You have seen him as the young, bespectacled wizard in the Harry Potter franchise. Daniel Radcliffe has since done his utmost to avoid being branded the boy wizard forever, trying his hand at everything from Broadway shows to low-budget indie cinema. It seems Radcliffe can break into any genre he likes, and even if he’ll never escape the legacy of Harry Potter, this list shows that he certainly doesn’t let one role define his identity. On his birthday, t2 celebrates some Rad trivia. 

• Radcliffe demonstrated his proficiency in rap on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2016, where he told host Jimmy Fallon he was “the first kid in my class to learn the words to Eminem’s The Real Slim Shady”. Radcliffe then gave a faultless performance of Blackalicious’s Alphabet Aerobics. 

• Radcliffe is one of the few celebrities who subscribes to the no-social media way of life, despite pleas for otherwise. “The studio says, ‘Can you get Twitter please? Can you get Facebook?’ And I’m [like] ‘No, I don’t do that.’” He has expressed concerns regarding respect for his privacy. 

• To maintain his privacy, Radcliffe has a hilarious way of dealing with the paparazzi. In 2007, at the height of Pottermania, he told Jay Leno on The Tonight Show about his ingenious methods to mess with the paparazzi. Because they’re not technically breaking the law, it’s almost impossible to keep them at bay. But Radcliffe turned out smarter. “I would wear the same outfit every single time with different T-shirts underneath, but I would wear the same jacket and zip it up so they couldn’t see what I was wearing underneath, and the same hat. So they could take photos for six months but it would look like the same day. They became un-publishable, which was hilarious because there’s nothing better than seeing the paparazzi get really frustrated,” he said. 

• Radcliffe has enjoyed his freedom since finishing the Harry Potter series, choosing to work on passion projects rather than hunt for the next big blockbuster. He may be the only actor who can talk so artfully about flatulence. Why?! He played a farting corpse in 2016’s bizarre comic drama Swiss Army Man. 

• He secretly published four poems in the British magazine Rubbish when he was 17 years old, under the pen name Jacob Gershon, his middle name combined with a variation of his mother’s maiden name. 

• Radcliffe is extremely philanthropically minded, offering his support to a wide range of charities and cases. He even auctioned off his ‘Hogwarts crew’ T-shirt from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in aid of Rebuilding Sri Lanka, following the tsunami. 

• Radcliffe showed us his selfless side again in 2017, when he rushed to the aid of a tourist who had been slashed in the face by muggers on mopeds. The incident occurred in Chelsea, London, when a Louis Vuitton bag was snatched from a man in his 50s. The victim was visibly shaken after the incident, but a witness told police, “[Radcliffe] was a really nice bloke. A lot of stars wouldn’t have stopped to help.” Good for you, Dan. 

• Radcliffe has a good sense of humour. He doesn’t take himself too seriously (he prefers ‘Dan’ to Daniel) and even enjoys being the butt of some jokes. 

Hannah Johnson
(A student of Oxford University, interning with t2)

What kind of roles would you like to see Daniel Radcliffe in? Tell t2@abp.in