Daniel Radcliffe is currently captivating Broadway audiences with his one-person play Every Brilliant Thing. But while he is a famous actor to his fans, at home he is simply Dad
Captivating Broadway audiences with his one-person play Every Brilliant Thing, told through a list of every wonderful thing that makes life worth living, Daniel Radcliffe would top his own inventory with love. Every night, Tony winner Daniel, 36, asks five members of the audience to take a part in the interactive show – also handing out lines to other people to read, as he tackles subjects including suicide and depression.
Playing schoolboy wizard Harry Potter in eight movies, aged 11 to 21, in his late teens, Daniel developed a drink problem as he struggled with fame – and identifies with some of the feelings. But, sober since 2013 – the year after meeting his partner, American actress Erin Darke on the set of Kill Your Darlings – and dad to their son, who is nearly three, Daniel is now flying high.
READ MORE: Famous child actor Archie Yates admits ‘throwing life away’ with social media obsession
He says: ”I have a long term sobriety. I am very grateful for that. I met my partner Erin 14 years ago. She has been a huge part of my happiness – and having a child. There is something about being truly known and understood by another human being. That is why love exists. You can’t emphasise how wonderful that is.”
And while he is a famous actor to his many fans, back home he is simply Dad – watching 101 Dalmatians with his son … on a loop. He says: “We have just watched The Little Mermaid. We are doing some nice early Disney. Right now I am just his dad and he has no idea what I do. He understands what policemen, doctors and firemen do. But acting? I tell him I help tell stories like from his book.”
Meanwhile, Every Brilliant Thing is a cathartic exercise for Daniel. He says: “There is something beautiful about doing this show. I am talking to people a lot at the stage door about issues too.” His latest role can also be a sobering experience when he spots A-list celebrities in the audience.
He laughs: “I was trying to recruit a man in the audience to play a part in the show the other night. I looked to my right and Patti LuPone was sitting next to Susan Sarandon and she was sitting next to Jessica Laing. I was like ‘how cool and intimidating that all you three ladies hang out!’ We had Ian McKellen the other day and I was like ‘oh, cool. You are here…great! I’d better be good.’” Then, when he needed someone to high five during another performance, he picked out Anna Wintour, saying: “It is a memory I will take to my grave.”
Explaining the show’s unique format, he says: “I perform on stage with about five audience members and I hand out cards to about 35 people with words they say when I say a number. Someone also gets to throw confetti. It is very stressful, but it always comes together five minutes before we start It is awkward to find my love interest every night!”
Winning a Tony award for his role in the musical Merrily We Roll Along in 2024, his many stage, TV and movie credits include Equus, Swiss Army Man and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and Miracle workers. But Daniel does not take his success for granted. He says: “There were moments in my late teens and early 20s when I was really sad, really scared. I did not know what the future would hold for me. I would have never believed then that I would experience the happiness that I am now, with my partner, my son and my life in general.”
Feeling in a strong position to advise young actors to deal with fame, he continues: “I met some of the Stranger Things kids recently. I say to them ‘do whatever the f*ck you want. You have done ‘the thing’. You now have the most amazing jumping off platform.’” He recalls the backlash he faced, aged 17, in a break from Harry Potter when he appeared nude on stage in the 2007 West End play Equus.
He says: “It was a very prestigious play. I was not damaging the [Potter] brand in any way. I remember once in the canteen where we were rehearsing someone left a newspaper open and the headline was “Crash. What is that? The sound of a career coming to a grinding halt.’ Looking around the room at amazing actors like Richard Griffiths, I thought ‘if I am screwing up, I could not be screwing-up with better people around me’.”
For Daniel, a far bigger challenge than performing naked came when he had to sing and dance for the Broadway version of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He laughs: “Getting naked is easy. Dancing is the scariest thing I have ever done on stage, 100%. I said I could carry a tune but I will not dance. I told them there was zero chance. But they told me I had 18 months and I had to do dance classes. I guess we made it happen, but I want to put it out there – I can’t dance.”
Still, the part landed him his Tony award-winning role as Charley Kringas in Merrily We Roll Along. Today, he’s appearing on Broadway alongside a rival show starring his old Hogwarts foe Tom Felton, who has reprised his role as Draco Malfoy in a stage adaptation of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child. Daniel says: “It is surreal to see Tom on a billboard now in Times Square. We met before we were teenagers in Watford doing Potter and we grew up doing all sorts of stuff we should not have been doing. But now, to be both on Broadway at the same time is lovely.”
Daniel appreciates his lucky start in the Potter films, which has helped him amass a fortune reputed to be close to £100million, but still finds it hard to watch them. He says: “I guess I have more time now for me in the early films. When I was 18 I would cringe watching the early ones. Now I think the early films are sweet and I cringe watching myself when I was 18.”
His next role will see him tackle the subject of homosexuality in the military in the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, he is keen to keep his son – whose name he will not disclose – out of the spotlight for as long as possible – although he says he’s starting to get an inkling that his dad is on TV. He says: “We were watching the [winter) Olympics recently and an ad for my new TV show popped up. I had left the room and I popped up on the screen and my son went ‘Dada’ in the tone of ‘I am not crazy, right?’ A bunch of kids in our building saw it too and one five-year-old said ‘I saw you on TV. What were you doing there?’ All I can do is be his uncool, very unimpressive dad for as long as I can. That is the goal.”
*Daniel Radcliffe stars in Every Brilliant Thing at the Hudson Theatre, New York until May 24.
READ MORE: James McAvoy’s rare ‘relationships’ insight amid marriage to famous wife
