Daniel Radcliffe was introduced to audiences in 2001 as the тιтular character in the Harry Potter film series, but his actual feature film debut came in a star-studded spy thriller earlier that same year. Radcliffe began acting as a young child and made his acting debut in 1999, playing a young David Copperfield in a television film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ famous novel. When the first installment of the Harry Potter film series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was released, Radcliffe was only 12 years old, making the young actor’s rise to fame instantaneous.
Radcliffe kept busy after his time as Harry Potter, taking on an impressive range of roles in films, television series, and various plays, successfully distancing himself from the beloved wizard he grew up portraying. Due to how young Radcliffe was when he began portraying Harry, and because of how many years he spent as the character, it can be easy for one to ᴀssume Harry Potter was the actor’s first role. Though the scale and notability of Radcliffe’s actual first film role is less than that of Harry Potter, it’s still connected to the character in a fascinating way.
Daniel Radcliffe’s First Movie Role Was In The Tailor Of Panama
Radcliffe Starred In The Movie Alongside Future Harry Potter Actor Brendan Gleeson
A few months before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released, Radcliffe made his feature film debut in John Boorman’s The Tailor of Panama. Unlike the role of Harry that made him a star, Radcliffe’s part in The Tailor of Panama is significantly smaller. In the film, Radcliffe portrays Mark Pendel, the son of Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis’ characters, Harry and Louisa. The spy thriller film is based on John le Carré’s 1996 novel of the same name and stars Rush alongside Pierce Brosnan in leading roles.
After Brosnan’s MI6 agent Andy Osnard is reᴀssigned to Panama, he coerces Rush’s Harry, an ex-convict turned tailor working for many of the elite individuals in the country, to spy on the various elites. The le Carré novel, which the film is based on, was an exciting departure from the author’s previous work at the time. The novel, and thus Boorman’s The Tailor of Panama film, are quite satirical, but still contain the expected dark beats of a spy thriller that keep the audience hooked.
In addition to working alongside Rush, Curtis, and Brosnan, Radcliffe’s most notable co-star in The Tailor of Panama is Brendan Gleeson, who plays Mickie, a friend of Harry’s. Gleeson and Radcliffe would later reunite in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where the former portrayed the famous Mad-Eye Moody. The character was introduced in the film as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who wasn’t exactly who he appeared to be.
Which Other Young Harry Potter Actors Had Already Been In A Feature Film?
Actors Like Tom Felton And Robert Pattinson Made Their Film Debuts Before Harry Potter
As Harry Potter, Radcliffe grew up alongside young actors around the same age. Many of Radcliffe’s fellow cast members had minimal acting experience before their big-screen debut in the Harry Potter film series. Actors like Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Matthew Lewis, and James and Oliver Phelps made their film debut with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. However, like Radcliffe, a few of his co-stars already had a feature film credit or two to their name. Tom Felton, Robert Pattinson, and Devon Murray each had a feature film role before they joined the Harry Potter series.
Before Murray was Seamus Finnigan, he had a minor role in the biographical drama Angela’s Ashes about Frank McCourt. Felton made his film debut in the 1997 fantasy comedy The Borrowers alongside John Goodman and Hugh Laurie, followed by the period drama Anna and the King, where he played a young Louis T. Leonowens.
Pattinson’s scenes from his debut film role as Rawdy Crawley in [Vanity Fair] were ultimately deleted from the final cut.
The first time Pattinson was introduced to audiences was as the character of Cedric Diggory in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Though this is technically his big-screen debut, he did work on the Reese Witherspoon-led Vanity Fair, which was released the year before. However, Pattinson’s scenes from his debut film role as Rawdy Crawley in the film were ultimately deleted from the final cut. As is the case with Radcliffe, it’s likely for many people to ᴀssume Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is Pattinson’s first film role, though such an ᴀssumption wouldn’t be as far off.
