Harry Potter Characters: Names, Actors and Roles

The Harry Potter characters who carry the saga are Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, with Hogwarts staff, a school rival and a dark wizard orbiting them across eight main films and three Fantastic Beasts spin-offs.

The pattern was set by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), directed by Chris Columbus, where Daniel Radcliffe plays Harry Potter, Rupert Grint plays Ron Weasley and Emma Watson plays Hermione Granger, billed in that order. The three stay at the top of the credits in all eight main films: Grint is billed second and Watson third in the first six, while Watson is second and Grint third in both Deathly Hallows films. The spin-offs then bring in a separate ensemble, led by Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, that begins in New York in 1926. For credits film by film, see the Harry Potter cast page.

Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are the three friends the saga follows from their first year at Hogwarts to the last film. Harry is an orphan raised by relatives who hide his magical heritage, and he sleeps in a cupboard under the stairs until Hagrid turns up on his eleventh birthday. In the first film he is sorted into Gryffindor and joins its Quidditch team as Seeker. Later films test him differently: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), directed by Mike Newell, binds him by magic to the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), directed by David Yates, has the Ministry of Magic threaten to expel him. His own page is Harry Potter.

Hermione Granger is the classmate who becomes one of his two closest friends. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), also directed by Columbus, she joins Harry and Ron in questioning Draco Malfoy with the help of Polyjuice Potion. By Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), directed by Yates, she is one of the trio who run when the Ministry falls.

Ron Weasley comes from the Weasley family, and in Chamber of Secrets he and his brothers rescue Harry from the Dursleys in their father's flying car. In Goblet of Fire he turns jealous and stops speaking to Harry after Harry is named a champion. Julie Walters plays his mother, Molly Weasley, and Bonnie Wright plays his sister Ginny.

The Hogwarts teachers in the films are led by the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, with Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall among the staff who recur across the saga. Dumbledore is the most recast of the main roles. Richard Harris plays him in the first two films and died on 25 October 2002, shortly after finishing Chamber of Secrets, according to UPI. Michael Gambon was announced as his replacement in February 2003 and is credited as Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), directed by Alfonso Cuarón, in Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Jude Law then takes the part in the second and third Fantastic Beasts films.

Severus Snape is played by Alan Rickman, who is credited in all eight main films. He is introduced as the stern teacher Harry comes to suspect in the first film, and in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) he promises Draco's mother that he will protect her son. Minerva McGonagall is played by Maggie Smith, and Rubeus Hagrid by Robbie Coltrane, the giant who tells Harry he is a wizard.

The other staff change more often. The Defense Against the Dark Arts post brings a new face in several films: Kenneth Branagh as the vain Gilderoy Lockhart, David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, who teaches Harry the Patronus charm, and Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, sent by the Ministry. Ian Hart is Professor Quirrell, Brendan Gleeson is Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Jim Broadbent is the potions teacher Horace Slughorn and Emma Thompson is Sybill Trelawney.

The main villain is Lord Voldemort, the dark wizard who attacked Harry as a baby, and the saga surrounds him with rivals and followers. Ralph Fiennes is credited as Voldemort in Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix and both Deathly Hallows films. Draco Malfoy, played by Tom Felton, is Harry's rival from the first film, and Jason Isaacs plays his father, Lucius Malfoy, starting in Chamber of Secrets.

Bellatrix Lestrange is played by Helena Bonham Carter, who is credited in Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and both Deathly Hallows films. She escapes from Azkaban in the fifth film. Timothy Spall plays Peter Pettigrew, who is named as a key figure in Prisoner of Azkaban.

Beyond the trio, Harry's allies include a godfather figure, a house-elf and a handful of classmates. Sirius Black, played by Gary Oldman, is introduced in Prisoner of Azkaban as a prisoner who has escaped Azkaban and is believed to be hunting Harry, and he returns in Order of the Phoenix. Toby Jones voices Dobby, the house-elf who warns Harry away from Hogwarts in Chamber of Secrets. Matthew Lewis plays Neville Longbottom, Evanna Lynch plays Luna Lovegood and Robert Pattinson plays Cedric Diggory, one of the Triwizard champions alongside Clémence Poésy's Fleur Delacour and Stanislav Yanevski's Viktor Krum.

The main female characters in Harry Potter include Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Bellatrix Lestrange, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Molly Weasley and Dolores Umbridge. They are played by Emma Watson, Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Bonnie Wright, Evanna Lynch, Julie Walters and Imelda Staunton. The Fantastic Beasts films add Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol), who can read minds, and Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz).

The Fantastic Beasts characters belong to a story that begins in New York in 1926, and they overlap with the main saga mainly through Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), directed by Yates, follows Newt Scamander, a British magizoologist whose case of creatures is swapped with that of Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), a baker with no magic. Credence Barebone is played by Ezra Miller, and Samantha Morton plays his adoptive mother, Mary Lou Barebone.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), also directed by Yates, opens with Gellert Grindelwald escaping custody, played by Johnny Depp, and adds Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander and Claudia Kim as Nagini. Mads Mikkelsen replaced Depp as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), according to Deadline.

The main Harry Potter characters, their actors and a one line role are:

• Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe: the orphan who learns he is a wizard on his eleventh birthday.
• Hermione Granger, played by Emma Watson: Harry's classmate and close friend.
• Ron Weasley, played by Rupert Grint: Harry's friend from the Weasley family.
• Albus Dumbledore, played by Richard Harris, Michael Gambon and Jude Law: the Hogwarts headmaster.
• Severus Snape, played by Alan Rickman: the stern Hogwarts teacher.
• Minerva McGonagall, played by Maggie Smith: a Hogwarts professor.
• Rubeus Hagrid, played by Robbie Coltrane: the giant who brings Harry into the wizarding world.
• Lord Voldemort, played by Ralph Fiennes: the dark wizard who attacked Harry as a baby.
• Draco Malfoy, played by Tom Felton: Harry's rival at Hogwarts.
• Lucius Malfoy, played by Jason Isaacs: Draco's father.
• Sirius Black, played by Gary Oldman: the Azkaban escapee of the third film.
• Bellatrix Lestrange, played by Helena Bonham Carter: the dark witch who escapes Azkaban in the fifth film.
• Remus Lupin, played by David Thewlis: the teacher who shows Harry the Patronus charm.
• Dolores Umbridge, played by Imelda Staunton: the Ministry's choice for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
• Ginny Weasley, played by Bonnie Wright: the Weasley whose romance with Harry grows in Half-Blood Prince.
• Luna Lovegood, played by Evanna Lynch: the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood.
• Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne: the magizoologist at the heart of Fantastic Beasts.
• Gellert Grindelwald, played by Johnny Depp and then Mads Mikkelsen: the dark wizard of the spin-offs.

The next project is the HBO television series, which TODAY reports is dated for December 25, 2026. For it, see the Harry Potter TV series page, or use Harry Potter movies in order to meet these characters in sequence.