Evanna Lynch

Evanna Lynch
Biographical information
Birth name	Evanna Patricia Lynch
Born	16 August 1991 (age 33) Termonfeckin, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Gender	Female
Eye colour	Blue
Hair colour	Blonde
Height	5'2" (1.57 m)
Family	Donal Lynch (father) Marguerite Lynch (mother) Máiréad Lynch (sister) Emily Lynch (sister) Patrick Lynch (brother) Puff Lynch (cat)
Website	Official Website Official Facebook Official Instagram
Career
Years active	2007–present
In Harry Potter	Luna Lovegood The Fountain of Fair Fortune (narrator)

"I promise all Luna fans that I will stay completely true to her because she deserves no less."

— Evanna Lynch

Evanna Patricia Lynch is an Irish actress. She played Luna Lovegood in the film and game adaptations of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. She also provided the voice for Luna in the video game adaptions of these films. She is also a big fan of the Harry Potter series, even prior to when she was cast as Luna.

Biography

Lynch as Luna Lovegood holding a copy Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Evanna Patricia Lynch was born on 16 August 1991, to Donal and Marguerite Lynch. She has two sisters, Máiréad and Emily, and one brother, Patrick. She grew up in Termonfeckin, County Louth, Ireland, with her family and cats.

Lynch's uncle on her mother's side is Declan Kiberd, a famous literary scholar who has taught at University College Dublin and the University of Notre Dame. Primarily known as one of the world's leading authorities on Irish literature, Kiberd has also written and lectured on children's literature, including Harry Potter.

In 2003, at the age of eleven, Lynch had been admitted to the hospital, where she spent two years in treatment for anorexia. She often wrote to Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, of whom she was a fan and whom she considered a counsellor, and got a reply in which Rowling reminded her that anorexia was "destructive, not creative" - a statement which, as Lynch states, helped her to start her recovery. Still, she feared that she would miss the release of the fifth Harry Potter book, but the hospital released her for the morning of the book release, and it was arranged for her to receive a copy of the book signed by J.K. Rowling herself.

Lynch attended Cartown National School, and later, an all girls' Catholic school, called Our Lady's College, Greenhills, located in Drogheda, Ireland. As of September 2006, she was in Third Year at the school. She also attended the Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland, where she completed a three-week 'Speculative Fiction' course. In 2008, she returned to CTYI for her last year, attending a Drama course for three weeks.

Evanna as Luna in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)

Lynch learned on 23 January 2006 that she had won the role of Luna, beating 15,000 girls all over United Kingdom and Ireland, though it would be publicly announced on 2 February. Her father had flown her to London for the open audition, though her mother had doubts that she would be successful in winning the role. Lynch had her naturally dark blonde hair bleached light blonde for the role of Luna. Also, the filmmakers once called her to tell her not to shave her eyebrows, which Lynch said she does not do anyway.

During the early stages of the fifth film's production, the young actress finally met Rowling at the Leavesden Studios lot. After a long chat, Rowling had one thing to say about Lynch portraying Luna: "perfect".

Lynch has said that while she may pursue her acting career in the future, she would like to someday be a director.

In 2009, Lynch received her first nomination as Best Supporting Actress at the Scream Awards 2009 for her portrayal as Luna Lovegood in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Lynch was nominated and voted in third place in Portrait Magazine, Top 30 Under 30 2009 List. Lynch's fellow Harry Potter co-stars were also nominated: Bonnie Wright who plays Ginny Weasley was second place, Rupert Grint who plays Ron Weasley was fifth place, Emma Watson who plays Hermione Granger was eighth place, Tom Felton who plays Draco Malfoy was fourteenth place and Daniel Radcliffe who plays Harry Potter was eighteenth place in Portrait Magazine, Top 30 Under 30 2009 List.

Evanna Lynch with Bonnie Wright

In 2011, after the final Harry Potter film was released, Lynch announced her intentions to move to Hollywood in order to pursue her acting career.

In March 2012, Lynch confirmed during an interview at the Empire Awards 2012, that she has a new role in television series Sinbad.

In June 2012, it was announced that Lynch would be starring in crime thriller film called Monster Butler, in which she would play the role of Fiona Carrick-Smith. Cast alongside her in the film was her Harry Potter co-star Gary Oldman. The film was set to be released in 2013, but was never finished due to running out of funding.

In August 2012, Lynch became an official member of Team Starkid Production Company, playing her character of Luna, in the final instalment of their Potter Musical series, A Very Potter 3D: A Very Potter Senior Year, which was performed at Leaky-Con 2012 in Chicago.

In 2017, Lynch created a plant-based podcast The Chickpeeps with her co-hosts Momoko Hill, Robbie Jarvis and Tylor Starr as they discuss their philosophies, challenges and opinions on living the vegan lifestyle, included topics around animals rights.

In September 2018, Lynch was a contestant on the American reality dance competition Dancing with The Stars. She was paired with Keo Motsepe. Lynch and Motsepe finished the season in third place after nine weeks of competition.

Lynch performs "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" for the audiobook release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

In 2021, she released a memoir, The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting.

In 2023, she helped promote the game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, when she and Bonnie Wright appeared in one of the promotional trailers for the game, helping introduce and explain the game's mechanics for its recent update.

Filmography

Year	Format	Title	Role
2018	Television	Dancing With the Stars	Herself
2015	Film	My Name Is Emily	Emily
2015	BBC Television Film	Danny and the Human Zoo	Bridget O'Riordan
2014	Film	Dynamite: A Cautionary Tale	Theresa Bornstein
2014	Short film	It Don't Come Easy	Ella
2013	Film	G.B.F.	McKenzie Price
2013	Film	Monster Butler	Fiona Carrick-Smith
2012	Short film	Apex	Regan
2012	Television	Sinbad	Princess Alena
2011	Film	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2	Luna Lovegood
2010	Film	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1	Luna Lovegood
2009	Film	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Luna Lovegood
	Video Game	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Luna Lovegood (Voice)
2007	Film	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Luna Lovegood
	Video Game	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Luna Lovegood (Voice)
2024	Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking	Television Show	Herself

Awards and honours

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
2009	Scream Award	Best Supporting Actress	Half-Blood Prince	Nominated
2009	Young Artist Award	Best Supporting Actress	Half-Blood Prince	Nominated
2016	Irish Film and Drama Awards	Actress in a Lead Role - Film	My Name Is Emily	Nominated

"Sometimes, the other characters are too normal and then you start to be brought back to reality but then Luna shows up and she is just so funny and cool and honest and slightly mad and she’s all that matters. She is 100% true. She puts on no shows, because she is so comfortable with herself."

— Evanna Lynch

Behind the scenes

• Lynch shares her middle name with Professor Sybill Trelawney.
• She also has the same surname as Aidan Lynch, the Seeker who played Quidditch for the Irish National Quidditch team. Coincidentally, Lynch is also Irish.
• Lynch named her childhood cats after Harry Potter characters, including Luna, Crookshanks, and Dumbledore.
• She is a frequent visitor to the Harry Potter fan site MuggleNet, and she once called in to the popular Harry Potter podcast PotterCast and later on MuggleCast.

  

• Lynch likes making beaded jewellery. She made the radish earrings that her character wears in Order of the Phoenix herself.
• Lynch revealed in a special feature on the Half-Blood Prince DVD with Jany Temime that she also made a bracelet worn by Luna when she attended the Slug Club Christmas party. The bracelet depicted a hare, like her Patronus, but it was believed that it was a reindeer. It took Evanna about 45 minutes to make it, and she stated it wasn't, nor did it need to be, perfect, since Luna was like that. Jany jokingly asked her, "Are you going to tell me that if it was not for Luna you would have made it better than that?" to which Evanna simply responded "Perhaps."
• She attended both the London and Irish premières of Order of the Phoenix.
• She was given a hare and moon pendant by J. K. Rowling.

• At the James Joyce Awards in Dublin, when asked "Do you think about the film when you write?", Rowling answered "No", but that "the only actor or actress who has ever, ever intruded while writing was Evanna Lynch, who is absolutely perfect as Luna. And I must admit I have heard her voice in my head when I wrote the book. I love Evanna. She's fantastic. She was perfectly cast, she was… she won't mind me saying this, she is completely cool with this, she is Luna! She is very Luna-esque, in personality, and is just spot on for me".
• Before clinching the role, Lynch wrote to J.K. Rowling telling her that she wanted to be Luna but she came from a sleepy place called Termonfeckin where nothing ever happened. Rowling wrote back encouraging her and told her not to be too disheartened that she herself came from a very sleepy place.
• Her favourite book is Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.
• Her favourite Luna Lovegood quote is "You're just as sane as I am."
• Lynch has been sorted into Gryffindor on Pottermore, much to her surprise. She claimed it was the cause of an identity crisis for her.
• Lynch was again sorted into Gryffindor by the new Pottermore sorting quiz. She was very happy with the result.
• Lynch has starred as Cousin Geneva in Jessie Cave's Flat White Series on Cave's website Pindippy.
• Lynch dated her Harry Potter co-star Robbie Jarvis, who played the teenage version of James Potter in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, from at least April 2015 until late 2016.

External links

• Evanna Lynch's official account on Facebook
• Evanna Lynch's official account on Instagram
• Evanna Lynch on Wikipedia
• Evanna Lynch at the Internet Movie Database
• Evanna Lynch at GettyImages.com (Pictures of Evanna Lynch at various public appearances and events)
• Evanna Lynch at Rex Feature (Pictures of Evanna Lynch at various public appearances and events)