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Daniel Radcliffe biography

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Quick Facts

  • NAME: Daniel Radcliffe
  • OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Theater Actor
  • BIRTH DATE: July 23, 1989 (Age: 23)
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: England
  • Full Name: Daniel Jacob Radcliffe
  • ZODIAC SIGN: Leo

Best Known For

Daniel Radcliffe is an English actor who rose to international stardom as Harry Potter in the series of films based on the hugely popular books by J.K. Rowling.

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Synopsis

Daniel Radcliffe’s parents initially refused to let him audition for the role, but a chance meeting with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone director Chris Columbus led to an audition. Those involved with the film were in overwhelming agreement that Radcliffe would make the perfect Harry,

and the books' legions of fans seemed to agree. He reprised his role in each of the first film’s sequels. He's recently gone on to perform on Broadway in plays such as How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (2011).

Early Life

The only child of a literary agent and a casting director, Daniel Radcliffe has achieved international stardom for his work in the Harry Potter films, adaptations of the beloved best-sellers by J. K. Rowling. With the series' end in 2011, the young actor now works to establish himself as more than just the bespectacled wizard in training.

Radcliffe made his acting debut in the 1999 television movie David Copperfield, playing the young version of the title character. He soon landed a role on the big screen in 2001's spy thriller The Tailor of Panama with Pierce Brosnan and Jamie Lee Curtis. But even before this film's release, Radcliffe made headlines when he was cast as the lead in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The 11-year-old actor joined fellow unknown performers, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's friends Ron and Hermione, on one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2001.

Harry Potter Fame

Released in November 2011, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone proved to be a box-office smash. Audiences adored Radcliffe as the lead character, an orphaned boy who attends a special school for wizards in training. And the fever surrounding the series simply seemed to grow with each new film.

The eight-film series spanned more than a decade of Radcliffe's life. These movies actually show him growing up from a tween to a young man. And they provided him with the opportunity to work with many distinguished actors, including Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter. Radcliffe finds Oldman's and Rickman's careers particularly inspiring, telling Back Stage that "They never, ever stop trying to get better and working with people they think are going to bring something new out of them."

While some may wonder whether he lost a part of his youth to the fame and success of Harry Potter, Radcliffe seems to have no regrets about the nearly all-consuming project. "They've been great. For the most part I've been happy every single day. And all the times I've been unhappy, it's never been anything to do with Potter," he told Details magazine. In later interviews, Radcliffe admitted that he had a drinking problem during his teens and occasionally went to film scenes as Harry Potter still drunk from the night before. He has been sober since 2010.

In 2011, the Harry Potter series ended its run with the then-record-breaking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. The movie brought in roughly $168 million in its opening weekend.

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