. Just 10 when he won the iconic role of Harry Potter, Daniel has often had to beat his own demons as he met the challenge of combining childhood with being a child star.
  2015
• One Day in the Life of Daniel Radcliffe Captured on January 13 2009, One Day in the Life of Daniel Radcliffe comprises 50 black and white and color images of Radcliffe captured during his first experience of working in New York and on Broadway.
  2009
• Daniel Radcliffe Quotes Daniel Radcliffe is an English actor, who was the leading protagonist of the mega-successful Harry Potter franchisee. Starting off his career at a young age (10 years), this actor also featured on various other popular movies such as Now You See Me 2, The Woman in Black, Kill Your Darlings, Victor Frankenstein and Swiss Army Man.
  2019