Most Harry Potter fans already know what Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint have
been up to since the franchise ended. But you might be less well-versed on what became of
all the other Hogwarts students. Keep watching to find out what they're up to!
Dean Thomas was a Gryffindor student who was friends with the main trio from the
very beginning. He traveled with Harry, Ron, and Hermione on the train, attended lessons with them,
and even dated Ginny before she and Harry got together. In the movies,
he was played by Alfred Enoch, who has continued acting into adulthood.
His biggest role to date has been Wes Gibbins on the ABC legal drama How to Get Away with Murder.
Enoch was just 11 when he started working on Harry Potter, which he described as his,
quote, "dream job" in an interview with His Kind. His experience was surprisingly normal
as he still went to school and wasn't on set every day. These days, though, his career is
a little busier. While shooting How to Get Away with Murder, he lived in America for seven months
of the year while speaking in his character's American accent at all times. He's also been busy
with some big budget stage shows, including some Shakespeare, at several of London's best theatres.
One thing's for sure: Dean Thomas has grown up into a pretty impressive young actor!
Who can forget the hilariously insipid and clingy Lavender Brown, the short-lived girlfriend of Ron,
or "Won Won," as she called him. She was played by Jessie Cave in the last three films,
although she'd previously been played by Jennifer Smith in Prisoner of Azkaban. Smith is Black,
so her being replaced by a white actress caused a bit of controversy.
Cave has appeared in a variety of films and TV shows since Harry Potter,
but her career has ultimately proceeded in a significantly different direction.
These days her main focus is on her rapidly growing family and her comedy career.
As it turns out, she owes both to a one-night stand! A hook-up with
fellow comedian Alfie Brown led to her first pregnancy, and then the pair decided to date.
"Hey, um, so you know that joke text I sent you about 5 months ago saying, 'Pregnant!'
Well, it turns it wasn't a joke."
As of 2020, they're still going strong, with their third child having arrived in October.
Plus, Cave even used their unusual story to create a successful comedy show.
Talk about fate taking a hand! Based on how much Cave made us laugh as Lavender,
we're not surprised that she's chosen to pursue a career in comedy.
Seamus Finnigan charmed us from the very first Harry Potter film with his upbeat attitude,
his lilting Irish accent, and his tendency to turn simple spells into explosions.
He was played by Devon Murray throughout the course of the series. Since the franchise
came to an end, Murray hasn't done that much more acting. But judging by his Instagram bio,
he still remembers his Harry Potter days fondly, as he describes himself by saying,
"Played Seamus Finnigan in Harry Potter for 10 yrs of
my life. The silly Irish guy who kept blowing up"
Murray also notes in his bio that he now spends his days with horses, and the photos that he
shares indeed show him living on a horse farm and spending lots of his time riding, caring for,
and selling the animals. That's quite a change of pace from his filming days! As of 2020, he's also
expecting a baby boy with his girlfriend, Shannon McCaffrey Quinn. It's great to see that he's
settled down, but the thought of Seamus Finnigan with a kid is making us start to feel pretty old!
Ginny Weasley may not have been a member of Harry Potter's main trio, but she eventually became
a rather important character. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione went horcrux hunting in the woods,
she held down the fort at Hogwarts. And of course, she eventually married Harry!
Onscreen, it all went down with Bonnie Wright playing her from the very first film.
In the years since, she's remained busy. She's continued to act, and she's also gotten behind the
camera to do some directing. She ended up going to film school at London's University of the Arts,
although she'd already learned plenty of valuable filmmaking information.
As she told the Cambridge University newspaper Varsity in 2019,
"Before I went to film school a lot of the techniques I learnt,
and just really understanding the methods of storytelling and the craftsmanship
behind storytelling, was definitely from my experience in Harry Potter."
One of her films, a short called Medusa's Ankles, starred Jason Isaacs, a fellow Harry Potter alum.
We definitely never imagined Ginny Weasley being the boss of Lucius Malfoy!
In addition to her film work, Wright is also a passionate advocate for the environment,
having worked extensively with Greenpeace to tackle plastic
waste. We're seriously impressed with how much she's accomplished!
"The world needs Greenpeace. And Greenpeace needs you."
Neville Longbottom was just as dorky as his name made him sound, as he was chubby,
clueless, and clumsy. It's no wonder he was constantly getting bullied and left out!
But as the movies progressed, he eventually came into his own. Matthew Lewis, the actor
who played him, had a similar transformation. By the time the films had come to an end,
he'd shed the pounds, grown into his ears, and become an undeniable hunk!
As for his career, Lewis has remained fairly busy.
In 2016, he took on a major role in the second season of the British crime drama Happy Valley
alongside fellow Harry Potter alum Shirley Henderson. His character couldn't have been
further from Neville, as he played a seriously creepy suspected killer! As he told The Mirror,
"Younger Harry Potter fans may want to wait a few years before watching me in Happy Valley."
"Was it a gift, or was it a bit scary to go into something like that?"
"It was- it was terrifying. It was really daunting actually."
As for Lewis' personal life, in 2018 he married Angela Jones,
whom he met at a Wizarding World event in Orlando, where she was an event planner.
Dudley Dursley, as played by Harry Melling, was Harry's pudgy and cruel cousin who bullied him
relentlessly before he started attending Hogwarts. In the first few films, Melling
was undoubtedly ideal for the part. But when he suddenly lost weight, he almost lost the role!
Like Matthew Lewis, Melling had pretty much completely transformed by the time
the franchise finished filming. This allowed him to effectively restart his career from scratch.
Despite having years of experience working on some of the biggest films ever,
Melling decided to get formal acting training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art,
where he graduated in 2009. He's since gone on to have an impressive career, primarily on the stage,
appearing in classic plays like Mother Courage and her Children, The Hothouse,
and King Lear. He's also appeared in some films like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and The Devil
All the Time. We're definitely impressed that he's managed to create such a successful career
without the instant recognizability that some of his Harry Potter co-stars have had.
Cho Chang, as played onscreen by Katie Leung, is best known as Harry's first kiss. When
the films ended, Leung was unsure whether or not she wanted to continue to pursue acting.
She tried her hand at a finance course and dabbled in photography. But when she
starred in the play Wild Swans in 2012, she knew that acting was what she wanted to do.
Eventually, she studied acting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
"I'd say it's probably one of the best decisions I've ever made to come to the RCS."
Most of Leung's more recent roles have been a bit grittier than the
relatively innocent Cho Chang. In the crime drama Strangers,
she played an activist trying to find her own identity who's also protesting against
government corruption and rising property prices. She also starred in the BBC miniseries One Child,
in which she played a woman who finds out that she has a brother who's been sentenced
to death for a crime he didn't commit. That's definitely a far cry from her Hogwarts days!
The quirky Luna Lovegood made her first onscreen appearance in the fifth Harry Potter movie,
Order of the Phoenix. She befriended Harry and eventually helped defend Hogwarts in the final
battle. She was played by Evanna Lynch, who won the role after being a huge fan of the books.
But she was in for a bit of a rough go of things when the franchise came to an end.
She'd mistakenly thought that she would be set for life,
but she found herself struggling to get cast in roles outside of Hogwarts.
Despite those struggles, Lynch has managed to remain pretty busy. She's
appeared in several films as well as a stage production called Games For Lovers in 2019.
She also made a foray into reality TV, placing third on Dancing with the Stars in 2018.
When she's not acting, she's a passionate activist for veganism. She hosts a podcast
called ChickPeeps Vegan Podcast, and she also co-founded the company Kinder Beauty Box, a vegan,
cruelty-free self-care subscription-based service. It's clear that Lynch is going
to keep pursuing what she loves, even if it isn't always in front of the camera!
The Patil twins got their moment in the spotlight in Goblet of Fire when Harry and Ron
asked them to be their dates to the Yule Ball as a last resort. Afshan Azad played Ron's date Padma.
She's since turned her attention to modelling, which is hardly a surprise,
as she's grown up to be stunning! According to her Instagram bio, she's currently represented
by BMA Models, a British agency. In 2019, she was part of a campaign for COLAB Dry Shampoo,
and in 2020 she started a lifestyle-themed YouTube channel. Based on her social media,
it's clear that she enjoys the finer things in life.
Things also appear to be going well in Azad's personal life. In 2018, she got
married in a traditional Bangladeshi wedding. She even invited a couple of familiar faces,
as Bonnie Wright and Katie Leung, aka Ginny and Cho, were in attendance.
Fred and George Weasley, Ron's mischievous older twin brothers, were total fan favorites. They
were played by real-life twins Oliver and James Phelps, who've since appeared in a few more films
since the end of Harry Potter. By the looks of things, they're still thriving as a dynamic duo.
Fans will be pleased to hear that they're due to appear together in a couple of upcoming films
called Own Worst Enemy and Last Night in Soho. We're glad to see they've remained busy as a pair,
even though they've admitted that being typecast as twins can be a little depressing.
In addition to acting, the Phelps twins are avid sports fans and participants.
They're both passionate about golf, having been introduced to the sport at around the
age of 8 by their father. They even played while filming Harry Potter. As they told
Today's Golfer in 2017, they try to play whenever they can.
James in particular also loves biking, which he frequently posts about on Instagram.
One of the most iconic moments of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the epic
first Quidditch match. Who could forget the enthusiastic Gryffindor commentator
Lee Jordan?! He was played by Luke Youngblood, and while you may not realize it, you've probably also
seen him elsewhere, as he's gone on to appear in a range of popular films and TV shows.
In 2002 and 2003, he played Ben in the first season of the British show The
Story of Tracy Beaker. Then he had a small part in Glee's Season 2 Christmas episode.
He went on to have a recurring role on the NBC sitcom Community as Magnitude,
an energetic community college student beloved for his famous catchphrase.
"Pop pop!"
While Youngblood is practically unrecognizable as Magnitude compared to his Harry Potter days,
he's definitely got the same exuberant energy. Theater fans may also know him
as London's first Young Simba in The Lion King. By the looks of things,
his career has been flourishing since his days at Hogwarts!
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