Fans of Harry Potter might find this difficult to accept, but your beloved Hogwarts Academy alumni are mere Muggles off-screen. Well, maybe a notch up from mere Muggles, considering they're all famous actors, some of whom were established and acclaimed long before they joined the franchise.
Eight insanely popular films later, the Harry Potter franchise remains one of the most financially and critically successful of all time. Much of this is thanks to its talented coterie of actors, both young and old. Fans might be surprised by some of the other films the Harry Potter cast is affiliated with, films very different from a fantasy story geared toward teens.
10 Daniel Radcliffe: Imperium (2016)
Imperium is a major departure for Harry Potter himself. This tense drama sees Daniel Radcliffe play an FBI agent who goes undercover as a Neo-Nazi after various white supremacist organizations are implicated in the illegal importation of ingredients needed to make nuclear weapons.
Radcliffe's character, Nate Fosters, infiltrates these groups, learning they are plotting a massive attack in Washington D.C. Toni Collette and Tracy Letts co-star in this emotionally charged thriller.
9 Rupert Grint: Cherrybomb (2009)
Ron Weasley isn't so innocent in this British drama from director Lisa Barros D'Sa. He stars alongside Robert Sheehan, two best friends vying for the love of the same woman. Grint's character, Malachy, and Sheehan's character, Luke, engage in all kinds of salacious activity to impress the woman, Michelle.
Cherrybomb features sex, nudity, drug use, and theft – adult subject matter untouched by the Harry Potter movies. Filmed in Belfast, the film's title is derived from The Runaways song, "Cherry Bomb."
8 Emma Watson: My Week With Marilyn (2011)
My Week With Marilyn is a fictionalized account of the filming of 1957's The Prince and the Showgirl, a feature starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier. Michelle Williams plays Monroe in the film, which focuses on a week the actor spent in London accompanied by writer and filmmaker Colin Clark during the film's production.
Emma Watson, aka Hermione Granger, plays Lucy, a wardrobe assistant on the set of the film whom Clark asks out on a date. Clark's obsession with Monroe ultimately gets in the way of their romance.
7 Tom Felton: Belle (2013)
Tom Felton plays the unsavory James Ashford in this British drama inspired by David Martin's 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle next to her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray. Belle was the mixed-race niece of William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield. Belle's father, John Linsday, moves her from the West Indies – her home – to his uncle's estate.
Felton plays up his inner Draco Malfoy in his role here, acting as a bigoted elite who resents Belle's heritage and does whatever he can to run her out of the estate. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is stunning as Belle. Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, and Sarah Gadon co-star.
6 Ralph Fiennes: Spider (2002)
Lord Voldemort's Ralph Fiennes is a renowned British actor and director whose impressive filmography stretches decades. Fiennes started off as a Shakespearean stage actor, and he often returns to Shakespeare in film. Fans may not know that Fiennes starred in an underrated psychological thriller from sci-fi auteur David Cronenberg. Spider tells the story of a mentally disturbed man named Dennis Cleg, played by Fiennes.
In Spider, Cleg takes a room in a halfway house after being released from an asylum. He begins to piece together memories from his childhood in the 1950s in order to understand his experiences as an adult.
5 Gary Oldman: Sid And Nancy (1986)
In addition to Sirius Black, British actor Gary Oldman portrayed other iconic figures from both real life and books, including Count Dracula, Winston Churchill, and Gotham's Commissioner Gordon. You might not know early in his career, Oldman played controversial Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious in Alex Cox's movie Sid and Nancy.
The movie highlights the toxic and violent relationship between Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, both heroin addicts. After Spungen accused Vicious of domestic abuse, she was found dead in New York's Hotel Chelsea in 1978. Vicious was charged with second-degree murder, but he overdosed before he stood trial.
4 Alan Rickman: Michael Collins (1996)
Neil Jordan's biopic about Irish revolutionary Michael Collins stars Liam Neeson in the title role. This acclaimed political drama follows the uprising against British rule in the 1910s that culminated in the Irish Civil War.
Professor Snape is played by the late British actor, Alan Rickman. In Michael Collins, Rickman plays fellow Irish rebel Éamon de Valera. De Valera was involved in 1916's Easter Uprising; he went on to have a successful political career after the Irish won independence, even serving as head of state on multiple occasions.
3 Michael Gambon: Gosford Park (2001)
Michael Gambon replaced Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban after Harris died. Long before he set his sights on Dumbledore, Gambon wowed audiences in Robert Altman's ensemble comedy of manners Gosford Park.
Set in 1932, Gosford Park follows a group of wealthy Britons who gather for a weekend of fun at a large estate in the English countryside. After a member of the group is murdered, a whodunnit ensues. Gambon's character Sir William McCordle is the wealthy industrialist who hosts the gathering.
2 David Thewlis: Naked (1993)
David Thewlis makes one empathetic werewolf as Remus Lupin, but he plays a despicable human in Mike Leigh's iconic independent film Naked. Thewlis plays Johnny, a misguided and chatty man who flees Manchester after getting involved with a married woman.
Johnny spends most of the film reveling in his own destitution, waxing poetic about his misguided philosophical beliefs without caring what anyone else thinks. Thewlis gives a memorable performance in this interesting character study.
1 Robbie Coltrane: Mona Lisa (1986)
The gigantic, kind-hearted Hogwarts groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, is played by Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane. Coltrane has a supporting role in Mike Leigh's unique gangster film, Mona Lisa. Coltrane plays Thomas, the friend of Bob Hoskins's character George.
George is a low-level gang affiliate recently released from prison. George becomes the driver and bodyguard for a call girl named Simone at the behest of his former boss. As George gets closer to Simone, she convinced him to help her break free from her attachments to the mob.
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June 20, 2020 at 05:30AM
