For many actors who grow up inside a massive film franchise, that first breakout role can loom over their careers for years. Some embrace it, while others spend a long time trying to move past it. That’s why it’s refreshing to hear a former Wizarding World Universe star speak so candidly about his relationship with Harry Potter and his determination not to be “shackled” by it. Honestly, his ability to keep reinventing himself is impressive.
Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley in five of the eight Harry Potter films, recently reflected on his early career and the mindset he had even as a child actor. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, he explained that his ambitions were already pointing in a different direction. Even while working on Harry Potter, Melling said theater was always his true passion:
Absolutely. But even when I was doing Harry Potter, I was obsessed with theater. Theater was my main love in a strange way. It was the thing that I was completely obsessed with. Even as a 10-year-old, I knew that I wanted to learn how to speak Shakespeare properly and to be a stage actor. A lot of the more senior actors in the Harry Potter world were all these incredible stage actors — and I wanted to have that career. Then going to drama school changes what you want in coming out the other side.
That perspective alone helps explain why Melling’s post-Potter career looks the way it does. Instead of chasing familiar roles, he’s built a résumé filled with unpredictable performances. From his standout work with the Coen Brothers to his role in The Queen’s Gambit, Melling has made a habit of disappearing into characters that don’t come with easy labels.
At the same time, he’s honest about the pressure that comes with being associated with a franchise as massive as Harry Potter. Gratitude doesn’t cancel out the risk of being boxed in. He continued:
But at the same time, Harry Potter is this huge, huge franchise, and I never wanted to be in any way shackled to it. I always wanted to have a really big career and try lots of different things.
Melling isn’t dismissing where he came from, he’s just refusing to let it define where he’s going. In fact, one of his most relatable analogies puts the whole thing into perspective. Finally, he added:
I guess it’s like saying, imagine if an article you wrote when you were 10 was like the article. You’d be like, ‘Oh, no, come on guys. There’s so many great people I’ve interviewed since then!’ (Laughs) So it is a really interesting relationship you enter, when dealing with something as huge as Potter.
That mindset makes his recent choices make so much sense. From his upcoming work in Pillion to his continued commitment to theater and indie films, Harry Melling seems far more interested in growth than comfort.
Honestly, that’s what makes his career so impressive to watch. He’s not chasing nostalgia, but instead is building his oeuvre by simply adding to it, with interesting roles after interesting roles. Whether it’s as Edgar Allan Poe in The Pale Blue Eye (streaming with a Netflix subscription) or a charismatic limbless man in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Melling is almost unrecognizable in each new performance and is always giving it his all.
For fans who want to revisit where it all began, Harry Melling’s breakout performance as Dudley Dursley is still easy to find. The entire Harry Potter film series is currently available to stream with an HBO Max subscription, making it easy to revisit his earliest significant role before he began carving out the career he has today.