The Harry Potter movies boosted the careers of its young cast, among those Rupert Grint, who played Harry’s best friend Ron Weasley, but his post-Potter career hasn’t really been easy. Readers were introduced to the Wizarding World in 1997 in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first in what would become a successful series of seven novels. The books followed the story of Harry Potter, “the boy who lived”, and the darkest wizard of all, Lord Voldemort.
Over the course of seven novels, readers also got to know some of the closest people to Harry, among those his best friends Ron Weasley, who came from a family of wizards, and Hermione Granger, whose parents were muggles. The Harry Potter series made the jump to the big screen between 2001 and 2011, with the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, being split into two. The movies found their Harry Potter in Daniel Radcliffe, their Ron Weasley in Rupert Grint, and their Hermione Granger in Emma Watson, whose careers received a really big push thanks to the Wizarding World. Radcliffe and Watson remain active in the entertainment industry, sticking mostly to movies, but what happened to Rupert Grint?
Prior to the Harry Potter movies, Grint’s only acting experience was in school plays and at his local theatre group, meaning that playing Ron Weasley was his first professional acting job. Grint didn’t wait until the Harry Potter series was over to start working on other projects, and appeared in the movies Thunderpants, Driving Lessons, Cherrybomb, and Wild Target. Once his time as Ron Weasley was over, Grint took it easy with his acting career, though that doesn’t mean he stopped working. Grint appeared in the movies Cross of Honour, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, CBGB, lent his voice to Amadeo in The Unbeatables and Josh in Postman Pat: The Movie, and his most recent movie role was in the comedy Moonwalkers in 2015. Given that he spent a big part of his life playing Ron Weasley, critics weren’t nice when they saw him in different roles.
Spending years playing the same role took a toll on Grint, who in 2017 told EW that he “wanted to live a little bit” after spending years in the Harry Potter bubble, and considered quitting acting once Deathly Hallows - Part 2 was done. Grint has also focused on other activities that don’t involve lights and cameras, doing a lot of charity work and even working a couple of odd jobs, such as ice-cream man and even hotelier, opening Rigsy’s Guest House in Hereford, England in 2011 (and closing it four years later). It seems like Grint has found his place outside the big screen, as he has had a steadier career in television, starring in series like Sick Note, Snatch, The ABC Murders, and currently in Apple TV+’s Servant.
Grint already had his dose of fame and big-screen roles and is now choosing to focus on TV projects and his personal life, more so now that he’s a father. It has been more difficult for him to shake his Harry Potter character off than it was for Radcliffe and Watson, but it’s certainly not impossible. Rupert Grint has chosen a more low-key acting career after the big cultural phenomenon that Harry Potter was, and it seems to be working well for him.