Tom Felton

Tom Felton auditioned for Harry Potter without having read the books, tried for Harry and Ron first, and landed Draco Malfoy instead. He'd been acting since he was 8, already had credits in The Borrowers and Anna and the King, but Draco made him. Critics called him "the personification of upper-class insolence," and he won the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain two years running. The franchise's fandom eventually decided Draco wasn't the villain at all. He became the series' most scrutinized character, which is its own kind of stardom.

His 2022 memoir Beyond the Wand hit No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, which surprised people who expected franchise nostalgia. It wasn't that. Felton wrote about years of struggling with alcohol and multiple stints in rehab while trying to find a life outside Hogwarts. The book worked because he didn't soften the rough parts. In 2025 he returned to Draco on Broadway in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Lyric Theatre, a limited run he extended through May 2026. The franchise keeps calling. He keeps answering.

Felton releases music as a side project, something most of his fanbase treats as a footnote. His friendship with Emma Watson dates back to when she was 9 on set and he was 13. She wrote the foreword to his memoir and told him to tell the whole story, not cherry-pick the fluffy bits. In 2021, he collapsed on the 18th hole at the Ryder Cup celebrity golf tournament. The internet briefly panicked. It was severe jet lag.