Evanna Lynch

Profile last updated 11th July 2008

The Basics

Age:15

Birthday: August 16th 1991

Height: 5ft

Lives: Termonfeckin (Ireland)

Siblings: Three

School: Our Lady's College Greenhills


Claim To Fame?

Evanna portrays the character of Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), an oddball character who appears in the book of the same name by J.K. Rowling. Luna is a very unique character indeed, and the role was hugely anticipated by many fans, who were unsure as to who could capture Luna's eccentricity. Much speculation surrounded the casting of Luna, due to the intense build up towards the final decision.

Evanna herself is a huge fan of the Harry Potter books; "I love the books - they make me feel happy. And it's something to do as well because of all the fans sites you can talk to people about it." 

So How Did She Get the role?

Warner Bros. (the company behind the Harry Potter films) announced that they had found the actress to play Luna before any open castings had occurred. In November 2005 they revealed that they had the choice of actresses to portray the character of Luna down to a final 5 and in December 2005 they said they would be announcing the actress within a few weeks. However a month before filming began, the producers announced that they would be holding an Open Casting. Fiona Weir, the casting director for Harry Potter, said "we have met lots of fantastic girls, we've visited schools up and down the country and we've met some brilliant girls. But holding an Open Call is just a way of us making sure that there isn't anyone that we might have missed." Fiona Weir invited fans from all over the UK to attend the casting call.

What was so unprecedented about this particular casting call was that around 20,000 girls turned up, in contrast to the mere 3000 that attended the Cho Chang call! This thrilled the studio as filming was due to start the following month, February. It was then reported that 400 girls had been selected for the next round, and the studio stated; "the girls who have reached the next round have a wide range of accents, backgrounds and ethnicity. They came from all over the UK and Ireland ranging from Renfrewshire to West Sussex, and County Clare to Newport." Source

You can see all of the images from the Luna Lovegood Casting Call here in the gallery.

Evanna said in her first interview for CBBC Newsround; "About 200 girls went into a room and there were two casting agents and they asked you to say your name and where you came from and then they picked two or three out of that. And they sent you into a room and I was really nervous and kept dropping things and I was going the wrong way and everything".

"I got a call on the Monday and they said we want you to come for a screen test on the Friday. And they were saying things like the director is going to call you today and you'll be doing your scenes with Daniel Radcliffe. I was a bit freaked out by that because it all happened so quickly."

When Evanna was told she had got the part, she said she was "stunned because it was such a big dream and you always wish it will happen but I couldn't believe that it did happen." Evanna had to keep her role a secret until the studios announced that it was Evanna who had got the part, and she said "It was mad. I went into school and all of my year were at the windows and they were all waving when I came in. And then all these camera people starting coming into the school and all the other girls were outside waving and I stayed inside and they didn't notice me... I had to have security people."

What Else? What Next?

It can be assumed that Evanna will revive her role for the final films in the Harry Potter series, HP and the Half Blood Prince as well as HP and the Deathly Hallows. 

Luna Lovegood has continuously appeared as a character in the books, so there is no reason that she won't appear in the films - unless of course Luna is written out of the script as numerous minor characters have, but as Luna's character is so unique, this will hopefully never happen. As for other projects - who knows yet? From interviews it can be guessed that Evanna does not aim to be an actress, merely Luna in the Harry Potter films.

Other Facts

She is a cat-lover who owns a cat named Luna. When Luna had kittens, she named one of them Dumbledore. Her other cat Crookshanks died in 2006.

Her father flew her to London to the open audition for the part of Luna Lovegood but her mother did not believe she had much of a chance of winning the role so initially refused to let her apply.

She's a vegetarian.

She made the radish earrings to be used in The Order of the Phoenix herself.

She was a fan of the Harry Potter novels long before being cast in the films. She claims to have read the books several times.

Evanna in the Galleries

There are too many pictures of Evanna for me to hold in my gallery, but there are lots of excellent photo galleries online dedicated to Evanna. For a list of Evanna Fansites click here. Check these out:

Evanna Lycnh Online.Com Gallery

EV Online.Net Gallery

I Heart Evanna Gallery

Evanna Lynch.Net Gallery

Credits for this Profile

CBBC Newsround Article, Pictures, Interview

Evanna Lynch . Net Fansite

IMDB

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