The world first fell for Matthew Lewis as the nerdy but lovable Neville Longbottom across
eight world-conquering Harry Potter movies.
But the baby fat has since melted off, and Neville has blossomed in a shocking way.
This is what the actor who played Neville Longbottom looks like today.
Born in a suburb of North Leeds, on June 27, 1989, Matthew David Lewis has more or less
been acting his entire life.
The very first major role young Lewis nabbed before his big break as Neville, at just six
years of age, was in British TV movie Some Kind of Life.
Written by Kay Mellor, the role was a massive deal.
He admitted to The Guardian, however, that he was far too young at the time to appreciate
what he now considers an incredible opportunity.
Lewis told The Yorkshire Evening Post that it was his agency in Leeds that got him spotted
for the job, and what eventually got him noticed for a little film adaptation called Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
"I'll fight you!"
"Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this.
Petrificus Totalus."
There's no break bigger than the most successful kids' fantasy series in the world.
But, as a young child, it can be difficult to wrap your head around that kind of success.
As Lewis admitted to The Telegraph, he had no idea how big a deal being part of the Harry
Potter films was, even when he attended the first premiere in London's Leicester Square.
He confessed:
"As far as I was aware, nobody knew who I was.
But there were all these people shouting, 'Matthew! Matthew!'
I was an 11-year-old kid, and I was thinking, 'How do they know who I am?' It really scared me."
The youngster continued attending school in Leeds throughout filming the movies, doing
six months on set and six months in school.
Due to the volume of child actors on set, they studied during filming too, as Lewis
explained, quote, "They had a whole floor of classrooms.
We had to do three to five hours of lessons every day."
In a joint Independent interview, Ron Weasley actor Rupert Grint, with whom Lewis boasts
a close friendship to this day, shared how proud he was watching his co-star branch out.
In particular, he noted how great it was to see Lewis play, quote, "a different role in
[BBC's 2012 series] The Syndicate, a real thug, hardcore, but he added vulnerability
to it and he was very good."
The lottery-themed anthology TV series was one of many roles Lewis took post-Potter to
ensure he wasn't typecast as Neville.
And we'd say it paid off nicely.
"You have no idea what they did to me.
You have no friggin' idea."
"Now, I know what you did to Bob."
"Ah, it's got nothing to do with Bob.
You're my brother."
Lewis explained to The Standard:
"Having played the same character for 10 years,
I jump at every opportunity I have to mix it up."
The young actor also admitted that, following his Potter tenure as Neville, he'd decided
to try his hand at a stage play to hone his craft, but he wound up having to wait four
months for a good review.
He told The Standard that this experience made him feel, quote, " …out of his depth."
He soon landed high-profile roles in the varied likes of serial killer drama Ripper Street,
cop show Happy Valley, and even the romantic Emilia Clarke-led weepie Me Before You.
In May 2018, Lewis married his lady love, a muggle no less, after the two met at the
Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Angela Jones, and began dating in July 2016.
According to People, the couple got engaged in Paris in November of that same year.
Just a few short months later, Lewis took to Twitter to reveal they'd tied the knot.
Sharing a shot of the happy couple walking down the aisle in their finery, in Italy,
where the ceremony took place, the HP alum joked about missing his favorite band for
the occasion.
In a sarcastic tweet, he joked:
"Not only did I miss @ArcticMonkeys in LA but they were performing in Italy
at the same time we were there and my wife made me get married instead. Fuming."
By the time the final Potter movie was released, it was clear Neville Longbottom wasn't nearly
as dorky off-screen as on.
After all, by the third film in the series, the crew began to take drastic measures to
maintain Neville's geeky persona, so they outfitted Lewis with a fat suit and fake teeth
to distract from his growth spurt and increasingly handsome looks.
A few years later, while posing for Attitude magazine in just his skivvies, Lewis admitted
how it felt to finally be himself at the premiere for Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
He explained:
"I was excited…not to have the fat suit under my t-shirt…
And then obviously a lot of attention focused on it, which I didn't expect…
I've never considered myself to be good-looking at all. Just average."
The shoot caused quite a frenzy online, inspiring the term "Longbottoming," which, yes, before
you ask, it has its own Urban Dictionary definition.
But Lewis isn't ashamed of his association with a term used to refer to an ugly duckling
transformation.
In fact, he told HelloGiggles:
"I never thought in my wildest dreams that one day I would have coined a phrase…
I'm quite proud…I wish it was for my linguistics rather than my chest.
But, it's still something to tell the grand-kids, I suppose."
After breaking the Internet with his risqué Attitude shoot, the new and improved Neville
Longbottom once again sent fans' hearts into a tizzy when the trailer for another one of
his projects dropped.
Girlfriends, which reunited Lewis with writer Kay Mellor of The Syndicate, isn't even really
about his character, but that didn't stop female-focused sites like Bustle from going
into meltdown over it.
"Oh my god."
"What is it?
Mom?"
"It's real.
Me and Dave are divorced."
However, Lewis was quick to set Entertainment Weekly straight about taking on roles that
played off his new heartthrob status.
He reasoned, quote, "It certainly is something I think about when I take roles…You don't
want to get known for one thing."
The actor further elaborated in an interview with HelloGiggles, admitting that Girlfriends
contains the second-ever instance of him taking off his shirt for an acting gig.
But the ever level-headed fellow, Lewis went on to explain:
" …It's not what I set out to achieve with the Attitude shoot.
It's not what I ever envisioned for myself...It's not what I want to do…It's all about context."
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