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Harry Melling (actor)

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Harry Melling
Melling at the 2018 Venice Film Festival
Born
Harry Edward Melling

(1989-03-17) 17 March 1989 (age 35)[1][2][3][4]
London, England
Alma materLondon Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
OccupationActor
Years active2000–present
Known forDudley Dursley in Harry Potter
RelativesPatrick Troughton (grandfather)[5]

Harry Edward Melling (born 17 March 1989) is an English actor known for playing Dudley Dursley in five Harry Potter films (2001–2010) and Harry Beltik in The Queen's Gambit (2020). His grandfather was actor Patrick Troughton.[5]

Early life

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Harry Edward Melling was born on 17 March[1][2] 1989 in London, England.[3][4] He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.[2][6]

Career

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In his early career, Melling performed in stage productions of The Provoked Wife, King John, Antigone, and Plenty. He appeared in five of the Harry Potter films as Harry Potter's spoiled cousin, Dudley Dursley. He was first cast in the role at age 10, in 1999, and played the character until 2010 and his appearance in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.[2]

In 2009, Melling starred in a revival of Mother Courage and Her Children at the Royal National Theatre. He appeared in "The Sorcerer's Shadow", an episode of the BBC television series Merlin, playing a young warlock who intends to use magic to help him win Camelot's legendary tournament. He also played Robert Brown in the BBC television series Just William.[7] In 2009, it was announced that Melling had lost so much weight since his last appearance in Harry Potter that he was now "unrecognisable". The role of Dudley was almost recast for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, but Melling was able to reprise the part by wearing a fat suit. He said of the change, "I can now shed the child actor thing, like the fat, and start a new career, because no one sees me as Dudley."[8]

In 2014, Melling made his playwriting debut at HighTide Festival with his one-man show Peddling.[9]

In 2018, Melling starred alongside Liam Neeson in the Coen brothers' Western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.[6][10] Of Melling's performance, New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane wrote:

[I] came away haunted by a scattering of sights and sounds—above all, by the recitations of the limbless man, which thrum with genuine yearning. He is beautifully played, with a little help from C.G.I., by Harry Melling, who was once the odious Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. Funny how people grow up.[11]

In 2020, Melling played evangelical preacher Roy Laferty in the Netflix thriller The Devil All The Time. That same year, he appeared in the Netflix series drama The Queen's Gambit as Harry Beltik, a chess player, friend, and competitor of Beth's in Kentucky.[6]

Melling appeared in a Coen brothers film a second time as Malcolm in The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021).[6]

In 2022, he had a starring role as a young Edgar Allan Poe in the film The Pale Blue Eye.[6][10][12][13]

In May 2024, it was announced that Melling would be starring alongside Alexander Skarsgard in Pillion, a romantic comedy produced by Element Pictures.[14]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Dudley Dursley
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
2016 The Lost City of Z William Barclay
2017 The Current War Benjamin Vale
2018 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Harrison Segment: "Meal Ticket"
The Keeper Sergeant Smythe
2019 Waiting for the Barbarians Garrison Soldier 4
2020 The Old Guard Steven Merrick
Say Your Prayers Tim
The Devil All the Time Roy Laferty
2021 The Tragedy of Macbeth Malcolm
2022 Please Baby Please Arthur
The Pale Blue Eye Edgar Allan Poe
2023 Shoshana Geoffrey J. Morton
2024 Harvest Charles Kent

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2005 Friends and Crocodiles Young Oliver Television film
2010 Merlin Gilli Episode: "The Sorcerer's Shadow"
Just William Robert Brown 4 episodes
2011 Garrow's Law George Pinnock 3 episodes
2013 Joe Mistry Joe Television film
2016 The Musketeers Bastien Episode: "Fool's Gold"
2019 The War of the Worlds Artilleryman Miniseries, 2 episodes
His Dark Materials Sysselman Episode: "Armour"
2020 The Queen's Gambit Harry Beltik Miniseries, 4 episodes
2024 Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light Thomas Wriothesley Post-production

Stage

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Year Title Role Venue
2009 Mother Courage and her Children Swiss Cheese Royal National Theatre
2010 Bedroom, Dens and Other Forms of Magic Theatre503
Women Beware Women Young Ward Royal National Theatre
2011 The School for Scandal Sir Benjamin Backbite Barbican Centre
When Did You Last See My Mother? Ian Trafalgar Studios
2012 I Am a Camera Christopher Isherwood Southwark Playhouse
2013 Smack Family Robinson Sean Robinson Rose Theatre, Kingston
The Hothouse Lamb Trafalgar Studios
King Lear Fool Minerva Theatre, Chichester
2014 King Lear Fool Brooklyn Academy of Music
peddling Boy HighTide Festival
The Angry Brigade Morris
Commander
Prophet
Snitch
Manager
Jim		 Theatre Royal, Plymouth
Oxford Playhouse
Warwick Arts Centre
Watford Palace Theatre
2016 Hand to God Jason/Tyrone Vaudeville Theatre, London
King Lear Edgar The Old Vic
2017 Jam Kane Finborough Theatre

Video game

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Year Title Role Notes
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Dudley Dursley Voice

References

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  1. ^ a b Scull, Eric (22 March 2013). "Harry Melling Shares His Thoughts with MuggleNet on the Black Comedy 'Smack Family Robinson'". MuggleNet. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d "Harry Melling: 'It feels like the Dudley Dursley narrative is changing'". NME. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Harry Melling". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Harry Melling". Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  5. ^ a b Jardine, Cassandra (6 October 2009). "Harry Potter star: My life after Dudley Dursley". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e "'People want to hold onto their experiences of Harry Potter': Harry Melling on the wizarding franchise, the Coen bros and The Pale Blue Eye". The Independent. 31 December 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  7. ^ "Just William (2010)". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  8. ^ Jardine, Cassandra (6 October 2009). "Harry Potter star: My life after Dudley Dursley". The Telegraph.
  9. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (2 May 2014). "A Lost Boy, Trying to Find His Way". New York Times. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  10. ^ a b "The Haunting of Harry Melling". Vanity Fair. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  11. ^ Lane, Anthony (19 November 2018). "The Fractious, Frustrating Thrills of 'Widows' [Desperate Measures]". The New Yorker. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  12. ^ "'The Pale Blue Eye' Review: Christian Bale Is a Detective Who Teams Up with Edgar Allan Poe in Scott Cooper's Gloomfest Murder Mystery". Variety. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  13. ^ "The Pale Blue Eye review". The Independent. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  14. ^ Ritman, Alex (8 May 2024). "Harry Melling to Play Alexander Skarsgard's Submissive in Kinky Queer Romance 'Pillion' From Element Pictures, Cornerstone Launching in Cannes". Variety. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
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