Harry Melling is a British actor who came into limelight with his first role as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter film series. He is also popular for appearing in the films The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), The Old Guard (2020), and The Devil All the Time (2020). In 2020, he rose to stardom in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, in which he played Harry Beltik. In addition to acting in films, Melling has also performed in various theatrical productions, including the five-time Tony Award-nominated plays Hand to God (2016), and Peddling (2014), which he wrote himself.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Harry Melling (full name Harry Edward Melling) was born on Monday, 13 December 1989 (age 31 years; as in 2020) in London, England. He attended Hendon School and Mill Hill School, both in London. At the age of ten, he began his journey as an actor with the Harry Potter film series in which he played the recurring role of Dudley Dursley. In his mid-teens, he joined the National Youth Theater as a theater artist. Later, she did an acting course from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Subsequently, she dropped out of this course to play the role of Swiss Cheese in the dramatic production Mother Courage and Her Children (2009).
Harry Melling’s childhood photo
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 11″
Hair Color: Dark Ash Blonde
Eye color: lavender gray
Family and ethnicity
parents and siblings
Her father, Brian Melling, is a graphic designer, while her mother, Joanna Troughton, is an author of children’s books. His brother, Jack Melling, works as a professional communicator.
Harry Melling’s mother
brother of harry meling
His maternal grandfather, Patrick Troughton, was an English actor, best known for appearing in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who (1963), in which he played the second incarnation of the Doctor. Harry is related to English actors David Troughton and Michael Troughton as his nephews, and he is related to English cricketer Jim Troughton and actor Sam Troughton as his first cousins.
Relationships, wife and children
Not much is known about his relationships.
livelihood
As a theater artist
In 2009, Harry Melling starred as Swiss Cheese in the play ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ at the Royal National Theatre. In 2011, he played Sir Benjamin Backbite in the play The School for Scandal at the Barbican Centre, a performing arts theater in London.
Harry Melling in The School for Scandal (2011)
In 2014, he came into limelight with ‘Pedaling’, his playwriting debut, which premiered at the Hightide Festival, New York. The play was inspired by an example from Melling’s childhood when the door of his family home in North London was knocked on by a young boy trying to sell them household items.
Harry Melling performing the solo play Peddling (2014)
Later, he starred in various dramas such as The Angry Brigade (2014), Hand to God (2016), and King Lear (2016).
Television
Harry Melling’s television debut came in 2010 in the show Merlin in which he played the role of Gilly.
Harry Melling in Merlin (2010)
In 2010, he played the recurring role of Robert Brown in BBC One’s Just William. Later, he appeared in various television series such as Garrow’s Law (2009–2011), The Musketeers (2014–2016), and The War of the Worlds (2019). In 2019, he appeared in the show ‘His Dark Materials’ as Sisselman, a boisterous man who works as a man in charge of the port city of Trollesund.
Harry Melling in His Dark Materials (2019)
film
In 2001, Harry Melling made his film debut in ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’, in which he played the role of Dudley Dursley, Harry Potter’s spoiled cousin. From 2001–2010, he played the recurring role of Dudley Dursley in five Harry Potter films.
Harry Melling in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
Later, he appeared in the films The Lost City of Z (2016) and The Current War (2017). In 2018, he gained considerable recognition for appearing in the film ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’, in which he played Harrison, a limbless public speaker.
Harry Melling in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
He also received praise for his performance in the film ‘The Old Guard’ (2020), in which he played a villain named Steven Merrick, a wealthy CEO of a pharmaceutical empire who wants to discover the secret of immortal life.
Harry Melling in The Old Guard (2020)
Later, in the same year, he played the role of Roy Lafferty in the psychological thriller film ‘The Devil All the Time’. Harry Melling achieved stardom with the iconic breakout scene in which Roy Lafferty, a fanatical preacher, shoves live spiders into his face as part of his sermon.
Harry Melling in The Devil All the Time (2020)
OTT/Web Series
In 2020, Harry appeared in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit as Harry Beltik, an analytical but warm-hearted chess player who helps Beth Harmon (the protagonist, played by Anya Taylor-Joy) through the game at a low point in her life. Which marks their digital debut.
Harry Melling in The Queen’s Gambit (2020)
Facts/General Knowledge
- Harry Melling’s maternal grandfather, Patrick Troughton, is also an alumnus of Mill Hill School, London. Patrick Troughton was a student at the school during the 1930s. Furthermore, Harry Melling was not the only Mill Hill School alumnus to be included in the Harry Potter film series. Stanislav Yanevsky, who played Viktor Krum in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), is also an alumnus of Mill Hill School, London.
- He was nominated for an International Golden Carp Film Award (2019) in the category Best Ensemble Performance for the film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018).
- During the Harry Potter films, Melling lost a significant amount of weight. In an interview, he revealed that he wore the fat suit to avoid reenacting in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010).
- In 2016, Harry Melling spent a week at puppet school to star in the Broadway hit theater play Hand to God. In the drama, Melling played Jason, a Bible Belt teenager who is controlled by Tyrone, a foul-mouthed puppet. Talking about his puppet school experience in an interview, he said,
The real skill is to listen to what the puppet is saying to you as if it is completely separate from you. This was particularly important to Jason’s character as he had to believe that he was being controlled by Tyrone.
Josh Brener performing puppets in the play Hand to God (2016)
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn