How Tall Is Daniel Radcliffe?

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe usually tries to stay low-key. And that’s understandable. He’s been in the spotlight since he was first cast in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at 11 years old. Eight movies and eleven years later, Daniel Radcliffe ended his tenure as the popular character in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 at age 22.

A child star is usually expected to have a certain appearance. One of the defining factors is their height. I mean, let’s be honest, it would seem odd if a 5’8″ teenager played the role of a 12-year-old. So naturally, you would want a young actor whose stature fits that of a child. The only downside is that some child actors never seem to get any taller, and the persona they played actually becomes larger than the actor themselves. 

Daniel Radcliffe falls in such a category, even though he’s proven on many occasions that he’s more than just Harry Potter. The British-born actor has spent most of the last decade veering away from anything that might remotely remind him of his Harry Potter days. Instead, he’s made it his business to chase darker and more mature roles like the spooky period horror film, The Woman In Black. He’s also drawn to roles in dark comedies like the gassy corpse Manny from Swiss Army Man or the timid game developer turned killer Miles Cassanova in the violent and action-packed Guns Akimbo.

Warning: The following trailer contains mature content and vulgar language!!

However, Radcliffe realizes that these roles have made him more unique as a male actor who is not the average height for lead roles. In a 2014 interview with Vox, the actor revealed that he’s usually told that he’s “not the typical male lead.” But it’s not just because he chooses to go for eccentric roles. Instead, Radcliffe believes the reason is that he’s shorter than typical male leads as he fully stands at five feet and five inches.

However, Radcliffe is not bitter about it, actually quite the opposite. He embraces his genetics, believing himself to be among the “short” list of great actors like Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. But, of course, that doesn’t mean that he’s not aware of the challenges his height brings to the table. According to Screen Rant, Daniel had to stand on a box in some scenes to fit the height of Rockstar Games co-founder Sam Houser in the 2015 docudrama, Game Changers.

The 32-year-old actor also revealed in a 2015 interview with Playboy that he feels his height would hold him back from his dream role of an NFL player. His reason? Most football players are twice his size, and the odds of him landing a prominent role in a football movie are not high. Or so he thinks. There are a good amount of shorter football players, like Steve Smith or Wes Walker, who are closer to Radcliffe’s height, so there’s still a great chance that we may see him in a football movie down the line.

But regardless of whatever role Daniel Radcliffe chooses next, you can guarantee that his level of acting will be more than enough to make you feel like he’s larger than life on screen.