Dudley Dursley From Harry Potter Looks Unrecognizable Today
Fans of the Harry Potter movie series are often on the lookout for their favorite actors in new movies or TV shows to lend their support. While many of the adult actors in the Potter films were well-established before they became part of the series, the child actors were all but unknown. Most of the supporting cast became known for just one thing — being a part of the Harry Potter universe — but for Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley in the films, he has become unrecognizable to even the most dedicated Potter fans.
The character of Dudley required Melling to be significantly overweight — which he was as a child. However, as the actors hit puberty and grew up, a lot of them went through changes that affected how they looked (anybody remember Matthew Lewis' glowup between films?), including weight loss. In fact, Melling dropped so many pounds before the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 that he almost lost the gig to a Dudley recast. However, Melling revealed via Hello! that he had to wear a fatsuit and a face prosthetic when shooting the last Potter film to get the right look. He also told the mag that his agent has to field calls from people looking for a "really fat rattish guy," only to tell them Melling's changed quite a bit. (Hello! revealed he dropped from "16st to 11st 5lb" in the summer of 2016 — or 224lbs to 159lbs).
Harry Melling has found success on Netflix
Although Harry Melling hasn't found quite the A-List success as the "big three" of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, he hasn't stopped working since filming the Potter series. In fact, he is a part of three projects that all went live on Netflix during the pandemic. He starred alongside Charlize Theron in The Old Guard, worked with his former Harry Potter co-star Robert Pattinson and other huge stars like Tom Holland and Sebastian Stan in The Devil All the Time, and even had a role in Netflix's newest smash hit, The Queen's Gambit.
While he hasn't kept a low profile since the Potter films, his weight loss and subsequent maturation have meant he hasn't really been recognized that easily — a "blessing," he told People. "I went to drama school when I was 18 ... I think one of the blessings of that sort of stage in my life was the fact that I didn't get recognized. I had this history of being part of the films, but also I felt like I had the opportunity to sort of cause a new start."
And even though he's just had a slate of projects released, he's not slowing down. He's set to appear alongside Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth, according to IMDb, and is sure to keep working.