It must’ve been Daniel’s destiny to become the famous young wizard from Hogwarts School of Wizardry. But according to this brief biography for young adults, it’s a surprise that the British actor got the opportunity to portray Harry Potter at all!
“He should be Harry Potter.” – actor Jamie Lee Curtis, while filming
David Copperfield
In the beginning there were a few factors that almost kept Daniel from the magical role that would change his life forever. For example, did you know that…
…60,000 boys aged nine to eleven answered the casting call to play Harry Potter. But Daniel wasn’t one of them! In the beginning, Daniel’s parents, who had been actors themselves, refused to allow their son to audition. They wouldn’t even meet with the director, Chris Columbus.
…Daniel never wanted to be famous at all! He did want to be an actor, though, a fact he told his parents when he was only 5 years old.
…Daniel was never a big, big Harry Potter fan like some of his classmates. But he admits he had read a few of the books by J. K. Rowling before he took on the role.
“It was embarrassing.” – Daniel Radcliffe, on his first acting role ever
Daniel told
E! Online that the first acting part he remembers was that of a monkey in a school play when he was about 6 years old. His first professional role was the BBC production of
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. The story is about a boy whose life was dramatically different from his own. While Daniel’s family was upper middle class – the character David’s family was dirt poor. Daniel had attended private school – but David had to work in a factory to support his family while his father was in prison.
Blue Banner Biography is relatively short (only 32 pages) and only covers Daniel’s career up to 2004 when the film
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released. And while a statement in the Acknowledgments section in the front of the book claims that the book has been “thoroughly researched” page 7 identifies the actor as Daniel
Alan Radcliffe. His middle name is
Jacob according to several other sources, including www.danradcliffe.com
In the back is a Chronology and a Filmography, which is expanded here to include the most recent movies:
1999 David Copperfield
2001 The Tailor of Panama
2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2006 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 December Boys
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Want to know more about the woman who created Harry Potter? Click on the link below to read the book review on the biography
Conversations with J. K. Rowling.