Matthew Lewis is an English actor who is most famous for his role as Neville Longbottom, which he held for all eight of the Harry Potter movies.
Matthew Lewis was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England on June 27, 1989. His parents are Adrian Lewis and Lynda Needham.
Both of his two brothers also work in the film industry. His brother Chris Lewis is a film editor and Anthony Lewis is an actor. However, neither brother has achieved the same amount of fame as Matthew.
Early Career
Since Matthew Lewis has been acting since he was just five years old, he didn’t have much of a life or career before acting.
He appeared in his first role in 1996 on the television show Dalziel and Pascoe. He continued to have one or two-episode character roles in television shows through 2000, appearing on Some Kind of Life, Where the Heart Is, City Central, Heartbeat, and This is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.
Harry Potter
The first of eight Harry Potter movies came out in 2001. Since then, Matthew Lewis has been known as his character Neville Longbottom.
This character was one of Harry Potter’s friends and fellow Gryffindor. He was supposed to be an awkward little boy, so the film’s makeup crew had Matthew wear fake teeth, a fatsuit, and did other things to make him look uglier than he really was.
It wasn’t until the seventh film that he got to take off all that and just act as himself.
The last Harry Potter movie came out in 2012, meaning Matthew spent over a decade working on the films.
That’s impressive for any actor, and even more impressive for a child actor to manage. He, along with many of his co-stars practically grew up on set together!
What is Matthew Lewis doing now?
While filming the Harry Potter movies, Matthew Lewis did not work on any other projects outside of the series. Once all of the films were done shooting, he continued acting in other television shows and movies.
His first post-Harry Potter role was in the television show The Syndicate, in which he played the recurring character Jamie Bradley.
Since then, he has held recurring roles in several other television series, including Bluestone 42, Happy Valley, Ripper Street, Girlfriends, and All Creatures Great and Small. The last of these shows finished filming in 2021.
Matthew Lewis has also continued to act in movies. His first non-Potter movie was Wasteland, which came out in 2012. Since then, he has also been in Our Boys, The Sweet Shop, Me Before You, Terminal, and Baby Done.
Podcast
Even when Matthew Lewis is not acting, he is still entertaining. In 2020, he started a podcast with his friend, Jermaine Beckford, who is a professional football/soccer player.
With this combination, it is only fitting that the two ran a Leeds United Fan podcast, especially since Beckford was on the Leeds United team from 2006 to 2010.
This podcast, Doing a Leeds, only aired for a few months in 2020, but all of the episodes are still available to listen to for free on Spotify.
Bambisanani Partnership
His love of sports didn’t start or end with his podcast. In 2021, he became a patron for the Bambisanani Partnership, which is a charity that uses sports as a way to promote education in South Africa.
The charity started up years ago at Matthew’s old school, St. Mary’s. Since then, the program has expanded, now with the University of Leeds and Leeds Trinity University contributing to the program. Matthew’s association with the school is one of the reasons why he feels so passionate about the project.
In one interview, Matthew said, “It’s a real honour for me to become the Patron for the Bambisanani Partnership. Having attended St. Mary’s School, I got to see first-hand the excellent work the partnership was doing in improving lives, not only in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa but also here in the UK. It truly is a partnership where everybody involved gains and has their lives enriched.”
Conventions
With Harry Potter still being as popular as it is, Matthew is invited to all kinds of conventions. Luckily for fans, he does end up attending quite a lot of them. He mainly goes to events in Euopes and in North America.
Most of these events are fan expos or Comiccons. Fans can see a schedule of his upcoming events here.
Personal Life
Matthew Lewis has been in a romantic relationship with Angela Jones, a professional blogger, since 2016. The two married in 2018. The couple do not have any children as of 2022.
Previously, he had romantic relationships with Sinead Husband and Alison Wynd. He was in a romantic relationship with Sinead around 2011/2012 and took her to many Harry Potter events. He began dating Alison Wynd, a teacher, shortly after.
While Matthew Lewis may have gained his fame through the Harry Potter franchise, he has since gone on to do all sorts of new projects that keeps his name on the screen and in the papers.
So, whether someone likes a good sport’s podcast or a dramatic film, there is sure to be something in Matthew’s wheelhouse everyone can enjoy.
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