Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor and producer. He is best known for playing Harry Potter in the Harry Potter film series during his adolescence and early adulthood.

Born and raised in London, Radcliffe made his acting debut at age 10 in BBC One's television film David Copperfield (1999), followed by his cinematic debut in The Tailor of Panama (2001). The same year, he starred in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Over the next 10 years, he played the lead role in seven sequels, culminating with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). During this period, Radcliffe became one of the highest-paid actors in the world, gained worldwide fame, popularity, and critical acclaim, and received many accolades for his performances in the series.

Following the success of the Harry Potter films, Radcliffe portrayed lawyer Arthur Kipps in the horror film The Woman in Black (2012); the poet Allen Ginsberg in the film Kill Your Darlings (2013); Victor Frankenstein's assistant, Igor, in the science fiction fantasy Victor Frankenstein (2015); Manny, a sentient corpse in the comedy-drama Swiss Army Man (2016); technological prodigy Walter Mabry in the heist thriller film Now You See Me 2 (2016); and FBI agent Nate Foster in the critically acclaimed thriller Imperium (2016). Radcliffe began to branch out to stage acting in 2007, starring in the London and New York productions of Equus and in the 2011 Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Since 2018, Radcliffe has starred in the TBS anthology television series Miracle Workers.

Radcliffe has contributed to many charities, including Demelza Hospice Care for Children and The Trevor Project; the latter charity gave him its Hero Award in 2011.

Early life, family, and education
Radcliffe was born in Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, London, England. He is the only child of Alan George Radcliffe and his wife, Marcia Jeannine Gresham (née Jacobson). His mother, who is Jewish, was born in South Africa and raised in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. His father was raised in Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland, in a "very working-class" Protestant family. Radcliffe's maternal ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, Germany, Poland and Russia. In 2019, Radcliffe explored both sides of his family history in series 16 of BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? Radcliffe’s parents had both acted as children. His father is a literary agent. His mother is a casting agent and was involved in several films for the BBC, including The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Walk Away and I Stumble.

Radcliffe was educated at three independent schools for boys: Redcliffe School, a day school in Chelsea's Redcliffe Square; Sussex House School, a day school in Chelsea's Cadogan Square; and 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). Attending school became difficult for Radcliffe after the release of the first Harry Potter film. Some fellow pupils became hostile, though he says they were just trying to "have a crack at the kid that plays Harry Potter" rather than acting out of jealousy.

As his acting career began to consume his schedule, Radcliffe continued his education through on-set tutors. He admitted he was not a very good student, considering school useless and finding the work "really difficult". He achieved A grades in the three AS-level exams that he took in 2006, but decided to take a break from education and did not go to college or university. Part of his reasoning was that he already knew he wanted to act and write, and that it would be difficult to have a normal college experience. "The paparazzi, they'd love it", he told Details magazine in 2007. "If there were any parties going on, they'd be tipped off as to where they were."