Evanna Lynch
Evanna Patricia Lynch (born 16 August 1991[1]) is an Irish actress and activist. She is best known for portraying Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter film series.
Evanna Lynch
- Actress
- voice actress
- activist
2006–present
153 cm (5 ft 0 in)
Declan Kiberd (uncle)
Damien Kiberd (uncle)
Born in County Louth, Ireland, Lynch made her film debut in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), reprising her role in successive sequels to critical praise, concluding with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011) and series parody A Very Potter Senior Year (2012). Lynch appeared in G.B.F. (2013), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to positive reviews. She made her stage debut in Houdini as Bess Houdini, which toured the UK in 2013. Lynch starred in the indie drama My Name Is Emily, which premiered at the 2015 Galway Film Fleadh to critical acclaim. In 2017, Lynch starred in revival of Disco Pigs at the Trafalgar Theatre in London. In 2018, she competed on season 27 of Dancing with the Stars, placing third. She went on to star in the British stage adaptation of The Omission of the Family Coleman at the Theatre Royal, Bath in 2019.
As an activist, Lynch advocates for veganism and animal rights. She has been involved with several non-profit organisations and launched both a vegan-themed podcast and the cruelty-free cosmetics brand Kinder Beauty Box.
Career[edit]
2006–2011: Beginnings and Harry Potter series[edit]
In January 2006, Lynch auditioned at a casting call in London for the role of Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film in the series adapted from the books.[18][19] After auditioning against 15,000 other girls,[18] and a subsequent screen test with lead actor Daniel Radcliffe, she was cast at age 14.[13] Producers were impressed with her affinity for the character; David Heyman said: "The others could play Luna; Evanna Lynch is Luna."[20] Although uninvolved in the casting process, Rowling believed that Lynch was perfect for the role.[21] She had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series, her experience having been limited to school plays.[22] While filming Harry Potter, Lynch also made and helped design a number of fashion accessories for her character.[10][23][24][25]
Other ventures[edit]
Charity work[edit]
Her charity work includes participation with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland, in which she launched their MS Readathon fundraiser in 2010.[83] Lynch is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the non-profit organisation, the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA). With the HPA, she has supported same-sex marriage in Maine,[84] taken part in a webcast fundraiser,[85] written an article about body image and contributed to a fundraising book.[86]
Lynch is an ambassador for J. K. Rowling's charity Lumos. In 2016, Lynch and her Harry Potter co-star and fellow Lumos ambassador, Bonnie Wright, travelled to Haiti to learn about why there are 30,000 children living in orphanages, and met children who had been rescued from terrible conditions and reunited with their families. Lynch stated about charity work for children and families, "Without families and without love, children can't be children. The most important thing as a child is to be with your family. And you have to do everything you can to keep that family unit in place".[87]
Lynch contributed an essay to the 2018 book Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies, curated by Scarlett Curtis, whose royalties went to the United Nations charity Girl Up.[88]
Activism and veganism[edit]
In a 2019 interview, Lynch said she "hated the blood [from raw meat]" as a child and, at age 11, she became a vegetarian. In 2015, she turned to veganism for ethical reasons.[89][90] Lynch said that her activism is mostly done "in my free time as a way to give back and a way to right the world".[91]
In 2015, Lynch was the first person to sign the petition against live export in the On Cow tour, an event organised by Compassion in World Farming which visited eight cities in the European Union.[92] Since then, she has joined many animal rights demonstrations and campaigns.[93][94][95][96][97][98] In May 2018, Evanna Lynch and a journalist travelled to Kerala, India to observe the treatment of the endangered Asian elephant. In August, she and actor Peter Egan joined the organisation Save the Asian Elephants to hand in a 200,000-name petition to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, demanding to ban the advertisement in the United Kingdom of "unethical Asian elephant related holidays abroad", among other requests.[99][100]
In 2017, Lynch narrated the short documentary iAnimal by Animal Equality, dealing with the dairy industry.[101] The film received a nomination at the 2018 Raindance Film Festival.[102] In June 2018, she narrated a short film by the Humane Society International against the dog and cat meat trade in Asia.[103] In October 2019, Lynch was announced as a Lovie Award winner for her activism. The committee stated that she "raises the bar for others in a position of fame to use the Internet in the most creative and accessible ways possible, to introduce new ideas to people that can truly change our world for the better".[104]
Personal life[edit]
Lynch lives in London, England. She lived in Los Angeles for five years.[108] She dated Harry Potter cast member and ChickPeeps co-host Robbie Jarvis for nine years.[109] She then dated singer-songwriter AnDel in 2017. They have since broken up, but the date they did this is unspecified.[110] As of 2021, Lynch is reportedly dating an unidentified French man she met in London.[111][112]
In a 2014 interview, she mentioned her devout Catholic upbringing. "I stopped going to Mass a few years ago, mainly because I disagree with the rules," she said. "I don't like anything that's about punishing yourself and making you feel bad about yourself, and growing up I felt bad about indulging myself or doing anything for fun".[5]
Lynch has worked to promote healthy self-esteem and body image in young girls because of her previous experiences with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa.[113] She wrote an essay, "Why the Body Bind is My Nightmare", where she described her emotional struggle with her appearance and how she managed to overcome it through allusions pertaining to the Harry Potter series.[114]
In October 2021, Headline in the UK and Ballantine Books in the USA published Lynch's book The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and Glory of Growing Up – A Memoir. It details "her recovery from anorexia and how the conflict between the comfort of self-destruction and the liberation of creativity still rages inside of her".[115]
Lynch has said that her favorite book is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix "no matter what pretentious answer I give you".[116] She loves knitting and reading and "[dangling] off any circus apparatus within reach", as well as dancing and circus arts.[117] As a vegan, Lynch loves banana smoothies[118] and has also shared vegan recipes for several Harry Potter delicacies like butterbeer.[119]