Daniel Radcliffe: No Ordinary Wizard by Grace Norwich

From the Publisher

Meet Daniel Radcliffe: one of the richest, most famous teens in the world. Oh and let's not forget that he plays one of the most beloved fictional characters of all time: Harry Potter. But before taking on the role of Harry, Daniel was just an ordinary kid. With five Harry Potter movies under his belt, and the final ones in the works, Daniel has begun to come out of his shell and take on some more eclectic acting roles. Both in film and on the stage. From his favorite band (The Sex Pistols) to his favorite show(The Simpsons), learn everything you ever wanted to know about Daniel Radcliffe and his hot-shot role as the boy wizzard, Harry Potter! This biography is complete with brand-new, up-to-date photos and information about everyone's favorite teenage heartthrob!

Children's Literature

Young fans of Daniel Radcliffe are likely to be thrilled with this biography of their actor/hero and they won't mind the book's overdose of adoration and exclamation points. These readers will appreciate knowing all sorts of trivia and details about Radcliffe's life. Did you know that his mom is a casting director and his dad a talent agent? Yet this may actually have slowed Radcliffe's stage entrance because his parents wanted to make sure their son had a normal childhood. By the time he was 10, though, he had the lead in a BBC production of Charles Dickens's David Copperfield; a few years later he would become Harry Potter and normalcy would be a thing of the past. The book also includes details about filming the Potter movies—the nine-minute quidditch scene, for example, took three months to plan and six months to shoot. "We went very fast, very high, and I really was sitting on a broom," Radcliffe is quoted as saying. Most of Radcliffe's quotes in the book come from news interviews. The writing is pedestrian, especially compared with the Potter books themselves, but for reluctant readers who like Harry Potter but find the original series of increasingly difficult books daunting, this biography may be welcome relief. Reviewer: Karen Leggett

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Chapter One: Dan's Magic

When the millions of Harry Potter fans out there think of the sweet, unassuming boy wizard they have grown to love, a picture of Daniel Radcliffe immediately pops into their heads. That's because Dan — as all his friends and family members call him — is the young actor who, at age eleven, won the role of Harry Potter in the first movie and has been the face of the famous wizard on-screen ever since!

So just how similar is Dan to the famous wizard we all know and love? Well, quite similar, actually. Except for his lack of magical powers, Dan shares a lot of similarities with the fictional character that has made him a household name. First off, they are both British, and very cute! But there are a lot of other, somewhat less obvious, characteristics that they share. According to Dan, they seem to have so much in common he has even joked that one day he'll have to go into therapy, because every time he reads J. K.'s books he finds more links between his and Harry's personalities. Not that the two boys share any bad traits. In fact, it's just the opposite!

"We have curiosity [and] loyalty," Dan told People magazine — two very important attributes to have. Despite his ever-rising celebrity status, Dan has managed to remain pretty levelheaded, and becoming famous hasn't at all changed the way he treats his friends and loved ones or lessened the time he makes for them in his life. Actually, whenever he gets a chance on the movie set, Dan keeps in touch with his school chums by telephone, e-mail, or text messaging. Just as Draco Malfoy discovered about Harry at the beginning of their first year at Hogwarts, Danalso has no trouble spotting the wrong sort of people. He knows how essential it is to keep sight of the important things in life. Instead of getting wrapped up in his fame, Dan, like Harry, keeps his head out of the clouds and devotes his time to the "right" sort of people, the friends who have always stood by him, movie star or not.

Another similarity that Dan and the fictional wizard seem to share is a level of wisdom and maturity that is beyond their years, which is probably due to the fact that they both had to handle a great deal of responsibility at such a young age. While Harry has the special lightning-bolt scar that means he will have to single-handedly battle the forces of evil and save the world, Dan has had his own earthly challenges. The Harry Potter books and movies have all been such huge hits that there is hardly a corner of the globe that hasn't been touched by the unprecedented phenomenon. Because of this, an insane media storm, usually reserved only for the top echelon of A-list celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, has surrounded Dan as he has grown from a skinny, small kid to the hunky teenager he is today. Throughout his time in the spotlight, however, Dan has proved himself to be as gracious and professional as any adult.

Not that Dan, or Harry for that matter, is always a choirboy. They both partake in their fair share of mischief — just ask any of the other actors on the Harry Potter sets who have been on the receiving end of Dan's practical jokes. But they never take it too far. Although they both "get in trouble," as Dan told People, "we don't break the rules, we just kind of bend them."

Moviegoers watching Harry Potter escape one hair-raising adventure after another may think they know Dan Radcliffe. Sometimes it's so easy to get swept up in the magic and mania of Harry Potter that people start thinking of Dan and the fictional character he plays on-screen as one and the same. But let the record show, despite their similarities, Dan is different from the character he plays in many ways. Just as Clark Kent took off his glasses to unveil Superman, when Dan takes off his trademark Harry Potter spectacles and that snug, Hogwarts blazer, he reveals his true self. When he is not battling the forces of evil on the big screen, Dan likes to kick back and listen to music by the Sex Pistols or New York Dolls, brash loud punk music one wouldn't associate with such a soft-spoken and polite boy. And he's got a lot of other tricks up his sleeve. Let's discover the magic that has made Dan Radcliffe into one of the hottest, most talented young stars in the world.

Copyright © 2005 by Simon & Schuster