Matthew Lewis thinks he managed to “avoid the pitfalls” of child stardom.
Matthew Lewis starred as Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter film series
The 35-year-old actor rose to fame when he was cast in the ‘Harry Potter’ film series alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint and explained that because he entered showbiz amongst a cohort of other young actors, they were able to navigate sudden fame together.
Speaking at Rhode Island Comic-Con on Sunday (03.11.24), he explained: “We’re very good at hiding all of those stories. Although, that said, I was very excited about the prospect. I have quite a short attention span, so that’s probably why I’ve never chosen a real career.
“[After] 10 years in Harry Potter, I was ready to do something else and also was not keen to do anything that was going to lead to multiple series.
“One of the questions that was asked earlier about the pitfalls of being a child actor that we seem to have avoided, I would posit that a large degree of that was because we were all there together.”
“Frequently, you hear many stories of how they were the sole actor in that movie and having to carry that movie on their own and all of the pressures and anxieties that come with that. Whereas, we were all kind together.”
The ‘Baby Done’ star is still in touch with his peers from the film series – which was based on the books by J.K. Rowling and was filmed over the course of a decade from 2000 until 2010 – and claimed that his relationships from the are what he has “carried with” him to this day.
He said: “It’s one of the things that I’ve carried with me is those friendships. I don’t go back and read the books. One of the only things that I still kind of hold onto is those relationships that we forged throughout those films.”