Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Universal Pictures and Apple TV+
I can’t imagine being a successful actor. Okay, a lot of that comes from the fact that I cannot, in fact, act, but the idea of being a celebrity fills me with dread. I’m one of those people that would prefer my fortune without fame, thank you very much.
It must be an especially daunting career if you start as a child—doubly so if your first film becomes a bigger sensation than you could have ever imagined. That’s exactly what happened to Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, who kicked off their careers with Harry Potter in the Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001. It was a film that changed their lives forever and catapulted them to levels of fame they couldn’t have dreamt up.
Radcliffe and Watson have gone on to become bonafide superstars. Radcliffe is now known as a movie star who makes bold choices, starring in films like Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and Swiss Army Man. And Watson has starred in films like Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed Little Women and Disney’s blockbuster Beauty and the Beast remake, while also serving as a Women Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations.