Go boldly and honestly through the world. Learn to love the fact that there is nobody else quite like you.
I’m an atheist, and a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation.
I used to be self conscious about my height, but then I thought, fuck that, I’m Harry Potter.
I think honesty is the most heroic quality one can aspire to.
Being in Harry Potter is like being in the Mafia. Once you are in, you are never really out.
I think I’m a tiny bit like Harry ‘cos I’d like to have an owl. Yeah, that’s the tiny bit, actually.
I know it wouldn’t seem like I’ve had a lot of failure in my career, but there are things that I regard as failures, when I look at certain performances and go, ‘That’s not good enough.’
The nerds are the ones that make the films and do loads of other really cool stuff in their life.
I’ve never been one of the cool people at school, but then again, I don’t get the people who are cool. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that they don’t interest me.
I met Elijah Wood once, I met Peter Jackson, I met Orlando Bloom, and they’re all really cool.
I think it’s useful, as a famous person, to have as little separation between the perception of you and how you really are – because otherwise I’d be sitting here thinking I’m keeping secrets, and wondering when you’re going to find out.
There were a few years there when I was just so enamored with the idea of living some sort of famous person’s lifestyle that really isn’t suited to me.
It’s interesting because people assume that because I’m famous I know all famous people.
I absolutely don’t relate to being beaten down my whole life – I had amazing opportunities at a young age – but there is still in many, many people’s minds the notion that I’ll never be able to escape Harry Potter.
Poetry is something I love to do. Good poetry has an amazing ability to be communicative before it’s even understood. I get emotional just from the beauty of words.
I haven’t always been thrilled with my work. But the fear of not proving the people wrong who think you can’t emerge from a franchise and do well, that’s a very strong driving force.
I basically have the diet of a 19th-century Irish navy, apart from the litre of stout a day. It’s meat and potatoes and bread and cheese: those are my four food groups.
The best thing I’ve learned is, if you’re going out, never go out alone – you leave yourself vulnerable. If you’ve got someone else there you trust, they can say, be wary of that person. I probably used to be too trusting of people.
I’ve always had a slightly overactive imagination.
My mom and dad were actors when they were younger and had a horrible experience of it. My dad became a literary agent and my mom a casting director.
I’m not a religious person. My mom was of Jewish blood and my dad was Protestant.
My dad believes in God, I think. I’m not sure if my mom does. I don’t.
I don’t know where my romanticism comes from. My mom and dad would read to me a lot. ‘Treasure Island,’ ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ tales of chivalry and knights, things like that. Those are the stories I loved growing up.
Both of my parents have been actors there were a lot of show tunes on in the car all of the time. I grew up with that.
My parents were what I like to call proper musical fans. Lots of Sondheim was played in the car.
People who have car collections – I never understood that. I always thought that was unnecessary. It’s not beautiful, it’s not creative. It’s just showing how much money you’ve got.
I grew up listening to show tunes in the back of the car.
I don’t think I’d have the stamina, skill or ability to write a novel, but I’d love to write short stories and poetry, because those are my two passions.
My dad grew up in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, desperate to get to London. I grew up in London, so I don’t know what it’s like to yearn for the big city from a small town.
I was in the bath at the time, and my dad came running in and said, ‘Guess who they want to play Harry Potter!?’ and I started to cry. It was probably the best moment of my life.
My dad’s got a brilliant eye for scripts ‘cos he’s a literary agent. He and my agent read a load of scripts and filter them.