If you want to talk about a franchise that is practically the textbook definition of the term "pop culture phenomenon," look no further than Harry Potter. Starting with the first book in 1997, these characters that were the brainchild of J.K. Rowling spawned seven books and created a legion of millions of fans all over the world almost instantly - and that's before they started making movies, which grossed billions of dollars at the box office over the course of eight installments. Fans know that September 1, 2017 marks the date of the "19 years later" epilogue featured as the finale to both the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book and films. In celebration of this Potter milestone, as well as the 20th anniversary of the books and the continuous pop culture impact of the series, we're looking at how the actors in the film series have evolved in the near 16 years since the first movie premiered.

When you think about life from Daniel Radcliffe’s perspective, it’s hard not to get excited. He was actually discovered for the first Harry Potter film, meaning that even though he’s only 26 years old he has the type of career that most people can only dream of. Since the end of the franchise, he’s maintained a relatively low profile, all things considered. He chooses to spend his time not only performing in shows on Broadway, but also for BBC dramas like David Copperfield. He also had a very small (but very funny) part in the Judd Apatow opus, Trainwreck.

As the adorable Ginny Weasley, Bonnie Wright’s star making performance quickly rose to the cream of the crop as far as this series of films was concerned. Since the Harry Potter franchise has ended, she’s managed to keep quite busy for herself. In addition to starring in films like After the Dark, Before I Sleep and more, she also has a number of different projects on the horizon for release. Most interestingly, she’s about to star as Nell in yet another adaptation of the holiday classic “A Christmas Carol.”

Prior to Harry Potter, Rupert Grint had only acted in plays at his school and in his local theatre group. Since the film franchise has finished, he definitely seems to have embraced all of the fame that has come with one of the most popular characters in one of the most popular series of movies ever. He actually does quite a bit of voice work these days, lending his golden pipes to projects like The Unbeatabls and Postman Pat. He also has two movies that are about to be released – Enemy of Man and Moonwalkers.

Even though Emma Watson has continued to act since Harry Potter hung up his magic wand for the last time, including the massively successful live action Beauty and the Beast,   she has also taken an active interest in her school work. She famously took a period of time off from showbusiness to attend Worcester College in Oxford and Brown University. When you’re worth more than $10 million dollars by the time you turn 18 years old, this is probably something that is fairly easy to do when you really stop to think about it. She’s also been in a large number of different films since then, from My Week with Marilyn to The Perks of Being a Wallflower and more. She’s also become involved in numerous charitable and feminist causes.

Tom Felton may have been the character that everyone loved to hate in the Harry Potter films themselves, but since they’ve ended he’s certainly swung more towards the side of “love,” at least as far as public perception is concerned. He’s had two roles in incredibly successful Hollywood films since the last Harry Potter movie. First, he made a cameo appearance as an exaggerated version of himself in Get Him to the Greek, the sequel/spinoff to the hugely successful film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He also starred as one of the human villains in the continuation of the Planet of the Apes film series. In addition, Felton had a regular role on the third season of The Flash.

Since Harry Potter ended, Evanna Lynch has spent a great deal of time on the small screen – she guest starred in the popular Sky1 television series Sinbad, for example. She has also starred in a number of different movies, from the independent teen comedy GBF to the independent crime drama Monster Butler over the course of the last few years.

If you ask someone who grew up with the Harry Potter franchise, the name Luke Youngblood is synonymous with Lee Jordan, a favorite character of just about everyone. If you ask someone who DIDN’T grow up with Harry Potter but who deeply appreciates comedy and television in general, they will know him by a different name – Magnitude. Luke Youngblood guest starred in no less than 15 episodes of the hit NBC series Community before it made the shift to internet distribution with Yahoo! in 2015.

After appearing as Viktor Krum in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Stanislav Ianevski has made quite the career for himself playing “the muscle” in a wide range of films and television shows. Perhaps his most notable roles were as Miroslav in Hostel: Part II in 2007 and on the television series Undercover in 2011, where he starred as Angel Yakimov for twelve full episodes.

After starring in not only Harry Potter films but also numerous spinoff video games and more, Alfred Enoch has continued to make quite the little career for himself on television. He showed up in the best episode of the third series of Sherlock in 2014 as Bainbridge, has performed live on numerous occasions with the National Theatre in the United Kingdom and also stars as Wes Gibbins in How to Get Away with Murder.

Harry Melling has continued to appear in a number of popular television shows since the end of Harry Potter, both in the United Kingdom and in the United States. Perhaps the two most famous post-Potter roles came on the shows Just William and Garrow’s Law, where he starred as Robert Brown and George Pinnock, respectively.

Matthew Lewis is another one of the many Potter actors who was able to take the fame the franchise afforded them and run with it in a bold way. He has starred in The Syndicate, Death in Paradise, Bluestone 42 and other popular TV series.

Katie Leung has actually enjoyed quite the prominent theater career since Harry Potter ended. She made her stage debut in Wild Swans in 2012 and hasn’t looked back.

Pansy Parkinson was a wizard the same year as Harry Potter at Hogwarts, but was sorted to House Slytherin. Scarlett Byrne played the character first in Half-Blood Prince and then in the two-part finale, The Deathly Hallows. Byrne has continued her acting career and with roles on Falling Skies and The Vampire Diaries and made headlines in 2017 when she posed nude for Playboy after the magazine announced it was returning to nude pictorials in February.

James and Oliver Phelps have both managed to extend their careers beyond Harry Potter, starring in films like Own Worst Enemy, Jabberwocky Rise, Danny and the Human Zoo and more.

Freddie Stroma seems to have effortlessly pivoted from one huge franchise to another – after Harry Potter ended, he almost immediately starred in the hugely successful Pitch Perfect in the United States.

Sean Biggerstaff has made a career in independent cinema over the last few years, most notably starring in both the short film and the eventual feature film adaptation of a movie called Cashback.

After Harry Potter, Jamie Waylett actually has a story that features a not-quite-so-happy ending. In 2012, he actually went to jail after he participated in the England riots in 2011.

Absolutely nothing interesting happened to Robert Pattinson after Harry Potter. Once those movies stopped, nobody ever heard from him again. How sad. Oh, wait – he actually went onto star in the Twilight Saga, which is perhaps one of the few franchises in the last few years that has been able to give Harry Potter a run for its money.

After Harry Potter, Jessica Cave has starred in numerous television series like Trollied, Glue Online and more.

Curiously, Devon Murray hasn’t acted since the end of the Harry Potter film franchise. However, when a gig is that lucrative and lasts for so long, it’s understandable if he wants to enjoy a little rest and relaxation before moving on.

Chris Rankin has spent a huge amount of time in the theater over the last few years, performing in shows with both the Youth Theatre Company in the UK and the Dereham Operatic Society.

Hugh Mitchell most recently appeared in a film called The White Queen, where he starred as Richard Welles alongside one of the UK’s biggest treasures, Max Irons.

Joshua Herdman is another Potter player who seems to have left the world of acting behind. His last role was in the film Piggy in 2012 as Anthony.

Clémence Poésy has been in a number of great movies over the last few years, most notably both In Bruges and 127 Hours. She has mainly continued to star in films in her native France and most of the movies that she’s in these days don’t really get released in the United States outside of art houses.

Afshan Azad is another Potter actor who has a story without a happy ending. She hasn’t acted since the final Harry Potter film and actually was the subject of a high profile assault case in the United Kingdom.

Jamie Campbell Bower is yet another Potter actor who was eventually poached for the Twilight film series. In addition to that, he’s been in a number of hit films including Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opposite Johnny Depp and for director Tim Burton back in the year 2007.

Domhnall Gleeson was once an actor who not a lot of people really knew outside of the United Kingdom – but boy oh boy, did that change when Gleeson played General Hux in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, AKA one of the most successful films of all time.

Helen McCrory finished the second biggest British film franchise, Harry Potter, and immediately started working on the first – she played Clair Dowar in the James Bond film Skyfall in 2012.

Prior to Harry Potter, Robbie Coltrane was perhaps the most famous for appearing in one of the best pre-Daniel Craig James Bond films of all time – Goldeneye in 1995 opposite Pierce Brosnan. After being kept very busy for the better part of 10 years by Harry Potter, Robbie Coltrane  mostly maintained a low profile and returned to his television roots until he passed away in 2022.

Professor Snape, the beloved anti-hero of the Potter series – was played with gusto in the film series by legendary British actor Alan Rickman.

Rickman was an accomplished stage actor, as well as movie star known for performances in Dogma and Die Hard. Sadly, he passed away in 2016.

Dame Maggie Smith, one of Britain’s most respected actors, brought an appropriate gravitas to the role of Minerva McGonagall in all eight Harry Potter films.

Since the series ended, Smith has had a celebrated run on Downton Abbey.

British stage and screen legend Richard Harris – known for roles in Camelot, Unforgiven, and Gladiator – portrayed the wise headmaster of Hogwarts in the first two Potter films.

Unfortunately, Harris passed away in 2002, just weeks before Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets premiered in theaters.

After Richard Harris passed away, the role of Dumbledore went to another British stage icon: Michael Gambon.

Gambon’s more emotional take on the character proved popular with fans, and he stayed in the part through the final six Harry Potter films.

Gambon retired from stage acting in 2015, but has continued appearing in films, television series, and doing voiceover work.

David Thewlis, best know for his award-winning turn in the film Naked – played werewolf Professor Remus Lupin in several of the series’ films.

Thewlis has continued acting in major films, including a turn as antagonist Aries in 2017’s Wonder Woman.

Even though Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson can definitely all be considered “winners” as far as Harry Potter is concerned, perhaps the biggest winner of them all is the franchise’s mastermind J.K. Rowling. Since the franchise ended both in book and cinema form, she performed a very interesting experiment by releasing a book called The Casual Vacancy under a pen name. She wanted to see if people would read the book and enjoy it on its own merits if her name was not attached to it – which is something that was ruined after the pen name was revealed by her lawyer of all people just prior to its release. In any event, she seems to be doing quite well for herself – not only has she continued to write Potter material, including the scripts for the Fantastic Beasts prequel films, as well as the story for the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play.

Kenneth Branagh is one of the most successful and respected actor/directors of all time. Prior to his appearance as the conceited Gilderoy Lockhart in 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Branagh was best known for his association for Shakespeare, appearing in and/or directing numerous cinematic adaptions of the author’s work, including Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Hamlet, and Love’s Labour’s Lost. Following Potter, Branagh has starred in and directed Thor (which led to a recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Murder on the Orient Express, Belfast, and Death on the Nile among countless other films.

Fiona Shaw first came to film audiences attention thanks to her appearances in Super Mario Bros, Persuasion, Jane Eyre, and Anna Karenina. In 2001 she debuted as the titular character’s Aunt Petunia in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Shaw appeared in 5 of the 8 Potter films. Since the series ended, she’s appeared in films including The Tree of Life, Out of Innocence, Colette, and Ammonite. She’s also appeared in numerous television shows, including, True Blood, Killing Eve, Fleabag, Baptise, Enola Holmes, and Andor.

Like many adults in the cast, Richard Griffiths was a well known British actor prior to the series, with credits including Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, and Sleepy Hollow. Griffiths debuted as Harry’s Uncle Vernon in the first film, and appeared intermittently in the series thereafter. Following Potter’s conclusion, he appeared in several more films including Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Hugo before sale passing away in 2013.

Imelda Staunton holds the dubious honor of portraying perhaps the Potter series most hated character, Dolores Umbridge,  beginning with 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Prior to the film, Staunton was best known for the films Much Ado About Nothing, Sense and Sensibility, and Shakespeare in Love as well as West End productions of The Beggar’s Opera (1982), Guys and Dolls (1982 and 1996), and Into the Woods (1990). Following her run as Umbridge, Staunton has continued to find success, appearing in films and television including Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent and its sequel, Paddington and its sequel, Downton Abbey, and The Crown as well as continued West End work.

Jason Isaacs was already well-known for films like Armageddon, The Patriot, Black Hawk Down, and Resident Evil prior to his debut as the Malfoy facility patriarch Lucious in 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Since then, the actor has appeared in varied projects including Cars 2, The Death of Stalin, Hotel Mumbai, Star Wars Rebels, Star Trek: Discovery, The OA, Sex Education, Castlevania, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Scoob, and Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets.

Bellatrix Lestrange actress Helena Bonham Carter was arguably the best-known member of the Harry Potter cast prior to her role in the films thanks to breakout performances in films like Hamlet, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Fight Club, Planet of the Apes, and Corpse Bride as well as her longtime personal and professional relationship with Tim Burton. In the years since her first Potter appearance, Bonham Carter has appeared in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland, The King’s Speech, Dark Shadows, Les Misérables, Cinderella, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Oceans 8, Enola Holmes, The Crown, The House, and Enola Holmes 2. .

Prior to stepping into the robes of He Who Shall Not be Named, Ralph Fiennes was based known for Wuthering Heights, Schindler’s List, Maid in Manhattan, The Prince of Egypt, and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabit. Post-Voldemort debut, Fiennes has appeared across a vast range of films including, The Duchess, The Hurt Locker, Clash of the Titans, “Wrath of the Titans, Skyfall, Spectre, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Lego Batman Movie, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, No Time to Die, The King’s Man, and The Menu.

By the time he debuted as Sirius Black, Gary Oldman was already well-known for Sid and Nancy, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, JFK, Air Force One, and Hannibal. Concurrent with his Potter run, Oldman reached mega-star status thanks to his portrayal of Jim Gordon in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy of Batman fans. In the years since, Oldman has won critical acclaim for performances in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Mank, Crisis, The Woman in the Window, and Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.

Despite only appearing in flashbacks and fantasy sequences, Adrian Rawlins’ James Potter is an important piece of the Harry Potter mythos, hence why produces cast a relatively well-known actor in the part. Rawlins was best known for The Woman in Black, Soldier Soldier, and Insiders. Rawlins has gone on to appear in Dickensian, Girlfriends, Chernobyl, Undergods, Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, Living, Andor, and Slow Horses.

Those who know the Harry Potter lore know how important the character of Lily Potter turns out to be to the overall narrative of the series, which means that casting the character was quite important despite her comparatively limited appearances. Geraldine Somerville, best known for Romeo and Juliet, Cracker, and Gosford Park, debuted the role in 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Since then. she’s appeared in My Week with Marilyn, Grace of Monaco, Goodbye Christopher Robin, and Christmas in the Highlands.

Before and during his run as Argus Flich in the Harry Potter series, David Bradley appeared in numerous BBC television objects and films including, The Buddha of Suburbia, Our Friends in the North, Our Mutual Friend, Reckless, Vanity Fair, The Wilsons, Nicholas Nickleby, Exorcist: The Beginning, and Hot Fuzz. Post-Potter, Bradley has appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger, The World’s End, The Lodgers, Game of Thrones, Prisoners’ Wives, Doctor Who, Les Misérables, Afterlife, Wizards, Pinocchio, Catherine Called Birdy, and Your Christmas or Mine?

Warwick Davis was already a film legend before playing two different roles – Professor Filius Flitwick and Griphook the goblin – across the Harry Potter series. Davis debuted as the Ewok Wicket in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 1983, and went on to act in Willow, the Leprechaun franchise, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian among others. Post-Potter, Davis has appeared in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Rogue One, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars Rebels, Life’s Too Short, and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.

Prior to her role as the eccentric Professor Sybill Trelawney in the Potter films, Emma Thompson also became known thanks to appearances in Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Sense and Sensibility, and Love Actually. While appearing in the HP series, Thompson appeared in Nanny McPhee, I Am Legend, Stranger than Fiction, and Nanny McPhee Returns. Since the Potter series ended, Thompson appeared in Men in Black 3, Brave, Saving Mr. Banks, Beauty and the Beast, Men in Black: International, Last Christmas, Dolittle, How to Build a Girl, Cruella, Good Luck to You, and Matilda the Musical.

Prior to debuting as Arthur Wesley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Mark Williams had acted for over 20 years, including appearing in 101 Dalmatians and Shakespeare in Love. Since then he’s appeared in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, A Room With a View, and the BBC’s Sense and Sensibility. In recent years he’s appeared in Albert Nobbs, Golden Years, Early Man, and the titular character on BBC One’s Father Brown.

While Julie Walters had an acclaimed decades long career prior, it wasn’t until the early 2000s when she broke out into the public consciousness thanks to her role as Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films as well as her supporting role in Mamma Mia!. In the years since, she’s appeared in numerous projects including Paddington, Brooklyn, Paddington 2, Brave, The Jury, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Mary Poppins Returns, The Queen’s Corgi, The Secret Garden, and For the Love of Britain.