Obviously, I've been very lucky in general in my career, but I feel that I've been very lucky in terms of having directors come along at the right times who have taken me to the next level of where I needed to be.
— Daniel Radcliffe
When you're seventeen to early twenties, that's the time you're trying to work out who you are. If you're trying to make some kind of artistic or creative impact, that's the age when you start to figure out how to do that.
For ages, in my lunch hours, I would just go round and choreograph fight scenes. For fun. So now I'm very good at being thrown around. I bounce, in the words of my friends.
I just have this fear that I'll get on stage and there'll be that brief moment of adrenalin and I'll forget my line.
Every job I do, I like to think it makes me better or I learn things. It's all about how much something's going to stretch me or test me.
With any kind of artistic thing, it's a muscle, like any athlete, and the moment you're not doing it, you lose all confidence. That's why I'm terrible with down time.
My friends have always called me 'Mr. Thorough,' in that when I get into something, I become obsessed with it.
I pretty much left full-time, formal education when I was 11, so that was when I was taken out of the school system... The longest stretch I would go back for was a term and a half when I was about 14.
Shyness displays itself differently in me. I think it's more an awkwardness.
I don't want anyone to ever say that I don't belong where I am.
That's what fame does to you. You acquire another self.
I don't know why that is, but English politics is just so overly white. It's very much about the class structure.
I have no idea how much money I've got.
And the people I'm best friends with on the films are not generally the actors.
I wasn't the most popular kid in school.
I think it's useful, as a famous person, to have as little separation between the perception of you and how you really are - because otherwise I'd be sitting here thinking I'm keeping secrets, and wondering when you're going to find out.
England is my home. London is my home. New York feels like, if I have to spend a year living in an unfamiliar city, this is a pretty lovely one to spend a year in, but I will be going home at the end of it, certainly.
Franchises aren't to be avoided. They can be exciting, and they give you opportunities to do other films.
My idea of relaxation is not lying down by a beach. I have to move around, do stuff. Though I'm a massive quiz show person.
I'm always amazed at the way some actors' behaviour is truly disgusting. That's one thing that will never happen on one of my sets if I ever direct.
I've been working since I was 9, and I've never known a life without a film set.
There are lots of times when I'm a very good boyfriend, but there are times when I'm useless. I mean, I'm a mess around the house. I talk nonstop. I become obsessed with things.
I haven't always been thrilled with my work. But the fear of not proving the people wrong who think you can't emerge from a franchise and do well, that's a very strong driving force.
Both of my parents have been actors; there were a lot of show tunes on in the car all of the time. I grew up with that.
If I die on a film set when I'm 80, I'll be happy with that.
As far as I can tell, most actors' main motivation is self-doubt and neuroses.
The most wonderful thing I hear is people coming up and saying 'Thank you for my childhood', which still blows my mind but is very sweet.
Though I am not religious in the least, I am very proud to be Jewish.
I'm 5-foot-5, and I'll wear a big parka and put the hood up, and nobody gives me a second glance.
I'm a serial monogamist. I'm not one of those people that can date loads of people at the same time, it's all too complicated.
I'm an atheist, but I'm very relaxed about it. I don't preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do.
I know I'm not a coal miner, but I do long hours and I never complain, and there is nowhere else I'd rather be. So, yeah, that's how I'd define myself. I want to do it right, and prove people wrong once and for all about the myth of child stars.
It's mainly about working hard and proving to people you're serious about it, and stretching yourself and learning. The mistake a lot of actors make, particularly young ones, is allowing themselves to feel that they're the finished articles, the bee's knees, and it's not true.
My preparation is mainly just knowing the lines and getting in and knowing where your character is, knowing what it's about and having ideas that you can put in on the day.
My taste in the films I've taken as an actor is similar to what I'd do a director or writer: all quite odd, challenging stuff, slightly off-the-wall.
The stories I'm interested in are challenging ones, and maybe that requires a little bit more of you. I love my job and I want to earn the right to do it every single day.
I suppose whenever you go through periods of transition, or in a way, it's a very definite closing of a certain chapter of your life - I suppose those times are always going to be both very upsetting and also very exciting by the very nature because things are changing and you don't know what's going to happen.
I think being on a film set for such a long time made me a technical actor without realizing it.
I don't know where my romanticism comes from. My mom and dad would read to me a lot. 'Treasure Island,' 'Robinson Crusoe,' tales of chivalry and knights, things like that. Those are the stories I loved growing up.
I've always had a slightly overactive imagination.
I take things in better when I'm allowed to talk, and respond, and engage and move around a bit.
I've always had, like, from the age of about 11, I've had such an intolerance for bad behaviour of actors that I don't think I was ever going to be that person.
Because I'm short and slim, I can identify with somebody who's an unlikely fit for something and desperately wants to be part of it.
People tell me I look mournful. They say, 'Cheer up, Dan, it's not that bad!' Sometimes I just look into space, which freaks people out. If I was ever required to do anything other than look haunted, I could. I'm a happy person.
No. I am not a royalist. Not at all. I am definitely a republican in the British sense of the word. I just don't see the use of the monarchy though I'm fierce patriot. I'm proud proud proud of being English, but I think the monarchy symbolizes a lot of what was wrong with the country.
I have a very busy personality.
That's why I don't understand why actors become arrogant and are completely unapproachable - because as an actor, the most valuable thing you can do is talk to people and hear their stories, because it'll all come in handy.
The nerds are the ones that make the films and do loads of other really cool stuff in their life.
Fame is damaging when people become reliant on it for their sense of self, and their identity, when fame is linked to how you see yourself.
I could never do stand-up because it's that thing of having to get up on stage. And out of every 10 jokes you tell, nine of them have to get a really good response.
