Daniel Radcliffe Once Shared People Thought He’d Be a Jerk Because He Was a Child Actor
Daniel Radcliffe experienced massive attention and fame thanks to his work in the Harry Potter films. However, that popularity as a child actor gave some preconceived notions about what Radcliffe was actually like in person.
But the actor’s attitude would only surprise them.
Daniel Radcliffe once opened up about the difficulties of being a child star
Thanks to Harry Potter, Radcliffe got his start in the industry at a very early age. The actor was just 12 years old when the first Harry Potter movie hit theaters. Fans got to see Radcliffe’s growth and maturity throughout the entirety of the acclaimed wizard series. Although being a child star definitely came with some benefits for Radcliffe, the actor confided there were risks to becoming famous so young.
“Ultimately, the hardest thing about growing up in the spotlight, it’s not the easy access to drugs or the strange, sort of pandering world you enter into,” he once said in an interview with The Mirror. “The difficulty is trying to work out who you are while constantly coming up against a perception of yourself that everybody else already has.”
Because of his own experiences, Radcliffe learned that child stars would benefit from figuring out who they truly were. He felt doing so would give them a better handle at celebrity stardom.
“I think it’s very important, especially when you become famous young, to work out who you are without fame and without that as part of your identity, because that will go. Fame does not last forever. For anyone,” he added.
Daniel Radcliffe once shared people were surprised he wasn’t a jerk
Radcliffe noticed that he faced some pretty strong judgment firsthand because of his celebrity status. Hollywood child stars sometimes have a reputation for not being the easiest people to be around. But Radcliffe turned out to be the opposite of what others expected him to be at the time.
“When I did my first non-Potter film, December Boys, I became good friends with one of the makeup and hair teams,” Radcliffe once said in an interview with Playboy. “After a few weeks, I said, ‘So, honestly, what did you expect when you were going to get me?’ And they said, ‘We thought you were going to be a d***.’ Because that’s the notion people have in their heads of child stars. People expect me to be an absolute a**hole. And when I’m not, that always plays in my favor.”
Radcliffe credited his genuine passion for filmmaking as the reason why he didn’t end up like other child stars.
“The most underrated way I and all the producers on Potter got lucky was that I f***ing loved the work. I’ve seen kids on set who are bored, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing? This is the best place on Earth.’ I loved it from the word go,” he said.
Daniel Radcliffe doesn’t wants his kids to be child stars
Radcliffe isn’t too excited about the idea of his children experiencing the same level of childhood superstardom and fame that he did. In a recent interview with Newsweek, the actor asserted he wouldn’t mind his kids taking part in the filmmaking experience.
“I want my kids, if and when they exist…I would love them to be around film sets,” he said. “A dream would be for them to come onto a film set and be like ‘God, you know, I’d love to be in the art department. I’d love to be something in the crew.’ Some part of this, but not from that.”
However, that didn’t necessarily mean Radcliffe would’ve been okay with his children being Hollywood famous.
“And also I think we’re saying this as people who have alright,” Radcliffe said. “And we’re still acting so clearly, we enjoyed it. But still, I wouldn’t want fame for my kid.”
