Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)

Daniel Radcliffe, who started his Harry Potter journey at age 11, may forever be the Boy Who Lived — and he’s perfectly okay with that.

“I think it’s something that I’ve become more and more comfortable with,” he said in a 2019 interview on PeopleTV’s Couch Surfing. “As much as I’m very happy to be doing other films now, I’m always genuinely very honored when someone comes up and says, ‘You were a huge part of my childhood.'”

Since the Harry Potter franchise came to an end, Radcliffe has made a conscious effort to explore a variety of genres, from horror (2012’s The Woman in Black and 2013’s Horns) and rom-coms (2013’s What If) to period pieces (A Young Doctor’s Notebook) and biopics (2013’s Kill Your Darlings). He returned to fantasy as Igor in Victor Frankenstein (2015); went indie with Swiss Army Man (2016); and starred in other films such as Imperium (2016), The Lost City (2022), and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022), winning a Critics’ Choice Award for the latter.

Radcliffe has also made his mark on the stage, with critically acclaimed runs in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and The Lifespan of a Fact on Broadway. In 2022, he starred in New York Theatre Workshop’s Off-Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along, transferring to Broadway in the fall of 2023 and winning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 2024.

During his downtime, Radcliffe works with the Trevor Project (among other charities); writes poetry (under a pen name); and unwinds by playing fantasy football and learning complex rap lyrics. Since 2012, Radcliffe has been in a relationship with actress Erin Darke, whom he met while filming Kill Your Darlings (2013). The couple welcomed a son in April 2023.

Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley)

Fans grew up watching Rupert Grint play everyone’s dream best friend and adding some much-needed comic relief to the Harry Potter films as Ron Weasley, a role he began at 11 years old.

“It was our entire childhood. We grew up on those sets,” Grint told EW in 2021. “I mean, it was an immensely strange childhood, but it was one that was really fun.”

Since then, Grint has showcased his range with projects like the World War II-set Into the White (2012), the biographical drama CBGB (2013), and the comedy Moonwalkers (2015). He also leaped to the stage with critically acclaimed turns in the 2013 West End revival of Mojo and on Broadway in 2014 in the star-studded production of It’s Only a Play.

On TV, Grint had major parts on Snatch and Sick Note on Netflix, Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders on Amazon Prime Video, and Servant on Apple TV+. In 2023, he returned to film after an eight-year absence in M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin, and is set to star in Hanna Bergholm’s Nightborn.

Since 2011, Grint has been in a relationship with actress Georgia Groome, with whom he shares a daughter. In November 2024, the Associated Press reported he owed £1.8 million ($2.3 million) in taxes to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs after misclassifying £4.5 million in Potter residuals as capital gains rather than income in 2019.

Emma Watson (Hermione Granger)

On screen, Emma Watson plays Hermione Granger — the role model for bookish youths everywhere — a character she first brought to life at 10 years old. Off screen, Watson is very much like her character, as she enrolled at Brown University and the University of Oxford, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 2014.

“Harry Potter was my home, my family, my world, and Hermione (still is) my favorite fictional character of all time,” she captioned an Instagram post in 2021. “I am proud not just of what we as a group contributed as actors to the franchise, but also as the children that became young adults that walked that path.”

After Harry Potter, the actress starred in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), The Bling Ring (2013), and Noah (2014), and made an ironic cameo as herself in This Is the End (2013). In 2017, she starred as Belle in Bill Condon’s live-action remake of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. She also starred in The Circle (2017) and Little Women (2019).

Watson has since taken a step back from acting, telling the U.K.’s Financial Times in 2023 that she “felt a bit caged” by her career. “I love what I do. It’s finding a way to do it where I don’t have to fracture myself into different faces and people,” she told the outlet. “And I just don’t want to switch into robot mode anymore.”

In addition to acting, Watson has fronted campaigns for Burberry, Lancôme, and Prada. After being named a United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador in 2014, Watson founded #HeForShe, a U.N. campaign that calls for men to advocate for gender equality. She also started the sustainable gin brand, Renais, with her brother Alex in 2023.

Michael Gambon (Professor Albus Dumbledore)

Michael Gambon, who took over the role of Dumbledore after Richard Harris died in 2002, was a beloved actor long before he stepped into the halls of Hogwarts.

“They rang me up and said, ‘Will you do it?’ Like any other job, I said, ‘Sure.’ Then you find yourself in the middle of this thing,” he told the Associated Press in 2009. “This will stick out as being a happy memory, being with a thing for so long and the worldwide love of it. You never forget that.”

Gambon still delighted audiences of all ages after Harry Potter. In 2012, he starred in a stage adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s radio play All That Fall, which eventually transferred to New York. He also continued to work on screen, with roles in Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet (2012), as well as on the series Luck and Fortitude.

In 2015, he reunited with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling to star in the BBC miniseries adaptation of her novel, The Casual Vacancy. He had roles in 2017’s Victoria & Abdul and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and also appeared in Rupert Goold’s 2019 Judy Garland biopic, Judy. Furthermore, Gambon was a licensed pilot and a car aficionado who appeared on the iconic BBC series Top Gear.

In September 2023, Gambon died at age 82. He is survived by his wife, mathematician Anne Miller; as well as his long-term partner, set designer Philippa Hart, and their two sons.

Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid)

Even before he played the beloved keeper of grounds and keys at Hogwarts, Robbie Coltrane was one of the most famous Scottish actors ever.

After leaving Hagrid’s hut for the final time, Coltrane lent his voice to such animated films as Arthur Christmas (2011) and Brave (2012). In 2012, Coltrane reunited with fellow Potter alums Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter in Great Expectations and finished out the 30-year run of The Comic Strip Presents…, a TV series that has become a British comedic institution. He was seen on the big screen in the 2014 film Effie Gray, and starred in the 2016 British miniseries National Treasure and a 2020 episode of Urban Myths.

Coltrane had two children with ex-wife Rhona Gemmell, a sculptor whom he was married to from 1999 to 2003. The actor died in 2022 at age 72, with his final onscreen appearance being in the Max special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.

“The legacy of the movies is that my children’s generation will show them to their children, so you could be watching it in 50 years time, easy,” he said in the special. “I’ll not be here, sadly…but Hagrid will.”

Maggie Smith (Professor Minerva McGonagall)

Professor McGonagall was just one in a long line of inspiring, no-nonsense women whom Dame Maggie Smith played throughout her legendary career. After Potter ended, Smith stepped into yet another iconic role as Lady Violet Crawley on Downton Abbey, for which she won a Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and three Emmys. (She also brought Lady Violet to the big screen in Downton movies released in 2019 and 2022.)

Still, for all the accolades, Smith didn’t find the roles creatively fulfilling. “I am deeply grateful for the work in Potter and indeed Downton, but it wasn’t what you’d call satisfying,” she told the Evening Standard in 2019. “I didn’t really feel I was acting in those things.”

Beyond Potter (and Downton), Smith most notably starred in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) and its 2015 sequel, with other appearances in films like Quartet, The Lady in the Van (2015), A Boy Called Christmas (2021), and The Miracle Club (2023). She also lent her voice to multiple animated movies, including Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) and Sherlock Gnomes (2018).

In 2011, Smith helped raise $4.6 million to repair the Court Theatre in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the earthquake, and the following year, she became a patron of the International Glaucoma Association.

Sadly, the actress died at age 89 in 2024. She is survived by her two sons and her five grandchildren.

Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort/Tom Riddle)

With Oscar-nominated turns in Schindler’s List (1993) and The English Patient (1996), plus a Tony win for his 1995 Broadway performance in Hamlet, Ralph Fiennes had more than enough acting prowess to strike legitimate fear into audiences of all ages as the franchise’s archvillian: Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort.

“I think when I’m playing Voldemort, I’m trying to access something without empathy. It’s about power and control, and manipulation of people for power,” Fiennes told PEOPLE in December 2024. “It’s a real, almost erotic pleasure in how I can control you. ‘I know I have the power to do it. You have no chance.'”

Since Voldemort’s final battle in Deathly Hallows — Part 2, Fiennes has kept busy both behind and in front of the camera. He made his directorial debut with Coriolanus (2011), followed by The Invisible Woman (2013) and The White Crow (2018). On screen, the British actor has delivered standout performances in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), A Bigger Splash (2015), Hail, Caesar! (2016), The King’s Man (2021), The Menu (2022), and Conclave (2024) — the latter earning him another Oscar nomination. He’s also stayed true to his Shakespearean roots with acclaimed performances in Richard III (2016) and Macbeth (2023). 

Fans can catch Fiennes next in the highly anticipated threequel to Danny Boyle’s cult horror film 28 Days Later (2002) — 28 Years Later, hitting theaters in June 2025 — with its already-filming follow-up set for 2026.

Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)

Originating Draco Malfoy at just 12, Tom Felton portrays the character everyone loves to hate — winning MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Villain twice — but outside of Hogwarts, he’s remained close with his former castmates.

“We’re all very tight still, very close,” he told PEOPLE in April 2025. “We’re usually in four corners of the earth at the same time, so it’s difficult to round us all up together. But Slytherins and Gryffindors are friendly.”

In the years since the franchise ended, Felton has played more troubled characters and bad boys in films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), The Apparition (2012), Belle (2013), and In Secret (2013). His other film credits include Ophelia (2018), Braking for Whales (2019), The Forgotten Battle (2020), Save the Cinema (2022), and Altered (2024). On TV, he’s booked parts on Murder in the First, The Flash, Origin, and the upcoming Gandhi. Felton is also a musician; he’s released multiple EPs, including three in 2024 titled ReD, ORaNgE, and YelLoW.

The actor has also had several Harry Potter-related projects over the years. In 2015, he produced and directed the TV documentary Tom Felton Meets the Superfans — in which he interviewed hardcore Potter fans and some of his former costars — and in 2022, he penned a memoir titled Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard.

Felton has been in a relationship with jewelry designer Roxanne Danya since 2020.

Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy)

With film credits like Event Horizon (1997), Armageddon (1998), and The Patriot (2000) — and having already working alongside Ralph Fiennes in The End of the Affair (1999) — Jason Isaacs was no stranger to the screen when he took on the role of Lucius Malfoy: Draco’s luscious-locked father and one of Voldemort’s most-loyal Death Eaters. While Isaacs may have had fun playing with his character’s peculiar accent, he also admitted that “it’s quite boring making special effects films; however, all the pleasures come afterward.”

“Even though I was in the films, when I’ve taken godchildren or nephews and nieces to the [studio tour] and the thing comes up and suddenly you’re in the Great Hall,” he said in a 2025 episode of BBC’s The One Show. “Every time, I burst out in tears. It’s incredibly moving and overwhelming. There’s some magic that happened in those stories.”

Post-Potter, Isaacs has continued to work on the big screen, starring in movies like The Death of Stalin (2017), Mass (2021), and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022). He’s also kept a regular presence on TV, clinching credits for The OA, Star Trek: Discovery, The Great, Sex Education, The Crowded Room, and Archie, among other shows. His fame saw a resurgence with his role as Timothy Ratliff, the in-hot-water patriarch in the Thailand-set third season of The White Lotus.

Off screen, Issacs married former documentary filmmaker Emma Hewitt in 2001. The couple shares two daughters.

James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley)

James and Oliver Phelps solemnly swore they were up to no good as Fred and George Weasley, and we couldn’t have loved them more for it.

“I always think that Fred and George really became fan favorites because of the way they were…always having a laugh. They were very much the comic relief throughout lots of the storylines,” Oliver said in the Max special. “Also, I think people always thought, ‘Let’s be pals with those guys.'”

Once their mischief was managed, James and Oliver appeared as brothers in an episode of the ITV series Kingdom and the 2009 short film A Mind’s Eye, based on the philosophical ideas of Plato. James also worked as a gofer on the Harry Potter sets, as well as on the set of The Da Vinci Code (2006). The twins worked together on screen again in Own Worst Enemy (2014), 7 Days: The Story of Blind Dave Heeley (2019), and Last Night in Soho (2021).

The twins are an active force in connecting fans with the world of Harry Potter, appearing at conferences and touring around the world. In November 2024, they began cohosting Food Network’s Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking, where they join real-life chefs Carla Hall and Jozef Youssef to judge contestants’ edible recreations of iconic scenes from the movies.

Three years before James married Annika Ostle in 2016, Oliver tied the knot with Katy Humphage, with whom he has two children.

Alan Rickman (Severus Snape)

Alan Rickman appeared in such cinematic classics as Die Hard (1988), Sense and Sensibility (1995), and Love Actually (2003) in addition to scaring everyone as Hogwarts’ Slytherin Headmaster, Severus Snape.

“I think, probably thanks to [J.K.] Rowling, they all are [going to be immortal], all of those teachers,” Rickman told NPR in 2011. “You know, there are kids now who weren’t even born when we started the whole thing, and there they are, you know, age eight or something on book four. And so a whole, you know, the merry-go-round keeps going on.”

After Harry Potter wrapped, Rickman returned to the stage in the Abbey Theatre’s production of The Seagull, which transferred to New York in 2011. He starred in the original production of Seminar on Broadway a few months later, for which he earned nominations for a Drama League award and the Broadway.com Audience Choice award for Favorite Actor in a Play.

In 2013, he reunited with Rupert Grint in the film CBGB, where he played Hilly Kristal, founder of the iconic punk club. He played King Louis XIV in the film A Little Chaos (2014) and starred in the thriller Eye in the Sky (2015) alongside Helen Mirren.

In 2012, Rickman married Rima Horton, a former Labour Party councilor and a lecturer at Kingston University, with whom he had been in a relationship since 1965. He died at age 69 in January 2016.

Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom)

Matthew Lewis rose to fame at age 12 when he first brought the bumbling-yet-brave Neville Longbottom to the screen — and, thanks to his castmates, that early spotlight never steered him off course.

“One of the questions that was asked earlier about the pitfalls of being a child actor that we seem to have avoided, I would posit that a large degree of that was because we were all there together,” he said during a solo panel at Rhode Island Comic Con in November 2024. “One of the only things that I still hold onto is those relationships that we forged throughout those films.”

In the years since Potter ended, Lewis has established himself as a potential leading man with credits for The Syndicate, Bluestone 42, and The Rise (2012). Lewis made his stage debut in a touring production of Agatha Christie’s Verdict in 2011, and made his West End debut the following year in Our Boys. He also had gigs in films like Me Before You (2016), Terminal (2018), and Baby Done (2020) and on the British TV series Girlfriends, All Creatures Great and Small, and Avoidance.

In 2012, Lewis received an honorary master of arts degree from Leeds Metropolitan University, and in 2018, he got married to lifestyle blogger Angela Jones.

Devon Murray (Seamus Finnigan)

Devon Murray was 15 when he first played Seamus Finnigan, a half-blood wizard from Gryffindor.

After hanging up his wand in 2011 (and thus drastically reducing the number of explosions on the Hogwarts grounds), Murray took a break from acting until 2018, when he returned to the screen for Damon & Ivor: The Movie. He often reunites with his former castmates for Harry Potter events and nights out on the town. And yes, he is still close with Alfred Enoch (a.k.a. Dean Thomas), and they are still totally adorable.

In May 2021, Murray got engaged to Shannon McCaffrey Quinn, with whom he had welcomed a son earlier that year.

Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley)

Bonnie Wright made her film debut at 9 years old as Ginny Weasley, whom she believes didn’t get enough proper screen time.

“I definitely feel there was anxiety toward performing and doing the best thing as my character built…. That was always hard to do, especially when, inevitably, a lot of the scenes of every character were chopped down from the book to the film,” she said during a 2023 episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast. “Sometimes that was a little disappointing because there were parts of the character that just didn’t get to come through because there weren’t the scenes to do that.”

Since winning Harry Potter’s heart (and plenty of Quidditch Cups!) as the youngest Weasley, Wright graduated from film school in 2012 to pursue her dream of writing and directing, though she has continued acting in films like Before I Sleep (2013) and After the Dark (2013). She’s also done some kid-friendly films like Who Killed Nelson Nutmeg? (2015) and A Christmas Carol (2018).

Wright made her stage debut in 2013 at London’s Southwark Playhouse in The Moment of Truth, and her screenwriting and directorial debut in 2012 with the short film Separate We Come, Separate We Go, which starred Harry Potter alum David Thewlis. Since then, she has started her own production company and directed several short films — including Medusa’s Ankles (2018), which starred Jason Isaacs — and music videos. She also released an environmental book in 2022 titled Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet.

Wright started dating her Potter costar Jamie Campbell Bower in 2010; they were engaged in 2011, but called it off in 2012. A decade later, Wright married American businessman Andrew Lococo, with whom she has a son (and she’s “hoping he’ll be a Slytherin”).

Julie Walters (Molly Weasley)

The Golden Globe- and BAFTA-winning Julie Walters made us all laugh, cheer, and cry as the overprotective, incredibly loving Weasley matriarch, Molly.

“Oh, I loved my [onscreen] children! I loved them,” she told EW in 2011. “The whole feel of the job was very homey and very family. I’ve never known a film [series] like it. I suppose it’s because we were there for 10 years and we saw the children grow up and the rest of us grow old. It didn’t ever feel like work.”

Walters has continued to entertain in the years since Potter wrapped, with roles like Mistress Quickly on The Hollow Crown; the Witch in Brave; and Mrs. Bird in Paddington (2014), Paddington 2 (2017), and Paddington in Peru (2024). In 2011, she won a BAFTA TV award for Best Actress and an International Emmy award for her role as Member of Parliament and Irish Secretary of State Mo Mowlam in the TV movie Mo. A year later, she returned to the stage in the National Theatre’s production of The Last of the Haussmans.

Walters expanded her résumé with film credits for Mamma Mia! (2008) and its 2018 sequel, Brooklyn (2015), Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), and The Secret Garden (2020).

The actress has a daughter with her husband, Grant Roffey, whom she married in 1997. In 2020, she revealed she had been diagnosed with Stage III bowel cancer.

Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley)

He may never have learned what, exactly, is the function of a rubber duck, but, since leaving Arthur Weasley behind, Mark Williams has taken on plenty of other creative projects.

Since 2013, Williams has played the lead titular role on Father Brown, another British institution. He’s also appeared in episodes of Doctor Who, Drunk History: UK, The Comic Strip Presents…, and The Dumping Ground, as well as presenting the daytime game show The Link. On the big screen, he’s appeared in films like Golden Years (2016), Early Man (2018), and Robin and the Hoods (2024).

Williams shares a daughter with his wife, Emma.

Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley)

He didn’t get a ton of screen time as Ron’s oldest brother, Bill Weasley, but Domhnall Gleeson — the son of Mad-Eye Moody actor Brendan Gleeson — still credits the role with opening doors in his career.

“I was a massive fan. When they asked my dad to play Mad-Eye, I was so incredibly excited. I said, ‘Listen, if one of the other brothers’ parts comes up, you need to get me in for an audition,'” he told EW in 2018. “I met some amazing people on that set…. There was about a year between shooting and the movie’s release, where I was going into meetings, and people didn’t know I only had two lines in [Harry Potter], so I probably got auditions for things that I may not have otherwise.”

Gleeson has more than made up for his limited scenes in his post-Potter years. After a supporting role in Anna Karenina (2012), Gleeson became a leading man with the one-two punch of Tim in About Time (2013) and Jon Burroughs in Frank (2014). In 2015, he landed gigs in the critically acclaimed Ex Machina, Brooklyn, and The Revenant, and began his role in the Star Wars saga as the villainous General Hux. His other film credits include mother! (2017), A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018), Peter Rabbit (2018) and its 2021 sequel, The Little Stranger (2018), The Kitchen (2019), and the upcoming Fountain of Youth and Echo Valley.

Gleeson has also made his mark on TV with projects like Run, Frank of Ireland, The Patient, White House Plumbers, and Alice & Jack. He’s also set to star on Peacock’s The Office spinoff series, The Paper.

The actor married Irish producer Juliette Bonass in 2023.