Published Apr 19, 2026, 9:00 PM EDT
Shawn S. Lealos is an entertainment writer who is a voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has written for Screen Rant, CBR, ComicBook, The Direct, The Sportster, Chud, 411mania, Renegade Cinema, Yahoo Movies, and many more.
Shawn has a bachelor's degree in professional writing and a minor in film studies from the University of Oklahoma. He also has won numerous awards, including several Columbia Gold Circle Awards and an SPJ honor.
He also wrote Dollar Deal: The Story of the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers, the first official book about the Dollar Baby film program. Shawn is also currently writing his first fiction novel under a pen name, based in the fantasy genre.
To learn more, visit his website at shawnlealos.net.
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The Harry Potter films gave the world eight movies, countless iconic characters, and the fact that some of the greatest British stars of all time took on roles playing opposite some young actors breaking into the industry. Even with their incredible past movies, some of these actors turned in career-best work.
There is a new Harry Potter series coming to HBO, but the original movies will always hold a spot in the hearts of fans. This is not only because of J.K. Rowling's stories, but because of the actors taking on these iconic characters. In many cases, fans see the actors instead of the characters even when re-reading the books.
This entire Harry Potter franchise created a unique problem for the filmmakers. The three young actors playing Harry, Hermione, and Ron had to match up to their adult co-stars, and the films did the right thing to make this work. The young actors were all perfect in their roles, and they were mentored by some of the best British acting talent ever.
With names like Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Richard Harris, and more, there was no way that the kids in these movies wouldn't pick up tips from the veterans and eventually rise to their levels. That the kids have mostly gone on to successful acting careers as adults is proof that they were masterfully cast.
With Alan Rickman's passing in 2016 and Dame Maggie Smith dying in 2024, looking back at the best Harry Potter performances takes on a deeper meaning. It is more of a tribute to these legendary stars who brought this entire beloved franchise to life. The HBO Harry Potter reboot cast have a lot to live up to.
Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange
Helena Bonham Carter made her debut in the franchise in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2007. She then became a major antagonist through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in 2011, and she brought something to her role that no other cast member did. She was gleefully unhinged and was a franchise highlight.
What is impressive is that some of Carter's most memorable moments were improvised, and she even ad-libed lines that added a manic quality to Bellatrix Lestrange. She even added the head tilts, the sudden snarls, and the signature cackle when she faced her enemies, making her more unhinged than the book's version.
In the J.K. Rowling novels, Bellatrix was more aristocratic and controlled, and Carter made her more playful and manic, which greatly improved the character. By changing Bellatrix to someone who finds glee in hurting people, she proved to be one of the best Harry Potter actors when it comes to bringing something new to the performance.
Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy
Tom Felton wasn't always a great member of the Harry Potter cast. In the original movies, he was cocky and a cruel bully, but it was in the later movies that Felton really grew into his role as Draco Malfoy. The young actor appeared in all eight films, a decade-long performance that showed his transformation as an actor and of Draco as a character.
What really made Felton special was that he turned his character from a one-dimensional school bully into a young man trapped by his upbringing, forced into a role that made him uncomfortable. His best Harry Potter performance came in Half-Blood Prince, when he is sent to kill Dumbledore and finally falls apart.
Playing a character who was bullied at home and brought that bullying attitude to school made Draco a lot more complex than he could have been. Felton even returned to the role in the Broadway play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in 2025.
Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge
It's not really hard to play a villain, but to make that villain someone that the entire world despises just thanks to the actor's performance makes it something special. That is the quality that Imelda Staunton brought to her performance as Dolores Umbridge. She first appeared in Order of the Phoenix and she dominated the film.
Staunton delivered a showstopping performance, and she created a character that was hated more than almost any other villain to ever appear in the Harry Potter franchise. What she brought to the performance was happiness and glee when hurting other people, including the children in her care. She was a disturbing villain on several levels.
Her performance was more than just playing a character as it was written. Her voice, shifting from sweetness to coldness, was perfection. It delivered her character's evil nature without needing melodrama. The blood quill detention scene with Harry Potter was one of the most disturbing in the film.
Richard Harris as Dumbledore
Two actors played Dumbledore in the main Harry Potter movies, and while Michael Gambon was great, Richard Harris still delivered the definitive performance. Harris played the headmaster in the first two films (Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets) before he passed away in October 2002.
He portrayed Dumbledore as a wise and gentle wizard, a man who seemed more than willing to help and guide others when needed. It remained very close to the early books' depictions of Dumbledore, even though the character became more nuanced in later movies. Harris's version is more book-accurate than that of Gambon.
It was Dumbledore in the first two movies that set the tone and ideals of the entire Harry Potter franchise, and it was Richard Harris who brought that to life. Harris, with his calm and level delivery, was always better than Gambon's more aggressive performance.
Maggie Smith as McGonagall
Dame Maggie Smith starred as Professor McGonagall in all eight of the Harry Potter movies. She was the Head of Gryffindor and the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. Smith delivered a performance that was consistent and perfectly controlled across the decade when she played the role of the school's most respected professor.
Smith was perfect in her Harry Potter performance thanks to her stern and warm disposition, which is often a contradiction. It was clear the kids needed to listen to her or else, but she also always seemed willing to help them at the drop of a hat. This made her seem genuine when it came to her care for the kids put under her charge.
Dame Maggie Smith died on September 27, 2024, at 89. She won two Oscars over her career, but an entire generation of fans will always remember her performance as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise.
Gary Oldman as Sirius Black
Gary Oldman is one of the greatest actors of his entire generation, and while his Harry Potter performance is masterful, it is just the norm for the legendary star. Oldman played Sirius Black, debuting in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Sirius died in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but his legacy was strong.
Even though Sirius was only in four movies, his death did more to hurt Harry Potter than any until Dumbledore died. It is a testament to what Oldman brought to the role that his character remained a highlight that made his loss hit so hard. His death scene itself was emotionally devastating for the viewers as well, thanks to Oldman's performance to that point.
The casting of Gary Oldman was a coup for the Harry Potter franchise, as he was a former BAFTA winner and went on to win an Oscar for Darkest Hour in 2018. He was one of the best dramatic actors in this young adult fantasy series.
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
Daniel Radcliffe had the most pressure on his shoulders. He plays Harry Potter, and the entire series would succeed or fail based on his performance. In the first movies, he was only 11 and his performance was considered wooden and one-note, but things changed as he got older and grew into the role of Harry Potter.
Even Daniel Radcliffe said he is overly critical of his Harry Potter performance. However, as the movies wore on, he got better and better, and around the time that he reached Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, he had become one of the best actors in the franchise, even alongside the old-timers.
This was an interesting time to watch Daniel Radcliffe. This was not only watching Harry Potter's story play out, but it was about watching Radcliffe grow up in front of everyone's eyes and turn into an actor who would become one of the most interesting young stars working today.
Emma Watson as Hermione
Emma Watson had to play a different version of Hermione than the one from the books. In the books, Hermione was a complex young woman who made a lot of mistakes before becoming one of the most powerful witches in the franchise. In the movies, Watson was forced to play her as a perfect student and witch from the start.
However, what is most impressive is that Watson was only 10 years old when she started in the role, and 21 by the time the last movie was released. After a rough start in the first two films, she grew into her character the same that Daniel Radcliffe did. She became a great actor by the final movies and is now a major star.
The dance scene with Radcliffe in Deathly Hallows Part 1 was praised by critics as one of the most emotional moments of the movie franchise and that was all thanks to the actors that Radcliffe and Watson becoming the actors they grew into throughout their teenage years.
Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort
Image via MovieStillsDB.comWhile Voldemort had been around since the first movie, Ralph Fiennes didn't show up as the Dark Lord in person until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when his body was resurrected. Fiennes played Voldemort as a scared child who was putting on a show, and the vulnerability and flashes of anger displayed that masterfully.
Fiennes was mostly hidden under makeup and prosthetics, but he was still able to deliver physical performances that let his personality and attitude shine even without a nose and the slit pupils. The graveyard resurrection was masterful, and Fiennes brought Voldemort to life in this one scene with his command of the screen.
This continued to the end, as Fiennes showed Voldemort's doubt and fear when Harry Potter returned to life to fight him, and his vocal cadence and mannerisms remain iconic to this day. Whoever plays Voldemort in the HBO reboot will have a lot to live up to and will always be compared to Ralph Fiennes' performance.
Alan Rickman as Snape
Alan Rickman played Severus Snape, the most complex character in the entire Harry Potter franchise. He was in all eight movies, and he went from the most hated antagonistic character to one of the most heartbreaking deaths in the entire series. Snape was a double-agent, but that wasn't revealed until the end.
This means that Rickman had to make Snape as hated as possible, and no one could have done it better. He was the main antagonist to Harry Potter until Voldemort showed up. However, when he sacrificed his life to save Harry Potter, it was a shocking moment that brought his entire character arc to beautiful fruition.
Alan Rickman passed away on January 14, 2016, and he will always have a great legacy that includes his incredible Harry Potter performance as Snape. He won no awards for his performance, but he was the MVP of the entire Harry Potter franchise.
Movie(s) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
English (US) ·