Courageous Nerd

Daniel Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter for a decade. What was he in before becoming The Boy Who Lived?

Throughout his childhood and early adult years, Daniel Radcliffe gained worldwide fame for playing boy wizard Harry Potter in the eight part film series of the same name.

He was joined by other young actors including Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Tom Felton and Matthew Lewis.

Unlike the majority of the cast’s younger actors, Radcliffe already had professional experience under his belt before stepping into Hogwarts’ halls.

In 1999, two years before the first Harry Potter film, Radcliffe starred in a BBC television adaptation of David Copperfield, based on the 1850 novel written by Charles Dickens.

The young actor played a younger version of the title character, with Ciarán McMenamin as his older counterpart.

This project also featured many other future Harry Potter stars, including Maggie Smith (Professor Minerva McGonagall), Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge), Dawn French (Gryffindor Tower’s Fat Lady) and Zoe Wanamaker (Madam Hooch).

Radcliffe would later attribute his past working relationship with Smith as a reason for getting the role of Harry Potter.

In 2001, before the release of the first Harry Potter film, Radcliffe made his feature film debut in The Tailor of Panama, a spy thriller.

The film starred an all-star cast, featuring Pierce Brosnan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geoffrey Rush and Harold Pinter, among others.

Another future Harry Potter actor, Brendan Gleeson (Alastor ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody) also appeared.

On 16 November 2001, the first Harry Potter film was released.

Known as The Philosopher’s Stone in the United Kingdom and The Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States, it spawned seven sequels and became the third highest grossing film franchise of all time.

Radcliffe continues a successful post-Harry Potter acting career to this day. His films have included The Woman In Black (2012), Kill Your Darlings (2013), Swiss Army Man (2016), Jungle (2017), Guns Akimbo (2019) and Escape From Pretoria (2020).

He has also delved into television, with starring roles in A Young Doctor’s Notebook (2012), The Simpsons (2010, 2014, 2018) and Miracle Workers (2019-present).