Harry Potter Cast & Character Ages

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter hit the big screen in 2001 and spanned 8 films, finishing in 2011 with the epic conclusion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

During their decade-long reign, Harry, Hermione, and Ron grew from children to adults on the silver screen. And many young viewers grew along with them, creating a generation of adoring fans.

Each movie was produced separately (besides Deathly Hallows parts 1 and 2, which were filmed together), so it’s fascinating to see how the characters change over the years.

Looking back on the series, you might wonder: How old were the Harry Potter actors in each film? And how old were they in real life? When were they born, and how old are they now?

You may feel old to find out that all three main characters are now in their thirties!

You’ll find the age differences between the Harry Potter cast and their wizarding world counterparts below. Some of them might surprise you!

Find the real ages of the main characters of the Harry Potter cast during each of the Harry Potter movies:

Harry Potter Cast and Character Birthdays

Here are the birthdays of each Harry Potter character and the birthdays of the actors in real life:

• Harry Potter was born on 31st July 1980 and Daniel Radcliffe was born on 23rd July 1989.
• Ron Weasley was born on 1st March 1980 and Rupert Grint was born on 24th August 1988.
• Hermione Granger was born 19th September, 1979 and Emma Watson was born on 15th April 1990.
• Draco Lucius Malfoy was born on 5 June 1980 and Tom Felton was born September 22 1987.
• Neville Longbottom as born on 30th July 1980 and Matthew Lewis was born on 27th June 1989.
• Ginny Weasley was born on 11th August 1981 and Bonnie Wright 17th February 1991.
• Luna Lovegood was born 13th February 1981 and Evanna Lynch 16th August 1991.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Cast Ages

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (known as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the UK), was produced by Warner Bros and released in November of 2001. It gave fans their first glimpse of the Wizarding World in living color.

In the first movie, our heroes attend their first year at Hogwarts. All of them, and all of their 1st-year peers, are between 11-12 years old. The Sorcerer’s stone is set in 1991.

Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter, was born on July 23rd, 1989. So, during production, that would make him about 11 years old (filming had finished by July 2001). In the movie, Harry Potter is ten years old at the beginning. We also witness his 11th birthday—the day he learns he’s a wizard. This means that both Radcliffe and Potter are about the same age in the first movie.

• Height: 4’6” Weight: 70lbs Age: 11 (July 31, 1980).

Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, was born on August 24th, 1988. When he was filming Sorcerer’s Stone, he would have been about 12 years old. In the Wizarding World, Ron was about 11-12 in his first year at Hogwarts. While Rupert started out a bit older than his character, he and Ron would have been about the same age by the end of the movie.

Emma Watson, who played Hermione, was a 90s kid. She was born on April 15th, 1990. That makes her the youngest of the three stars. Ironically, Hermione was the oldest in the movie—about 12-13 years old. So even though Emma was the youngest in real life, her character was older than her companions.

What about some other notable characters?

Bonnie Wright, who played Ron’s sister Ginny, only appeared for a moment in the first movie. She was about 9 years old at the time. In the movie, she would have been about 10, making her too young to attend Hogwarts. She would go on to play a bigger part in the next movie.

Matthew Lewis, known as Neville Longbottom in Sorcerer’s Stone, was born on June 27th, 1989. Just a month older than Daniel Radcliffe, Matthew was also about 11 during the filming of the first movie. His character Neville was 11-12 years old while attending year 1 at Hogwarts

The oldest main character in Sorcerer’s Stone was Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy. He was born on September 22nd, 1987, making him about 13 years old during production. In the Wizarding World, Draco would have been the same age as the other first-year students, about 11-12 years old.

The actors in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone are very much children. But they won’t stay that way for long. Continue reading to see how they start to grow—and outgrow their characters on-screen.

Actor	Actor’s Age	Character	Character’s Age
Daniel Radcliffe	11-12 years old	Harry Potter	11-12 years old
Rupert Grint	12-13 years old	Ron Weasley	11-12 years old
Emma Watson	10-11 years old	Hermione Granger	12-13 years old
Tom Felton	13-14 years old	Draco Malfoy	11-12 years old
Matthew Lewis	11-12 years old	Neville Longbottom	11-12 years old
Bonnie Wright	9-10 years old	Ginny Weasley	10-11 years old

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Cast Ages

Production for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets started in November 2001—the same month that Sorcerer’s Stone was released—and finished in July 2002. That means each actor had aged exactly one year since the production of the first movie.

This made Chamber of Secrets a very accurate portrayal of how the characters would have really aged from their 1st to 2nd years at Hogwarts. 

This year, they don’t just age literally. They also begin to grow into teenagers and learn some of the darker secrets of Hogwarts and Voldemort.

During production in 2002, Daniel Radcliffe was 12 years old, making him the same age as Harry Potter for most of the movie. This is because Harry turned 12 at the beginning of Chamber of Secrets. In fact, his birthday always falls before the start of the Hogwarts academic year, making him an older student compared to his peers.

• Height: 4’9” Weight: 100lbs Age: 12 (born on July 31, 1980).

Rupert Grint has aged one year since the first movie, making him about 13 years old. So, at the start of the movie, he would be older than Ron, who was about 12 at the beginning of the school year. By the end of the movie, they’d be about the same age.

Emma Watson, the baby of the bunch, is still younger than Hermione Granger in the second Harry Potter movie. Hermione is already 13 years old at the beginning of the story, but Emma would have been just 11-12 during production.

Tom Felton, or the villainous Draco Malfoy, has also aged a year. He is still older than Draco by nearly 2 years. He is about 14 during production, and Draco is just 12-13 in the movie. Felton’s older age was probably a casting decision, as it made him look bigger and more threatening to the other students.

Jolly Neville Longbottom provides a bit of comic relief in Chamber of Secrets. He is 12-13 in the movie, just like all the 2nd-year students. Matthew Lewis, who plays him, shared his age.

Ginny Weasley is able to start her first year at Hogwarts in Chamber of Secrets, and Bonny Wright plays a much bigger role in the movie. During production, she was only about 10 years old, making her a year younger than Ginny, who was 11-12 during her first year at school.

Actor	Actor’s Age	Character	Character’s Age
Daniel Radcliffe	12-13 years old	Harry Potter	12-13 years old
Rupert Grint	13-14 years old	Ron Weasley	12-13 years old
Emma Watson	11-12 years old	Hermione Granger	13-14 years old
Tom Felton	14-15 years old	Draco Malfoy	12-13 years old
Matthew Lewis	12-13 years old	Neville Longbottom	12-13 years old
Bonnie Wright	10-11 years old	Ginny Weasley	11-12 years old

You may also like: Harry Potter Character List

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Cast Ages

The production schedule for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was a bit different than the previous two films. Instead of filming one year after Chamber of Secrets (late 2002 to early 2003, the film was produced in early 2003 and released in mid-2004. This means the actors have all aged about 1 year and 3 months years since the second movie. But their characters have only aged 1 year.

The delay may have been caused by a change in directors. The director of the first two films, Chris Columbus, stepped down and Alfonso Cuarón took the lead.

In this movie, we find the students in their 3rd year at Hogwarts. All teenagers now, we start to see some angst and awkwardness as they navigate the growing pains of becoming wizards—and adults.

Harry Potter turns 13 years old at the beginning of the film in a whirlwind of teenage mischief. The actor Daniel Radcliffe had turned 13 before production and he turned 14 during production. This means he started out a bit older than Harry, but at the end of the movie, they were about the same age.

Rupert Grint turned 15 years old during the filming of Prisoner of Azkaban, pushing him further from the age of Ron Weasley. Ron, like Harry, was 13-14 during the third movie.

Emma Watson starts to inch closer to the age of her character, but she still has a ways to go. During filming, she turned 13 years old. But Hermione was 14 years old at the beginning of Prisoner of Azkaban. By the end of the movie, Hermione is about two years older than Emma.  

The first actor to hit his sweet sixteen was Tom Felton. Still the oldest, he turned 16 during production. This means that he’s about 2-3 years older than Draco Malfoy, who was only 13 years old at the beginning of the third movie.

Matthew Lewis continues to be about the same age as his character Neville Longbottom. He turned 14 during the filming of Prisoner of Azkaban, just as Neville turned 14 during his third year at Hogwarts.

Curious Ginny Weasley also creeps closer to actor Bonnie Wright’s age. Wright turned 12 during the movie’s production, and Ginny started her second year of Hogwarts at age 12. When the movie finishes, Ginny is 13, so she’s still a bit older than Bonnie.

One of the biggest changes in this movie, besides the new director, was the recasting of Dumbledore. Beloved actor Sir Richard Harris died in 2002, and he was replaced by Sir Michael Gambon.

Actor	Actor’s Age	Character	Character’s Age
Daniel Radcliffe	13-14 years old	Harry Potter	13-14 years old
Rupert Grint	14-15 years old	Ron Weasley	13-14 years old
Emma Watson	12-13 years old	Hermione Granger	14-15 years old
Tom Felton	15-16 years old	Draco Malfoy	13-14 years old
Matthew Lewis	13-14 years old	Neville Longbottom	13-14 years old
Bonnie Wright	11-12 years old	Ginny Weasley	12-13 years old

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Cast Ages

Actor	Actor’s Age	Character	Character’s Age
Daniel Radcliffe	15-16 years old	Harry Potter	14-15 years old
Rupert Grint	16-17 years old	Ron Weasley	14-15 years old
Emma Watson	14-15 years old	Hermione Granger	15-16 years old
Tom Felton	18-19 years old	Draco Malfoy	14-15 years old
Matthew Lewis	15-16 years old	Neville Longbottom	17-18 years old
Bonnie Wright	13-14 years old	Ginny Weasley	13-14 years old

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth installment in the series, began filming in June 2004—Just one month after the release of Prisoner of Azkaban. But production wouldn’t finish until March 2005. This is a much longer production schedule than the previous movies, which means some of the actors began to get quite a bit older than their onscreen counterparts. 

Goblet of Fire was released in November 2005, over 1.5 years after the release of the third movie. A new director, Mike Newell, took the helm. He was the first British person to direct a Harry Potter movie.

At this point, many viewers started to notice the age differences between the actors and characters.

Harry Potter turns 14 years old at the start of his 4th year at Hogwarts, but Daniel Radcliffe turned 16 during the production of Goblet of Fire. This makes him about 1.5 years older than Harry. But it’s still believable that Harry is only 14, as Daniel still looks young. The same isn’t true of some other characters.

Rupert Grint was nearly 17 years old when production finished on Goblet of Fire. Ron Weasley is just 14 years old in the Wizarding World, making Rupert about 2.5 years older than his character. Ron certainly acts like a 14-year-old in this movie, but he clearly looks older.

On the other hand, Emma Watson still hasn’t caught up to her character’s age despite the slower production schedule. During filming, she was 14-15 years old. At the beginning of the movie, Hermione is already 15 years old. At this point, Watson is one of the only actors with (nearly) the same age as their character.

Draco, played by Tom Felton, is 14-15 years old in the movie (just like Harry and Ron). But in real life, Felton was close to turning 18 by the end of production. This is one of the most noticeable age differences in the movie. Draco definitely looks like an adult in Goblet of Fire.

Matthew Lewis, who plays Neville, turned 16 at the end of production in 2005. He is just one year older than Neville in Goblet of Fire, and he still looks quite young. It’s not hard to believe he plays a 14-year-old in the movie.

Bonnie Wright, or Ginny in the movies, is about 13-14 during production. This means she is the same age as Ginny is in her third year at Hogwarts.

In Goblet of Fire, we get to see a few new (yet familiar) faces join the cast. A young Robert Pattinson plays Cedric Diggory in the Triwizard Tournament. Ralph Fiennes also takes the role of the villain Voldemort (he hadn’t played Voldemort in the previous 3 movies).

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Cast Ages

Actor	Actor’s Age	Character	Character’s Age
Daniel Radcliffe	17-18 years old	Harry Potter	15-16 years old
Rupert Grint	18-19 years old	Ron Weasley	15-16 years old
Emma Watson	16-17 years old	Hermione Granger	16-17 years old
Tom Felton	19-20 years old	Draco Malfoy	15-16 years old
Matthew Lewis	17-18 years old	Neville Longbottom	15-16 years old
Bonnie Wright	15-16 years old	Ginny Weasley	14-15 years old
Evanna Lynch	15-16 years old	Luna Lovegood	14-15 years old

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Golden Trio enter their 5th year at Hogwarts. No longer children, the teenage wizards are now leaders in their houses. This makes it a bit more believable that the characters look older—even though all of the actors have now surpassed their on-screen characters’ ages.

The fifth movie was produced from February 2006 to December 2006. It was released in July 2007—over a year and a half after the fourth movie. The lengthy production times have caused the actors to age further beyond their characters.

Daniel Radcliffe turns 17 years old near the beginning of production, and he’s nearly 18 by the end. Harry Potter turns 15 at the beginning of the movie. This puts Daniel a solid 2 years ahead of Harry, and in the movie, it starts to become noticeable. Harry looks quite a bit older than he did in Prisoner of Azkaban, even though this took place just 2 years prior in the Wizarding World.

Rupert Grint is also quickly growing out of his character Ron. Ron Weasley is meant to be 15-16 in the movie. But Rupert is already 18 at the beginning of production, and he turns 19 during filming.

Emma Watson finally overtakes her character of Hermione Granger, but only by a little. Hermione is meant to be 16 years old at the beginning of the movie. Emma is 16 during filming too, making her an accurate representation of her character.

Tom Felton is 19 years old during filming, and Draco Malfoy clearly looks much older than his fellow classmates, even though he’s supposed to be the same age (about 15-16 years old).

Like Daniel Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis was 17 years old when he portrayed Neville Longbottom in Order of the Phoenix. Neville, by contrast, is 15-16 years old.

Even Bonnie Wright has grown older than her character Ginny Weasley in this movie. Wright was 15 during production, and Ginny was 14 years old at the beginning of her 4th year at Hogwarts.

In Order of the Phoenix, we meet the new character of Luna Lovegood, who was played by Evanna Lynch. Lynch was about 15-16 years old during filming, even though her character was supposed to be 14-15 years old. So, Lynch is about a year older than Luna. They may have made this casting choice to make Luna seem closer in age to Harry and his peers.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Cast Ages

Actor	Actor’s Age	Character	Character’s Age
Daniel Radcliffe	18-19 years old	Harry Potter	16-17 years old
Rupert Grint	19-20 years old	Ron Weasley	16-17 years old
Emma Watson	17-18 years old	Hermione Granger	17-18 years old
Tom Felton	20-21 years old	Draco Malfoy	16-17 years old
Matthew Lewis	18-19 years old	Neville Longbottom	16-17 years old
Bonnie Wright	16-17 years old	Ginny Weasley	15-16 years old
Evanna Lynch	16-17 years old	Luna Lovegood	15-16 years old

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince finds our heroes in their 6th and penultimate year at Hogwarts. And at this point, many of the actors have become adults.

The movie began filming in September 2007—about 2 months after the release of Order of the Phoenix—and finished on May 2008.Yet it wouldn’t be released until July of 2009, nearly 2 years later.

The budget for Half-Blood Prince was considerably larger than it was for the previous films (about 100M more cash was invested), which might have something to do with the longer production schedule.

Nevertheless, the main characters now look less like teenagers and more like 20-somethings—especially Ron and Draco.

Daniel Radcliffe was nearly 19 years old by the end of production, yet Harry Potter was just 16 years old in his 6th year at Hogwarts. This makes Daniel 3 years older than his character Harry.

Rupert Grint, who was born a year prior to Radcliffe, was about 20 years old when filming ended. This would make him quite a bit older than Ron, who was supposed to be just 16 in the film.

Emma Watson still keeps in line with her character Hermione. Emma had turned 18 a month or so before filming ended, and Hermione was 17 during her 6th year at Hogwarts. This makes Emma just slightly older than Hermione.

Tom Felton was 20 years old when production started and nearly 21 when it finished. Once again, this means Draco Malfoy appears much older than the other students. He’s supposed to be just 16 in the film. This makes Felton about 4 years older than Malfoy.

Bonnie Wright turned 17 during the filming of Half-Blood Prince. In her fifth year at Hogwarts, her character Ginny was about 15-16. The same age difference exists between Evanna Lynch and Luna Lovegood in this movie.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) Cast Ages

Actor	Actor’s Age	Character	Character’s Age
Daniel Radcliffe	20-21 years old	Harry Potter	17-18 years old
Rupert Grint	21-22 years old	Ron Weasley	17-18 years old
Emma Watson	19-20 years old	Hermione Granger	18-19 years old
Tom Felton	22-23 years old	Draco Malfoy	17-18 years old
Matthew Lewis	20-21 years old	Neville Longbottom	17-18 years old
Bonnie Wright	18-19 years old	Ginny Weasley	16-17 years old
Evanna Lynch	18-19 years old	Luna Lovegood	16-17 years old

As the Harry Potter series approaches its epic conclusion, the Golden Trio and their classmates are finally becoming adults. The actors who portray them, however, are well into their 20s. The age differences are a bit more believable in this final film, as the characters are supposed to look older. 

One big difference between this movie and the others is that it was filmed at the same time as the next film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. This was a wise choice because it prevented the actors from aging into their mid-20s by the time the final movie was released. And of course, Warner Bros made a lot more money by drawing out the conclusion of the series!

Because this was essentially a double-length movie, production was much longer than it was for the previous films. Production began in February 2009 and finished in June 2010. The longest production schedule was previously about 10 months. The final chapter took about 16 months to produce. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was released in November 2010.

When production began on Deathly Hallows Part 1 began, Daniel Radcliffe was 19 years old. And when it finished, he was nearly 21. Harry turned just 17 years old at the beginning of the movie, making him an adult in the Wizarding World.

Rupert Grint was 21 during filming and just shy of 22 before production ended. This makes him about 4 years older than his character Ron in many of his scenes in Deathly Hallows Part 1.

Emma Watson is still not too much older than her character Hermione. Hermione is already 18 at the start of her final year. Emma Watson was 19 during most of the production period, making her only about a year older than Hermione.

Draco Malfoy was a 17-year-old wizard in his final year of school. Tom Felton, on the other hand, was nearly 23 when production on the movie finished. He was about 5 years older than Draco in most of his scenes.

Matthew Lewis was about 20 years old when portraying Neville Longbottom in the first part of Deathly Hallows. Neville, like his classmates, was about 17-18 years old. So, Lewis was about 2-3 years older than Neville, and in this movie, the age difference starts to show.

The only actors under 20 in Deathly Hallows Part 1 were Evanna Lynch and Bonnie Wright (who played Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley). Their characters are in their 6th year at Hogwarts, making them 16-17 years old. Both actresses were around 18 during filming.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) Cast Ages

Actor	Actor’s Age	Character	Character’s Age
Daniel Radcliffe	21 years old	Harry Potter	17-18 years old
Rupert Grint	22 years old	Ron Weasley	17-18 years old
Emma Watson	21 years old	Hermione Granger	18-19 years old
Tom Felton	23 years old	Draco Malfoy	17-18 years old
Matthew Lewis	22 years old	Neville Longbottom	17-18 years old
Bonnie Wright	19 years old	Ginny Weasley	16-17 years old
Evanna Lynch	20 years old	Luna Lovegood	16-17 years old

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ends the film series with a satisfying and action-packed conclusion. Saying goodbye to Harry and the Wizarding World wasn’t easy, but it was time for the wizards, and the actors who played them, to move on.

The final movie was filmed between February 2009 and June 2010 and released in July 2011 (about 8 months after the release of part 1).

Deathly Hallows Part 2 was filmed at the same time as Deathly Hallows Part 1, so the actors had not aged since the previous movie.

When the movie was finally released, Daniel Radcliffe was 21 years old, but he was very close to turning 22. In fact, he celebrated his 22nd birthday just a week after the movie hit theaters.  Harry Potter was also close to his birthday at the movie’s end, but he was about to turn 18. This makes Daniel about 4 years older than Harry by the time viewers got to see Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Rupert Grint was 22 years old when the last movie premiered. And just a few weeks later, he celebrated his 23rd birthday. Ron was about 18 at the end of the movie.

Emma Watson had recently turned 21 when Deathly Hallows Part 2 dropped. Her character Hermione would have been very close to turning 19 at the end of the story.

Tom Felton was about to turn 24 years old when the movie was released. So, he was nearly 6 years older than Draco Malfoy at the end of the movie.

When Deathly Hallows Part 2 was in theaters, there was only one teenager left in the main cast. That was Evanna Lynch, who was still 19 years old. She played Luna Lovegood in the finale. Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) had recently turned 20. They both played characters who were 16-17 years old in the final movie.

Last but not least, Matthew Lewis was 22 when the finale arrived on the silver screen. His character Neville, like Harry, was about to turn 18 at the end of the film.