Final Production Information

Harry Potter (DANIEL RADCLIFFE) has learned to live with his bullying Uncle Vernon (RICHARD GRIFFITHS), his callous Aunt Petunia (FIONA SHAW) and the constant whining of his greedy, spoiled cousin Dudley. He’s even learned to live with sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs.

Harry’s relatives have just as reluctantly learned to live with the unwelcome presence of their orphaned relation, a constant reminder of Petunia’s "wayward" sister and brother-in-law and their mysterious and untimely demise.

Even the impending arrival of his 11^th birthday offers no excitement for Harry – as usual, there’s little chance of cards, presents or any kind of birthday treat.

This year, however, is different.

Based on the first of J.K. Rowling’s popular children’s novels about Harry Potter, the live action family adventure film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone tells the story of a boy who learns on his 11^th birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own. Invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. At Hogwarts, he finds the home and the family he has never had.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films/1492 Pictures/Duncan Henderson Production of a Chris Columbus film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, starring DANIEL RADCLIFFE, EMMA WATSON, RUPERT GRINT, JOHN CLEESE, ROBBIE COLTRANE, WARWICK DAVIS, RICHARD GRIFFITHS, RICHARD HARRIS, IAN HART, JOHN HURT, ALAN RICKMAN, FIONA SHAW, MAGGIE SMITH and JULIE WALTERS.

Directed by CHRIS COLUMBUS from a screenplay by STEVE KLOVES, based on the acclaimed novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. ROWLING, the film is produced by DAVID HEYMAN. Chris Columbus, MARK RADCLIFFE, MICHAEL BARNATHAN and DUNCAN HENDERSON are the executive producers.

JOHN SEALE is the director of photography; STUART CRAIG is the production designer; RICHARD FRANCIS-BRUCE is the editor; and JOHN WILLIAMS is the composer.

The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, an AOL Time Warner Company.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has been rated "PG" by the Motion Picture Association of America for "some scary moments and mild language."

www.harrypotter.com / AOL Keyword: Harry Potter

As Harry Potter’s (DANIEL RADCLIFFE) 11^th birthday draws near, he anticipates little in the way of excitement or presents from the Dursleys, Harry’s unpleasant relatives who took him in following his parents’ deaths and forced him to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs.

But this year, Harry’s birthday will be different.

A mysterious letter addressed to Harry arrives, written in peculiar green ink and accompanied by an owl. Harry is surprised and excited by the curious dispatch, but his horrified Uncle Vernon (RICHARD GRIFFITHS) destroys the letter before Harry has a chance to read it.

The next day, another letter and owl arrive, only to be squelched by the Dursleys. As each day follows the next, letters and owls continue turning up on Harry’s doorstep until the Dursleys, fearing they can no longer suppress the contents of the peculiar correspondence, flee with Harry in tow to a remote hut where they’re confident they cannot be found.

Their plan appears to be working when suddenly a LOUD CRASH carries the hut door off its hinges, revealing the awesome bulk of an enormous giant called Hagrid (ROBBIE COLTRANE). Furious with the Dursleys for destroying the letters and trying to conceal their nephew’s real identity, Hagrid reveals the secret that will change Harry’s life: he, Harry Potter, is a wizard!

Much to Harry’s disbelief, it transpires that the puzzlingly persistent letters are invitations for him, on the occasion of his 11^th birthday, to leave the regular world and join his similarly-talented peers at the legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hagrid goes on to explain that Harry’s parents did not die in a car crash as his insecure relatives have repeatedly told him – they were in fact murdered by an evil wizard who in turn etched the distinctive lightning scar on Harry’s forehead!

Harry is completely overwhelmed by the revelations about his parents and the invitation to Hogwarts. However, faced with another night in the cupboard under the stairs and a life of hand-me-downs, he doesn’t hesitate in accompanying Hagrid to London’s Kings Cross Station, where he discovers the secret Platform 9 3/4 and catches the Hogwarts Express.

Aboard the train packed with wide-eyed first year students, Harry befriends fellow wizards-in-training Hermione Granger (EMMA WATSON) and Ron Weasley (RUPERT GRINT). Together with his new friends, Harry embarks on the adventure of a lifetime at Hogwarts, a wondrous place beyond Harry’s wildest imagination where he discovers his extraordinary talents and finds the home and the family he never had.

With over 100 million copies sold in over 46 languages, J.K. Rowling’s best-selling series of books based on the adventures of the world’s most beloved wizard, Harry Potter, have truly become a worldwide phenomenon, touching and capturing the imaginations of readers of all ages around the globe. However, the book was barely in print when it captivated British producer David Heyman, the former Hollywood studio executive-turned-producer of such acclaimed independent films as Juice and The Daytrippers.

In 1996, Heyman returned to London from the U.S. to set up his own production company, Heyday Films, with a vision of producing truly international films for both Europe and the United States. "Having a brother and sister who were 10 and 14 at the time, I was very interested in finding a children’s film that I could enjoy as much as they would," Heyman recalls. "My team at Heyday was aware of this and my Head of Development, Tanya Seghatchian, read an article about a new children’s book by a then-unknown author. The agent sent her a copy and my assistant Nisha read it over the weekend. Nisha reported that it was a curious book about a young boy who goes to wizard school. I thought it was a wonderful idea and read the novel that evening. What I thought was a great idea turned out to be an even more remarkable book, and so much richer than the idea that initially attracted me. I realized this was something very special and began pursuing the rights the following morning."

It was during his auspicious first meeting with author J.K. Rowling in early 1997 that Heyman made his commitment clear. "I made a promise to Jo Rowling to be true to her vision," Heyman says. "This was and has been the most important consideration to me throughout the process."

But finding a director who shared Rowling and Heyman’s passion, commitment and vision for the film adaptation proved to be a challenge. Chris Columbus, renowned for directing the blockbuster hits Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire, made the short list of those considered for the daunting but prestigious task.

"My daughter Eleanor was reading the book at the time and insisted that I read it as well," Columbus remembers. "I started reading it, finished it in one day and couldn’t stop thinking about turning it into a film. But, at that point, the film was already in the hands of another director. A few months later, I received a call from my agent, telling me the book was again available. There was only one problem: several directors were now also interested in making the film. Warner Bros. and producer David Heyman began a lengthy process of interviewing the potential candidates. Nevertheless, I wasn’t intimidated by this. I felt that if I could articulate my passion and obsession with the material, if I could clearly specify how I would make the film, David and the Studio would realize that I was the man for the job."

The next step was meeting with the author, J.K. Rowling. "At first I was nervous, being such a big fan of the books," Columbus says. "But I immediately felt comfortable with Jo. I explained that I would protect the integrity of the book. I told her how I wanted to keep the darkness and the edge of the material intact. I also think Jo was excited by the fact that I wanted her to be involved in the creative process. And she was an invaluable collaborator. Her inspiration and ideas were absolutely wonderful."

"There was a lot of interest from numerous directors who wanted to be involved with Harry Potter," Heyman says, "but Chris emerged as the person with the greatest passion and understanding of the books and the desire to remain faithful to Jo’s vision."

Indeed, Columbus, like Heyman and Warner Bros. Pictures, had no desire to deviate from the world that Rowling had so meticulously created. "I’d heard these horrendous and actually quite amusing stories about how certain directors had wanted to adapt the book," Columbus recalls, "like changing the locale to a Hollywood High School or turning Harry, Ron and Hermione into American students or making the entire film as a computer animated picture. I was stunned by some of these notions. I mean, it all feels painfully obvious to me. There’s a reason why millions of children and adults have fallen in love with the Harry Potter books. To destroy the basic foundation of this world and these characters would alienate our audience. So I was adamant about being incredibly faithful to the books, which means shooting the films in England, with an all British cast."

"There was never any desire to make the film in America," Heyman reports. "In spite of the book’s ‘Britishness’ and its specificity in terms of locale, it is in fact a universal story."

Once Columbus came aboard and it was agreed that the film would be shot in England, the filmmakers moved on to perhaps their greatest challenge: finding the right boy to play Harry Potter.

By March 2000, Chris Columbus and David Heyman were deep into pre-production. The search for a boy to play the role of the beloved wizard had yielded no convincing results. Heyman and the Potter casting directors had been auditioning hopeful young actors since 1999, meeting thousands through open casting calls and advertisements, but they had yet to find the Harry.

"It was not easy to find a boy who embodied the many qualities of Harry Potter," Heyman explains. "We wanted someone who could combine a sense of wonder and curiosity, the sense of having lived a life, having experienced pain; an old soul in a child’s body. He needed to be open and generous to those around him and have good judgment. Harry is not great at academics; he has flaws. But that’s what makes him so compelling, so human – that he’s not perfect. Harry has an ‘everyman’ quality, yet he is capable of great things. He makes us all believe that magic is possible."

Columbus was also ensconced in the seemingly endless quest. "We had auditioned hundreds of potential Harry Potters, and I was still unhappy with the results," he recalls. "The first casting director, in a fit of total frustration, threw up her arms and said ‘I just don’t know what you want!’ Sitting on a shelf in the office was a video copy of David Copperfield, starring Daniel Radcliffe. I picked up the video box, pointed to Dan’s face and said ‘This is who I want! This is Harry Potter!’ The casting director said, ‘I’ve told you before, he is unavailable and his parents aren’t interested in him doing this film.’"

The search continued. Ironically, a few months later, Heyman and Harry Potter screenwriter Steven Kloves decided to take a break and go to the theatre. "We bumped into an agent I know, Alan Radcliffe," says Heyman, who was immediately struck by the look of the child sitting with the agent. "Alan and his wife Marcia introduced us to their son Dan during the intermission. It was all the clichés – lightning struck and the skies opened! All through the second half of the play, I couldn’t concentrate. The Radcliffes left before I had a chance to speak to them, so I had a very sleepless night before calling Alan the next morning."

The Radcliffes expressed caution when approached about involving their only son Daniel in Harry Potter. "I completely understood their reticence and caution in allowing their child to play a role that would inevitably change his life," Heyman says. "But, we arranged a meeting over tea that afternoon with Dan. We talked for an hour and a half. His energy and enthusiasm were wonderful. I had a feeling then that this was our Harry."

"To the Radcliffes’ credit, they were totally aware of the enormity of the project and for the sake of their child, were not going to make this decision lightly," says Columbus. "We made it very clear to the them that we would protect their son. We knew from the start that Dan was Harry Potter. He has the magic, the inner depth and darkness that is very rare in an eleven year-old. He also has a sense of wisdom and intelligence that I haven’t seen in many other kids his age. We knew we had made the right choice after sending Jo [Rowling] a copy of Daniel’s screen test. Jo’s comment was something to the effect of ‘I feel as if I’ve been reunited with my long lost son.’"

Eleven year-old Daniel Radcliffe had first been tipped off about the auditions for the much sought-after role some months earlier by a school friend, but had dismissed his chances. "I thought, there are millions of boys auditioning for that part and I know I won’t get it!" Radcliffe remembers fondly.

After completing several auditions and that fateful screen test, Daniel’s life-changing phone call finally came. "I was in the bath and talking to my Mum when the phone rang and Dad came in and told me I’d got the part," Radcliffe recalls with wonder. "I was so happy, I cried a lot! That night I woke up at two in the morning and woke up Mum and Dad and I asked them ‘Is it real? Am I dreaming?’ I was so excited!"

For both Chris Columbus and David Heyman, finding the right boy to play Harry Potter was fundamental to the casting of the key roles of fellow wizards-in-training Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. "We’d been simultaneously looking to fill the other roles, but the casting of Harry was the peak of the triangle, and without him none of the rest would make sense," Heyman explains. "We brought in several children for screen tests, but it soon became apparent who were the three."

"We immediately fell in love with Rupert Grint," Columbus says. "He’s extremely funny and has such an incredibly warm presence. Emma Watson embodies the soul and the essence of Hermione Granger. When we saw Dan, Rupert and Emma together onscreen, they had amazing chemistry. It was electric. We knew we had found the perfect team."

Rupert Grint had no previous professional acting experience apart from school plays, but the self-described "biggest Harry Potter fan ever" badly wanted to play the part of Ron. "Ron is one of my favorite characters and I can really relate to him," Grint says. "I’ve got loads of brothers and sisters and I know what it’s like growing up in a big family. And I still get hand-me-downs!"

Grint learned about the casting search for the role of Harry Potter’s best friend Ron Weasley while watching a children’s news show on BBC television. "I was watching Newsround and they told us how you could audition for a part in the Harry Potter film," Grint remembers. "I sent in a form and a photograph and a month went by and I heard nothing. Then I was on the Newsround website and found out that one boy sent in a video of himself reading a little piece from the script. So I put together a video, sent it off and I got an audition!"

For Emma Watson, the chance to play Hermione Granger was the culmination of several years of acting, dancing and singing in school plays. "When I read the book I thought that Hermione would be a great character to play," Watson says. "But I had to go through a lot of auditions. It wasn’t easy. Then one day, they sat Rupert and I down in David Heyman’s office and simply told us we’d got the part. It didn’t sink in at first. I just stood there looking blankly at them for about five minutes!"

Watson outlines some basic similarities and differences between herself and her character. "Unlike Hermione, I’ve never been top of my class. In fact, quite the opposite! Although I am very bossy and my little brother tends to suffer a bit."

In addition to the tireless search for the child actors to play the roles of Harry, Ron and Hermione, there was also the not insignificant matter of casting the adult roles. "We asked Jo who she saw playing these characters and wherever possible, followed her suggestions," Heyman attests. "For instance, Robbie Coltrane was the first person she mentioned for Hagrid, and Robbie was the first actor we cast in the adult roles."

"Jo definitely had some ideas about casting and for me, a lot of these same actors came into my head while reading the book," Columbus says. "I put together a list of my dream cast. And every one of them said ‘Yes.’ That never happens. This is certainly the best cast I’ve ever worked with."

Robbie Coltrane makes no bones about his reason for accepting the role of Hagrid, the gentle, if not gentle-looking, giant. "My son would have killed me if I hadn’t, so there was no question of me not doing it!"

Coltrane describes Hagrid as "a bit lacking in social skills. I don’t think he would ever be asked to join the golf club, but he’s a good sort of fellow who likes dragons and things like that. He’s actually pretty fearless and very fond of wild animals, which most people are afraid of. He’s a giant and generally they aren’t very nice, but he’s got the good genes and takes the children under his wing."

Like director Chris Columbus, Richard Harris, who plays Hogwarts’ all-knowing Professor Dumbledore, was introduced to the world of Harry Potter by a child close to his heart. "I was asked to play the part and I wasn’t going to do it for various reasons," Harris recalls. "Then my eleven year-old granddaughter Ellie telephoned me and said quite simply, ‘Papa, if you don’t play Dumbledore I will never speak to you again!’ So I didn’t have much choice in the matter!"

In fact, Harris claims that Dumbledore proved to be the most difficult part he has ever played. "Dumbledore’s presence is felt right through the books, even though you don’t see much of him," Harris explains. "He’s a very important figure in the stories and I needed to find a rhythm and a metre in this beautifully written dialogue in order to be able to play the part."

Harris chuckles, remembering one magical casting moment. "Chris Columbus asked me to meet the young cast and I came out to the studio and read with them. When I finished the reading, Rupert Grint, the boy who plays Ron Weasley, turned to me and said: ‘Mr. Harris, that was quite a good reading. I think you’ll be quite good in this part!’"

Alan Rickman also found himself subject to pressure from the smaller members of the Potter community to play the role of eccentric Potions Professor Snape. "I have lots of nephews and relationships with friends’ children," Rickman says. "They weren’t so much excited as insistent that I do the part!"

Although Rickman didn’t read the novel until after he read the script, he quickly came to appreciate the story’s universal appeal. "It’s like any great play or novel which obeys certain rules of storytelling," he observes. "You’re gripped from the first page and as you keep turning the pages, you get involved with the characters and want to see what happens next. It’s a simple rule, but one which requires great talent."

Dame Maggie Smith had already read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when she was asked to play the role of Professor McGonagall. "I thought it was such a terrific book for kids," Smith remarks, "and I was greatly interested to see how they were going to create this magic on film. What people don’t realize is that jobs like this don’t come up very often – this story has captured everyone’s imagination! And how often do you get to walk around as a wizard wearing great clothes?"

For Smith, Harry Potter offered the added attraction of working with fellow David Copperfield castmate Daniel Radcliffe again. "I was thrilled when he got the part of Harry," Smith says. "He has such special qualities. All the kids in this cast have amazing stamina. This film has brought out the child in practically everyone involved in the production, but particularly Chris Columbus, who is terrific and has such patience and enthusiasm."

The filmmakers offered acclaimed actor Ian Hart the task of playing Professor Quirrell, Hogwarts’ Professor of the Defense Against Dark Arts and foil to Alan Rickman’s Snape. "The ingredients are all there from any great myth," says Hart, who was attracted to universal themes of the story. "You have good and evil and avenging the death of your family. These themes are timeless, but in this story, they’re woven together in such a way as to be really funny. Although the film has a very serious side to it, there is also a lot of humor too!"

In Harry Potter, as in all classic fairy tales, the hero confronts his wicked stepmother – or in this case, his Aunt Petunia. For this key role, the filmmakers cast one of Britain’s most talented and respected stage actresses, Fiona Shaw. "I wanted to play one of the magical characters, but I soon realized that the Dursleys’ world is more exotic and more frightening than the one Harry experiences when he leaves them," Shaw notes. "In being ordinary, the Dursleys are a very eccentric pair. Their failure with their own son is all the more apparent in the presence of Harry, a boy who is clearly gentle, very prestigious, civilised and a sort of natural knight, as opposed to Dudley, who is spoiled and hopeless. The Dursleys live on a knife edge of snobbery, aspiration and desperate disappointment that their son Dudley is not Harry."

For Shaw, the much-maligned Petunia proved to be a fun part to play. "Comedy always happens in the gap between who people are and who they think they are," Shaw explains. "The Dursleys have a house that aspires to being a very grand house, but is in fact a very small house. They’re desperately keen to appear normal, but through Harry’s eyes, we see that these people are monstrous in their normality."

Richard Griffiths plays Harry’s anxious Uncle Vernon. Like Shaw, Griffiths sights a desire to be ordinary as the driving force in the behavior of his character. "Vernon distrusts Harry completely and is always concerned that he is going to do something strange at any moment," Griffiths says. "That is Vernon’s biggest fear – he doesn’t want anything strange happening that the neighbors might see. He is terrified that people will think there is something not right about him. The Dursleys want to be average and normal and the fact that they have Harry Potter in their care is dreadful, as he is anything but ordinary."

The role of Dudley, the Dursleys’ bumbling and spoiled son is played memorably by Harry Melling. "Harry’s understanding of his physique, his ability to be witty, his inventiveness and his imaginative commitment to every scene is remarkable," Fiona Shaw asserts.

"I thought playing Dudley would be fun because one minute he’s sad and the next he’s happy and then grumpy," says the twelve year-old, who enjoyed this experience acting alongside Fiona Shaw, Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe, with only one reservation. "I’m really scared about what people will think of me, but I’m really looking forward to the film coming out."

While Columbus had no reservations about directing one of the most highly anticipated films in history, he was well aware that some questioned his ability to bring the darkness of Harry Potter’s world to the big screen. "Over the years, people – particularly the media – have implied that I’ve gone soft because I’ve directed some sentimental films," Columbus says. "But based on my own personal life at the time, I felt that those were films I needed to make. Once I got those stories out of my system, I wanted to go back to where I was when I started out as a writer, which is a much darker place."

Of his early influences, Columbus says, "I’ve always been a big fan of British cinema, everything from David Lean pictures, comedies like Kind Hearts and Coronets, emotional dramas like A Man for all Seasons and particularly the Hammer Horror films, which I adored. I found them very atmospheric and evocative. I grew up watching these films and they influenced my early writing."

Helming Harry Potter gave Columbus the opportunity to revisit the dark themes of early 1980s films he wrote but did not direct, like Gremlins and Young Sherlock Holmes. "Young Sherlock Holmes was set in a British boarding school and involved two pre-teen boys and a girl who solve a supernatural mystery," Columbus enthuses. "It was a sort of preparation for directing Harry Potter."

But Columbus is quick to commend the talented production team that brought the world of Harry Potter to life, particularly Oscar-winning production designer Stuart Craig, costume designer Judianna Makovsky and director of photography John Seale.

"This film is incredibly collaborative and it’s been the highlight of my career for several reasons, mostly because I’ve worked with such talented people. My cinematographer John Seale and production designer Stuart Craig in particular understand the richness and complexity of Harry Potter’s world. In Hogwarts, we strived to create a realistic, magical place, a school that the viewer would believe actually existed."

Columbus envisioned a rich, warm pallet for the film. To this end, he and Heyman hired three time Academy Award winner Stuart Craig. "Stuart Craig is one of the finest production designers living," Heyman says. "There is no one who designs with such taste and elegance. We wanted Harry’s world to feel like it really exists. Stuart made Hogwarts, with all its splendour, seem like a place that truly feels real."

For the all-important role of cinematographer, the filmmakers tapped multiple Oscar nominee John Seale. "We had loved John’s work in a variety of films from Witness to Dead Poet’s Society and we knew he would give Harry Potter a fantastic look," says Heyman. "For instance, Chris wanted low light in the interiors, as there is no artificial light in Hogwarts. John was particularly attentive to this and lit the set with torches and candles. He has this incredible energy and works at a remarkably fast pace, and yet he’s able to retain tremendous depth and richness at all times."

Hiring the right costume designer was also crucial. "Beyond the sets and the lighting, we wanted a bit of madness and eccentricity, which Judianna Makovsky has created," says Heyman. "For example, for Madame Hooch, the flying instructor, Judianna took classical professor’s robes and added the black and white of a referee and then cut it in such a way it flows like the movement of a bird."

"Making Harry Potter has been the highlight of my career," Chris Columbus declares. "I’ve been able to shoot in some stunning locations and sets, and have been fortunate to have collaborated with the best, most talented crew of technicians and artists. This film is a culmination of the efforts and talents of a group of very dedicated, hard working people. I believe the results speak for themselves.

"The most difficult aspect of making Harry Potter was excising elements of the book that I wanted to put into the film," he continues. "If I had the opportunity, I would have made a seven or eight hour picture. My strongest desire was to make a satisfying film for every single one of the fans, a movie that truly captures the heart and the spirit of the book, without sacrificing any of its darkness, edge or character."

* * *

11 year-old DANIEL RADCLIFFE (HARRY POTTER) beat thousands of hopefuls to secure the role he was quite definitely born to play. As director Chris Columbus says, "Dan walked into the room and we all knew we had found Harry."

Daniel first appeared on our screens in December 1999 when he played the young David Copperfield in BBC television’s production of David Copperfield. The drama, which was directed by Simon Curtis, also starred Dame Maggie Smith and Zoe Wanamaker who now appear along side him as Professor McGonagall and Madame Hooch in Harry Potter.

Prior to filming Harry Potter, Daniel made his feature film debut as Jamie Lee Curtis’ and Geoffrey Rush’s screen son in John Boorman’s The Tailor of Panama.

As well as being a firm fan of Fulham Football Club, Daniel is a big follower of Formula One Racing.

Newcomer RUPERT GRINT (RON WEASLEY) is 12 years old and is the eldest of five children. He has performed in school productions and with the local theatre drama group. Recent productions include the role of the gangster Rooster in Annie and a production of Peter Pan. At school he played the role of Rumplestiltskin in the Grimm Tales and Mystic Meg for a talent show!

Rupert auditioned for the role of Ron Weasley in Harry Potter after watching an appeal by the casting director on the BBC television show Newsround.

Harry Potter marks 10 year-old EMMA WATSON’s (HERMIONE GRANGER) first foray into the world of professional acting, although her natural ability has been evident since an early age with highly praised performances in several school productions.

Indeed, her talents first came to light in school plays in France and, when aged seven, Emma won top prize for poetry recital in her school’s Daisy Pratt Poetry Competition for her year.

She went on to co-star as Morgan La Fay in the school’s production of Arthur: The Young Years and then took one of lead roles in The Happy Prince.

JOHN CLEESE (NEARLY HEADLESS NICK) needs little or no introduction, having entertained the world for 40 years as a comedian, actor, writer, author, director, producer and generally very funny person.

It was perhaps in 1969 and the first series of Monty Python’s Flying Circus that Cleese first shot to fame. The Pythons’ unique brand of humour was to spawn three hit series, a U.K. and Canadian stage tour, a stage show at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and at City Center, New York as well as a show at the Hollywood Bowl. The team made their first film in 1971, And Now For Something Completely Different, followed two years later by Monty Python and the Holy Grail and in 1978 Life of Brian.

In 1975 he created what was to similarly become a worldwide phenomenon, the television series Fawlty Towers. This was followed with a second series in 1979.

Cleese wrote, produced and starred in A Fish Called Wanda, co-starring Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Palin, which was released in 1988. The film received an Academy Award nomination, an Italian Oscar and a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Screenplay and Cleese received a BAFTA Award for Best Actor with the film being further nominated for Best Screenplay.

Other film credits include: Clockwise; Romance With a Double Bass; The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It; Time Bandits; The Great Muppet Caper; Privates on Parade; Silverado; Splitting Heirs; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; The Jungle Book; Fierce Creatures (co-writer and co-producer); Out of Towners; Isn’t She Great; The World is Not Enough; The Quantum Project and Rat Race.

In addition, Cleese organized the first Amnesty Concert A Poke in the Eye (directed by Jonathan Miller) in 1975 and directed The Secret Policeman’s Ball again for Amnesty on stage in 1979. He then co-directed The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball in 1981.

Other career highlights include BBC television’s The Frost Report, The Frost Programme and At Last the 1948 Show, which in 1966 and 1967 first introduced him to U.K. audiences; the role of Petruchio in the BBC’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew; LWT’s Whoops Apocalypse and most recently the BBC’s The Human Face.

Cleese was also the founder of the highly successful management training films company Video Arts (awarded the Queen’s Award to Industry for Exports) and has written two self-help books, Families & How to Survive Them and Life and How to Survive It (both with Dr. Robin Skynner), the first of which was made into a BBC Radio 4 series. He is a Cambridge graduate (MA), was Rector of St. Andrew’s University for three years (Honorary LL.D) and in 1999 he was appointed an Andrew D. White Professor-at-large to Cornell University.

ROBBIE COLTRANE (RUBEUS HAGRID) is one of the U.K.’s most prolific and respected film and television actors, with a multi-award winning career spanning 20 years.

His illustrious film career to date boasts 26 films including: the James Bond films The World is Not Enough and Goldeneye, in which he played Valentin Zukovsky; Warner Bros. Pictures’ Message in a Bottle; Buddy; The Pope Must Die; Henry V; Let it Ride; Absolute Beginners; Defense of the Realm; Mona Lisa and Nuns on the Run, for which he was awarded The Peter Sellers Award For Comedy at the 1991 Evening Standard British Film Awards.

Perhaps Coltrane is best known as Fitz in the internationally acclaimed and hugely popular television series Cracker. The three series of the phenomenally successful drama amassed an impressive array of awards including two BAFTA Best Drama Series Awards in 1995 and 1996; the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama; the 1993 Broadcasting Press Guilds Award for Best Series and the U.S. Cable Ace Awards Best Movie or Mini Series.

Coltrane himself was bestowed with a staggering array of awards for his portrayal of the tough, wise cracking police psychologist, Fitz. Incredibly, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Television Actor three years in a row (1994, 1995 and 1996); Best Television Actor at the 1993 Broadcasting Press Guilds Awards; a Silver Nymph Award for Best Actor at the 1994 Monte Carlo Television Festival; Best Male Performer at the 1994 Royal Television Society Awards; FIPA’s Best Actor Award and a Cable Ace Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Mini Series.

Coltrane first came to our attention in Slab Boys in 1978 at the Traverse Theatre and at Hampstead Theatre, before in the early 1980s launching himself on an unsuspecting comedy scene with appearances on Alfresco, Kick up the Eighties, Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee and Saturday Night Live.

He went onto make star appearances in 13 Comic Strip productions and numerous television shows including Blackadder III and Blackadder’s Christmas Special, as well as being nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Danny McGlone in Tony Smith’s Tutti Frutti.

WARWICK DAVIS’s (PROFESSOR FLITWICK) career as an actor came about purely by chance. Back in 1981 his Grandmother heard a radio announcement calling for people under four foot tall to appear in the new Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. He played the tiny Ewok, Wicket, who became one of the film’s lead creature characters.

After the success of Return of the Jedi, Lucas went on to make two Ewok movies for ABC television: Caravan of Courage in 1984 and in 1985, Battle for Endor. Davis reprised his performances as Wicket in both. In the same year, Davis appeared alongside David Bowie in the fantasy film Labyrinth.

In 1987 Davis was called to Elstree Studios in London for a meeting with Ron Howard and George Lucas. They discussed a new project, Willow, written specifically with Davis in mind. This epic fantasy has since become a film favorite with family audiences throughout the world.

After the success of Willow, Davis was cast in two series of the BBC television classic The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Davis portrayed the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep, and in The Silver Chair he played Glimfeather the owl.

Up until this point in his career, Davis had always been cast as a "goodie." On reading the script for Leprechaun, he was thrilled to learn that this Leprechaun was in fact a ‘baddie.’ The film achieved cult status with movie fans in America, which prompted no less than four sequels to be made.

In 1995, Davis appeared as Gildrig in Gulliver’s Travels. The series set new American television audience records by attracting a staggering 56 million viewers. Then, two years later, George Lucas invited him to return to that famous galaxy far, far away for Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Davis played no less than four roles in the film, with character names Wald and Weazel.

Later in 1997, a script arrived entitled A Very Unlucky Leprechaun. No, not another horror movie, this time the Leprechaun, known as Lucky, was friendly, if a little eccentric. The sequel The White Pony was made the following year.

Davis continues to be extremely busy. Last year, he was seen as Acorn in The 10th Kingdom and as Basil Lodge in the BBC sit-com, The Fitz. He also spent six weeks in Canada filming a new version of the Snow White story for ABC television and shooting a British film called Al’s Lads.

Currently, Davis is working on two series for the BBC: an episode of the mystery series Murder Rooms and Steve Coogan’s Hammer House homage Dr. Terrible’s House of Horror.

RICHARD GRIFFITHS (VERNON DURSLEY) is regularly seen on television and has featured in a number of films over the last 20 years. He is perhaps best remembered in Withnail & I and most recently in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow.

Other major film credits include: Chariots of Fire; The French Lieutenant’s Woman; Ghandi; Greystoke; Gorky Park; A Private Function; Shanghai Surprise; King Ralph; Blame it on the Bellboy; Naked Gun 2; Funny Bones; Superman II and Don Boyd’s Goldeneye.

In the U.K., Griffiths is a much loved character actor most famed for his BBC television series Pie in the Sky and Hope & Glory (having just completed the second series). His other main television performances are the BBC’s Gormenghast; Inspector Morse; In the Red; Ted and Ralph; Amnesty; Bird of Prey; The Cleopatras; Merry Wives of Windsor; The Marksman; Mr. Wakefield’s Crusade; LWT’s Nobody’s Perfect and Whoops Apocolypse; Thames TV’s Ffizz; Central’s A Kind of Living and Granada’s El Cid.

Griffiths is also an established theatre actor, having performed with the RSC in The White Guard; Once in a Lifetime; Henry VIII; Volpone and Red Star. Other major stage productions include: Heartbreak House; Galileo and Rules of the Game, all at the Almeida Theatre; Art; Katherine Howard; The Man Who Came to Dinner and Verdi’s Messiah.

RICHARD HARRIS (PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE) has starred in over 70 major movies and been nominated for two Academy Awards.

In addition, he is both an accomplished producer, director and also an author.

He is perhaps most recently best known for his role of Emporer in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, as well as starring in The Count of Monte Cristo, The Pearl, The Barber of Siberia, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Unforgiven, Patriot Games and The Field, for which he was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe.

Harris has starred in many classic films including Guns of Navarone, Mutiny on the Bounty and This Sporting Life for which he received his first Academy Award nomination and BAFTA nomination, as well as winning him Best Actor at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.

His portrayal of King Arthur in Camelot won Harris a Golden Globe Award, followed three years later in 1970 with one of his memorable performances in A Man Called Horse. This was followed by Return of a Man Called Horse (which he co-executive produced) and then by Triumphs of a Man Called Horse.

Other major film credits include: The Hero (aka Bloomfield) which he also directed, Echoes of a Summer which he co-executive produced, The Cassandra Crossing, Gulliver’s Travels, Orca, The Wild Geese and Mack the Knife.

His television credits include: The Hunchback of Notre Dame; The Great Kandinsky; Maigret, the Return; Camelot (a role he also took to the stage); The Snow Goose; the Iron Harp and Ricardo. In addition to Camelot, Harris’ other main stage performances include: The Ginger Man, Man Beast and Virtue and A View from the Bridge.

Harris has also published two books, the novel Honour Bound and a poetry compilation I in the Membership of my Days.

IAN HART (PROFESSOR QUIRRELL) is one of the most exciting and talented young actors of his generation, appearing in over 30 films since 1993. His highly acclaimed portrayal of John Lennon in Backbeat, Iain Softley’s story of the Beatles, catapulted him into public awareness and won him the London Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

This was followed by roles in The Englishman who went up a Hill and Clockwork Mice, before taking the lead in Ken Loach’s Land and Freedom, which won the Felix European Film of the Year Award. In 1995, Hart’s talents were further acknowledged when he won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival for his role as Ginger in Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s Nothing Personal.

Hart has been in popular demand ever since with lead roles in Angela Pope’s Hollow Reed; Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins and The Butcher Boy; Michael Radford’s B. Monkey; Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State; Michael Winterbottom’s Wonderland; Neil Jordan’s The End of the Affair; Peter Capaldi’s Strictly Sinatra and most recently in Stephen Frears’ Liam and Chen Keige’s Killing Me Softly.

Television credits include: the BBC’s The Chain, The Marksman and The Monocled Mutineer, as well as Granada’s The Travelling Man and Yorkshire television’s One Summer.

Hart has also starred in several theatre productions including Kate Rowland’s My Beautiful Launderette; Phillida Lloyd’s Woyczeck; Pip Broughton’s The Holiday and Pinocchio Boys and Bill Morrison’s Breezeblock Park.

JOHN HURT (MR. OLLIVANDER) was born in 1940, the son of Arnold Herbert (an Anglican vicar) and Phyllis Massey (an engineer and amateur actress). He attended schools in Kent and Lincoln, and was a stagehand with the Lincoln Repertory and studied Art at St. Martin’s School before winning a scholarship to RADA.

Hurt is one of Britain’s best known, critically acclaimed and most versatile actors. He made his West End debut in 1962 and went on to take the 1963 Critic’s Award for Most Promising Actor in Harold Pinter’s The Dwarfs. For the stage, Hurt has also appeared in Pinter’s The Caretaker, O’Casey’s Shadow of a Gunman, Stoppard’s Travesties for the RSC and Turgenev’s A Month in The Country. The year 2000 saw his greatly acclaimed performance in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape in London’s West End.

Hurt’s impressive body of television work commenced in 1961 and has included such notable roles as Caligula in I, Claudius, Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and, most memorably, as Quentin Crisp in the autobiographical The Naked Civil Servant (for which he received a Best Actor Emmy and a BAFTA Best Television Actor Award) which led Crisp to opine that "John Hurt is my representative here on Earth."

It was his defining film roles as Max in Midnight Express (1978) and as John Merrick in The Elephant Man (1980) that thrust him into the international spotlight with Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor, respectively. His other film work includes a trio of roles in 1984 which rewarded him with the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for that year for: 1984; The Hit and Champions. His many films include: A Man For All Seasons; The Field; Scandal; Rob Roy and John Boorman’s Two Nudes Bathing (the latter for which he received a Cable Ace Award in 1995), and an acclaimed performance in Richard Kwietiowski’s Love and Death on Long Island. Hurt can most recently be seen as Dr. Iannis in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin directed by John Madden.

He recently finished filming Beckett’s Krappe’s Last Tape directed by Atom Egoyan and Tabloid TV directed by David Blair. Hurt is currently filming Carbon Miranda directed by Mark Munden.

John Hurt lives in the Wicklow Mountains, Ireland, a country which he has considered his home since 1967 when playing his first leading role in John Huston’s Sinful Davey.

ALAN RICKMAN (PROFESSOR SNAPE) is one of the U.K.’s most respected film, television and theatre actors and famed throughout the world for his performances in films as diverse as Die Hard; An Awfully Big Adventure; Bob Roberts; Truly Madly Deeply; Close My Eyes; The January Man and Galaxy Quest.

He also starred in Mesmer for which he was named Best Actor at the Montreal Film Festival. For Sense & Sensibility and Michael Collins he received BAFTA nominations and for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves he won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. For Truly Madly Deeply, Close My Eyes and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves he was named Evening Standard Film Actor of the Year. Recent films include: Blow Dry; The Search for John Gissing and Play (directed by Anthony Minghella for Beckett on Film).

For his role as the enigmatic Russian monk in HBO’s Rasputin, Rickman won the 1996 Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor. Other television credits include: Benefactors; Revolutionary Witness; Spirit of Man; Pity in History; Barchester Chronicles; Busted; Therese Raquin and Romeo & Juliet.

As a director, Rickman’s work includes Wax Acts with Ruby Wax in the West End and The Winter Guest by Sharman MacDonald at both the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Almeida Theatre in London. He then went on to direct (and co-write with Macdonald) the feature film version of The Winter Guest starring Emma Thompson. It was an Official Selection for the Venice Film Festival winning three awards and later won Best Feature at the Chicago Film Festival.

Rickman is equally famed for his theatre work. As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company he starred in Les Liaisons Dangereuses both in the West End and on Broadway where he was nominated for a Tony Award. Other productions for the RSC include: Memphisto; Troilus and Cressida; As You Like It; Love’s Labours Lost; Anthony and Cleopatra; Captain Swing and The Tempest. Most of his stage work, however, has been in contemporary theatre and includes: Fears and Miseries of the Third Reich at the Glasgow Citizens; The Carnation Game and The Summer Party at the Crucible Sheffield; Commitments and The Last Elephant at the Bush Theatre; Bad Language at the Hampstead Theatre Club; The Grass Widow; The Lucky Chance and The Seagull at the Royal Court.

For the National Theatre Rickman starred in Anthony & Cleopatra and for Riverside Studios he played the title role in Hamlet, directed by Robert Sturua, the celebrated director of the Rustaveli Theatre in Georgia. Rickman has also appeared three times at the Edinburgh Festival – a double bill of The Devil Is an Ass and Measure for Measure which also toured Europe; Brothers Karamazov which then toured the USSR and Yukio Ninagawa’s Tango at the End of Winter which later transferred to the West End, winning Rickman the Time Out Award for Best Actor.

Rickman is currently due to star in Noel Coward’s Private Lives at the Albery Theatre.

FIONA SHAW (PETUNIA DURSLEY) is one of the U.K.’s most established stage actresses, recently receiving rave reviews for her eponymous portrayal of Medea in the West End.

In 1990, she received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Rosalind in As You Like It, followed by a further Olivier Award for Best Actress and London Critics Award for her performance in The Good Person of Sechuan. She received a further Laurence Olivier Award and London Critics Award for her portrayal of Electra, again in 1990. This was followed in 1992 by the London Critics Award for her eponymous portrayal of Hedda Gabler and in 1993 she again received the Laurence Olivier Award and Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Actress for Stephen Daldry’s Machinal.

Other major stage productions include: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; The Way of the World and Richard II for the Royal National Theatre; a world tour of The Wasteland; The Rivals; Bloody Poetry and Philistines; Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Mephisto; Much Ado About Nothing; The Merchant of Venice; Hyde Park and The Taming of the Shrew for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In addition to her performances on stage, Shaw has also directed The Widowers Houses for the National Theatre Education Tour.

Shaw’s memorable film credits include: Jim Sheridon’s My Left Foot; Bob Rafelson’s Mountains of the Moon; Hanif Kureishi’s London Kills Me; Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre; Neil Jordan’s The Butcher Boy; Deborah Warner’s The Last September and recently Clare Peploe’s The Triumph of Love.

For television, Shaw has reprised her roles in Hedda Gabler and The Wasteland, both for the BBC, as well as starring in Danny Boyle’s For the Greater Good; Roger Michell’s Persuasian; Andy Wilson’s Gormenghast and as the star of Lynda La Plante’s Mind Games.

In 1997, Shaw was awarded a doctorate at the National University of Ireland and made a Professor of Drama at the University of Cork, Ireland. This year she was awarded a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin and the French Government has awarded her an Officer des Artes et des Lettres. She received a CBE in this year’s New Year’s Honours List.

Dame MAGGIE SMITH (PROFESSOR McGONAGALL) is quite simply one of the world’s greatest stage and screen actresses, revered both by her peers and the public alike, and she is the recipient of countless awards, including two Academy Awards, the CBE and the DBE.

Smith first appeared on stage with the Oxford University Drama Society in 1952 and then made her professional debut in New York in The New Faces 1956 Revue. She joined the Old Vic Company in 1959 and began gathering awards including the 1962 Evening Standard’s Best Actress Award for her roles as Doreen in The Private Ear and Belinda in The Public Eye.

She joined The National Theatre in 1963 playing Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier’s Othello and went on to further success in Black Comedy, Miss Julie, The Country Wife, The Beaux Strategm and Much Ado About Nothing.

But it was in 1969, with her portrayal in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which catapulted her into the public eye and won her an Academy Award and the Society of Film and TV Arts Best Actress Award. Further film roles followed including: Travels with My Aunt (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress) and Death on the Nile. Then, in 1977, Smith won her second Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her role in Neil Simon’s California Suite.

The accolades continued to flow with Alan Bennett’s A Private Function (co-starring Michael Palin) for which she won a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, a Variety Club Award and her fifth Academy Award nomination. Further film success followed with Merchant Ivory’s A Room with a View; The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress); Stephen Spielberg’s Hook; Sister Act; The Secret Garden; Richard III; The First Wives Club; Washington Square; Tea with Mussolini (for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress) and The Last September.

Smith has remained faithful to her stage career throughout her illustrious film and television career. She played the title role of Hedda Gabler in 1970 and won her second Variety Club Best Actress Award for her portrayal of Mrs. Millamant in the Way of the World. Further stage productions include: Night and Day and Edna O’Brien’s Virginia for which she received the Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Actress. Other notable productions include: The Interpreters; Infernal Machine; Coming in to Land; Lettice and Lovage (for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress); The Importance of Being Earnest; Three Tall Women (for which she won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress); A Delicate Balance and most recently Alan Bennett’s Lady in the Van.

Major television credits include: Granada’s Mrs. Silly for which she won a Bafta for Best Actress; the BBC’s Momento Mori; Suddenly Last Summer and Talking Heads: Bed Among the Lentils for which she won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress and most recently The BBC’s All the King’s Men and David Copperfield.

In 1970 Smith received a CBE and in 1990 she became Dame Maggie Smith when she received the DBS. She was awarded the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize in 1991; is a Fellow of the British Film Institute; was awarded a Silver Bafta in 1993; is an Hon. DLitt of Cambridge University and St. Andrews and is a patron of the Jane Austen Society.

JUILIE WALTERS (MRS. WEASLEY) is a multi-talented and award winning actress famed for both her film and television work. Most recently she starred as Billy’s ballet teacher in Stephen Daldry’s Billy Elliot, a role which garnered her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, and a BAFTA and Variety Club Award, although it was perhaps her feature film debut opposite Michael Caine in Educating Rita which brought her worldwide fame. The role won her a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Variety Club Award for Best Actress and an Academy Award nomination.

Walters also received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress for Personal Services and a BAFTA Award nomination and a Variety Club Award for Best Supporting Actress for Stepping Out.

Walters’ other main film credits include: One Fell Swoop; Titanic Town; Intimate Relations; Sister, My Sister; Just Like a Woman; Prick Up Your Ears; Buster (opposite Phil Collins); She’ll Be Wearing Pink Pyjamas and Killing Dad.

In the U.K., Walters first came to prominence with her television coupling with fellow comedienne Victoria Wood. She has since starred in both comic and dramatic programmes including Julie Walters & Friends for which she was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Programme; Alan Bennett’s Say Something Happened and Alan Bleasdale’s The Boys from the Black Stuff, both of which garnered her further BAFTA Award nominations.

Other main television credits include: Dinner Ladies I & II; Oliver Twist; Jack and the Beanstalk; Green Card; the BBC’s Melissa; Brazen Hussies; Roald Dahl’s Little Red Riding Hood; Bambino Mio; Wide Eyed and Legless for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress; Clothes in the Wardrobe; Getaway; Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads and Intensive Care; Channel 4’s Jake’s Progress and GBH; Victoria Wood as Seen on TV, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Comedy Performance; The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole and the BBC’s The Birthday Party and The All Day Breakfast Show (Christmas Special).

Walters is also an accomplished theatre actress and was nominated for an Olivier for Best Actress for Sam Shepherd’s Fool for Love. Other stage productions include Willy Russell’s Educating Rita; Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers; Alan Bleasdale’s Having a Ball; Terrance McNally’s Frankie & Johnnie; Sharman Macdonald’s When I was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout; Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo directed by Peter Hall and the award winning production of All My Sons directed by Howard Davies for which Walters won an Olivier Award for Best Actress.

ZOË WANAMAKER (MADAME HOOCH) has starred in over 50 stage productions and over 40 television shows.

She has been nominated for three Tony Awards for her lead performance in David Leveaux’s Electra (for which she also won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress), the role of Toine in Howard Davies’ New York and London productions of Piaf and the role of Fay in John Tillinger’s production of Loot. She has also won a Drama Award for her portrayal as Kattrin (and been nominated for a Laurence Oliver Award) in Davies’ production of Mother Courage.

In the U.K., Wanamaker has been nominated for a staggering 10 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actress, as well as winning the award for Electra. These nominations were for: Sam Mendes’ The Glass Menagerie; Terry Johnson’s Dead Funny; David Thacker’s The Last Yankee; Howard Davies’ The Crucible; Trevor Nunn’s Othello and Once in a Lifetime; Howard Davies’ Mother Courage and Time of Your Life; Adrian Noble’s A Comedy of Errors and John Caird’s Twelfth Night.

Most recently, Wanamaker starred in David Mamet’s Boston Marriage at the Donmar Warehouse. Other notable productions include: Howard Davies’ Battle Royal and After Aida; David Hare’s The Bay at Nice and Wrecked Eggs; Peter Hall’s The Importance of Being Earnest; Bill Alexander’s Captain Swing and Clifford Williams’ Wild Oats.

Wanamaker is also an accomplished and extremely popular television actress. She received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in NBC’s Poor Little Rich Girl and in the U.K. she received a BAFTA nomination for her role in Lynda La Plante’s Prime Suspect. Most recently she starred in My Family, Simon Curtis’ production of David Copperfield for the BBC (which also featured Daniel Radcliffe), the BBC’s Gormanghast, The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd, Countess Alice and Momento Mori.

She is perhaps best known to viewers for playing opposite Adam Faith in the BBC’s Love Hurts.

Feature film credits include Beeban Kidron’s Swept from the Sea; Brian Gilbert’s Wilde; Bob Hoskins’ Raggedy Rawney; Tony Scott’s The Hunger and Martin Chomsky’s Inside the Third Reich: The Last 10 Days of Hitler.

Wanamaker was made a CBE in last year’s New Year’s Honours List and is also an Artistic Director and is on the Board of Directors at the Globe Theatre in London.

13 year-old TOM FELTON (DRACO MALFOY) has been acting professionally for six years and was first seen on the big screen in 1996 when he played the role of Peagreen in Peter Hewitt’s The Borrowers. Most recently he played the part of Jodie Foster’s screen son Louis in Anna & the King.

He has also appeared in two top U.K. television series: Bugs, in which he played the role of James and Second Sight, starring opposite Clive Owen as Thomas Ingham. He has also starred in two BBC Radio 4 plays, playing the role of Ioeth in The Wizard of Earthsea and Hercule in Here’s to Everyone.

Tom began his career in 1995 when he was featured in a number of top television commercials. Tom is also a talented singer, having been a member of four choirs at school and church, and he was even offered a place in the Guildford Cathedral Choir.

HARRY MELLING (DUDLEY DURSLEY) is 12 years old. Dudley is Harry’s first professional role, although his love and talent for acting was clearly evident at age four when he started putting on shows for his family. By five years old he had enrolled for Saturday morning classes at The Sue Nieto Theatre School. At nine he became a member of the Millfield Theatre Youth Drama Group and appeared in Robert Hyman’s original musicals House and Y3K.

DAVID BRADLEY (MR. FILCH) is a long-standing member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.

In 1990, Bradley won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as the Fool in King Lear at the National Theatre. In 1993 he won the Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actor for the roles of Polonius in Hamlet and Shallow in Henry IV PT II at the RSC (a role for which he was also nominated for a further Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role).

In addition, Bradley’s many other RSC theatre credits include: The Tempest; Julius Caesar; The Alchemist; Dr. Faustus; Epicoene; Cymbeline; Three Sisters; Temptation; Twelfth Night; Merry Wives of Windsor; Il Candelaio; Tartuffe; Custom of the Country; The Winter’s Tale; Moliere; The Roaring Girl; Arden of Faversham; Lear; Captain Swing; The Swan Down Gloves and The Merchant of Venice.

Bradley’s most recent theatre role was playing God in The Mysteries at the Royal National Theatre. Other productions at the National include: The Homecoming; Mother Courage; Richard III; Measure for Measure; The Cherry Orchard; Twelfth Night; ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and The Front Page. West End credits include: Britannicus; Phedre and Funny Peculiar.

In addition to his outstanding theatre career, Bradley’s film credits include: Udayan Prasad’s Gabriel and Me; Rodney Butcher’s To Catch a Falling Star; Paddy Breathnack’s Blow Dry; Kristian Levring’s The King is Alive; Willard Carroll’s Tom’s Midnight Garden; Jeroen Krabbe’s Left Luggage; Rob Marchant’s Kangaroo Palace and Stephen Frears’ Prick Up Your Ears.

Bradley is also a familiar face to television audiences throughout Britain with many starring roles and appearances in productions such as: The Way We Live Now; Station Jim; The Major of Casterbridge; The Wilsons; Vanity Fair; Where the Heart is; Our Mutual Friend; Bramwell; Reckless; Cracker; Band of Gold; Our Friends in the North; Martin Chuzzlewit; Fair Game; Full Stretch; Buddha of Suburbia; Between the Lines and Shadow of the Noose.

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CHRIS COLUMBUS (DIRECTOR and EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) is perhaps best known for directing one of the highest grossing motion picture comedies of all time, Home Alone, and its hugely successful follow-up Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

More recently Columbus directed the heart-warming drama Stepmom with Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon. Other directing credits include Nine Months, which he also wrote and produced, and the hit comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams and Sally Field.

Columbus was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania and grew up outside of Youngstown, Ohio. As a youngster, he aspired to draw cartoons for Marvel Comics and eventually discovered that comic books resemble movie storyboards. In high school, he began making 8mm films and drawing his own storyboards (which he continues to do for his films today). After high school, he enrolled in the Directors Program at New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts.

Columbus first attained success as a screenwriter. While still in college he sold his first script, Jocks, a semi-autobiographical comedy about a Catholic schoolboy who tries out for a football team.

After graduating from NYU, Chris wrote a small town drama entitled Reckless, based on his experiences as a factory worker in Ohio. He gained prominence in Hollywood by writing several original scripts for Steven Spielberg: the 1984 comedy thriller Gremlins, the 1985 adventure Goonies and the fantasy Young Sherlock Homes, which was directed by Barry Levinson.

These screenwriting achievements led Chris to direct his first feature, Adventures in Babysitting. A meeting with John Hughes brought Columbus to the helm of Home Alone, the first of three films he and Hughes made together, including Only the Lonely, which Columbus directed from his own screenplay.

DAVID HEYMAN (PRODUCER) was educated in England and the United States. He began his career as a production runner on Milos Forman’s Ragtime and David Lean’s A Passage to India.

Heyman went to Los Angeles in 1986 to become a Creative Executive at Warner Bros., working on such films as Gorillas in the Mist and Goodfellas. He moved on to become a Vice President at United Artists before embarking on a career as an independent producer. The first film he produced was Ernest Dickenson’s Juice, starring Tupac Shakur and Omar Epps. As an independent filmmaker, Heyman has produced several films including the cult classic The Daytrippers, which was directed by Greg Mottola and stars Liev Schreiber, Parker Posey, Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott. The film was made on a shoestring budget in New York and became an impressive critical and commercial success.

In 1997 Heyman returned to the U.K. and founded Heyday Films with the intention of building on his unique relationships in the U.S. and Europe to produce truly international films of all sizes. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the first film to be developed and produced by Heyday.

MARK RADCLIFFE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) continues his longtime collaboration with director Chris Columbus, having recently served as producer on the box office hit Mrs. Doubtfire, as well as on Stepmom, Nine Months and Jingle All the Way. He was executive producer on Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, co-producer of Only the Lonely and associate producer and assistant director on Home Alone. He and Columbus first worked together on Heartbreak Hotel.

Radcliffe is a native of Oklahoma and began his film career as assistant director on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Escape Artist. He later joined Coppola on Rumblefish and Peggy Sue Got Married.

For filmmaker John Hughes, Radcliffe was assistant director on She’s Having a Baby and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He also worked as assistant director to Jerry Zucker on Ghost, with Donald Petrie on Mystic Pizza and with Paul Schrader on Light of Day.

MICHAEL BARNATHAN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) is President of 1492 Pictures and is a producing partner with Chris Columbus and Mark Radcliffe.

Prior to joining 1492 Pictures, Barnathan was Senior Vice President of Production at Largo Entertainment for four years. His responsibilities included supervision of both development and production of Largo’s films. Barnathan served as Executive Producer on Largo’s Used People and supervised such productions as Point Break, Dr. Giggles, Judgement Day and The Getaway.

Before joining Largo, Barnathan worked with producer Edgar J. Scherick. During his tenure he produced numerous cable movies, MOWs and miniseries, including The Kennedys of Massachusetts, which received nine Emmy nominations.

For 1492 Pictures, Barnathan produced Nine Months; Jingle All the Way; Stepmom; Bicentennial Man and Monkeybone.

Barnathan is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

DUNCAN HENDERSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) continues a successful partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures after his recent box office hit The Perfect Storm. Prior to this, his other Executive Producer credits include Deep Blue Sea; Outbreak; Home Alone 2 and The Program. Henderson also has a number of co-producing credits which include Peter Weir’s Dead Poet’s Society and Green Card, as well as Dying Young and Earth Girls Are Easy.

A fourth-generation Angeleno, Henderson earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Southern California, before embarking on a career in motion pictures. He is a graduate of the Directors Guild of America Training Program and a member of the Directors Guild of America. He worked as an assistant director on more than 20 films, including Racing With the Moon; My Favorite Year; True Confessions; Rocky V; Cobra; Big Trouble; Quicksilver; Staying Alive; Heaven’s Gate and American Gigolo.

From 1995 to 1997 Henderson worked as Executive Vice President of Feature Production at 20th Century Fox, where he oversaw the filming of Titanic; Independence Day; William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet; Volcano; Alien Ressurection; That Thing You Do; Jingle All the Way and The Crucible.

STEVE KLOVES (SCREENWRITER) began his career by writing the screenplay for the 1984 Jaffe-Lansing production Racing With The Moon, a World War II era coming-of-age story directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Sean Penn, Elizabeth McGovern and Nicolas Cage in one of his earliest and most important roles.

In 1989 Kloves made his directorial debut with the comedy-drama The Fabulous Baker Boys, which starred Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges and Michelle Pfeiffer. The film, which Kloves also wrote, received four Academy Award nominations and Michelle Pfeiffer won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for her performance.

Four years later Kloves wrote and directed the psychological thriller Flesh and Bone starring Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan and Gywneth Paltrow.

Most recently, Kloves penned the screenplay for Wonderboys starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire and Frances McDormand. The film, which was directed and produced by Curtis Hanson, proved a hit with the audiences and critics alike and won him him first Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Kloves recently completed the screenplay for the second of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and is set to begin adapting the third Harry Potter novel.

RICHARD FRANCIS-BRUCE (EDITOR) is one of the world’s most respected and decorated film editors, with three Academy Award nominations for The Shawshank Redemption, Seven and Air Force One. His work on The Shawshank Redemption and Air Force One, along with The Rock, also garnered him Eddy nominations from the American Cinema Editors.

Born in Sydney, Australia, Francis-Bruce began his career as an assistant editor for the Australian Broacasting Corporation in 1966, moving into current affairs and documentaries three years later. In the 1970s he began editing television drama series such as Ben Hall; The Outsiders; Patrol Boat; Golden Soak; The Timeless Land and The Levkas Man.

Francis-Bruce entered the feature film arena with Carl Schultz’ Goodbye Paradise. He reunited with director Schultz on the multi-award winning movie Careful, He Might Hear You, for which he received an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Editing.

He began his long association with George Miller on the TV miniseries The Dismissal, which led to his motion picture work on such Miller films as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, The Witches of Eastwick and Lorenzo’s Oil.

Most recently Francis-Bruce completed work on The Perfect Storm. His other feature credits include The Green Mile; Instinct; Speechless; Sliver; Dead Calm (for which he won an Australian Film Institute Award); The Blood Heroes; Cadillac Man and Crooked Hearts.

JOHN WILLIAMS (COMPOSER) is one of the world’s most renowned and respected composers, having earned five Academy Awards, 18 Grammys, three Golden Globes, a British Academy Award and 39 Academy Award nominations, most recently for his score from The Patriot.

Williams has composed the music and served as a music director for more than 90 films, including Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace; Stepmom; Saving Private Ryan (Grammy); Amistad; Seven Years in Tibet; The Lost World; Rosewood; Angela’s Ashes (Grammy); Sleepers; Nixon; Sabrina; Schindler’s List (Academy Award and Grammy); Jurassic Park; Home Alone; Home Alone 2; Far and Away; JFK; Hook; Presumed Innocent; Born on the Fourth of July; the Indiana Jones trilogy (Grammy); The Accidental Tourist; Empire of the Sun (British Academy Award); The Witches of Eastwick; E.T. (Academy, Award, Golden Globe and Grammy); Superman (Grammy); Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Grammy); the Star Wars trilogy (Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy); Jaws (Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy); Fiddler on the Roof (Academy Award) and Goodbye Mr. Chips. His most recent project is Steven Spielberg’s A.I.

In 1980 Williams was named 19th Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. He currently holds the title of Boston Pops Laureate Conductor, which he assumed following his retirement in 1993. He also holds the title of Artist-in-Residence at Tanglewood.

Williams has written many concert pieces including two symphonies, a cello concerto premiered by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in 1994, concertos for the flute and violin recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, concertos for the clarinet and tuba and a trumpet concerto, which was premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra and their principal trumpet Michael Sachs in 1996. His bassoon concerto, "The Five Sacred Trees," which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic and principal bassoon player Judith LeClair in 1995, was recorded by Williams with Ms. LeClair and the London Symphony Orchestra and has recently been released by Sony Classical to critical acclaim.

In addition, Williams has composed the NBC theme "The Mission," "Liberty Fanfare" composed for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, "We’re Looking Good!" composed for the Special Olympics in celebration of the 1987 International Summer Games, and themes for the 1984, 1985 and 1986 Summer Olympic games. His recent concert work "Seven for Luck" is a seven-piece song cycle based on the texts of former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, premiered by the Boston Symphony with soprano Cynthia Haymoon at Tanglewood in 1998. Most recently, Williams composed his "Celebration 2000," an orchestral work written to commemorate the new Millennium and to accompany the retrospective film The Unfinished Journey directed by Steven Spielberg. The film and music were premiered at the "America’s Millennium" concert in Washington D.C. this past New Year’s Eve.

Many of Williams’ film scores have been released as recordings. (The soundtrack album for Star Wars has sold more than four million copies.) Williams’ highly acclaimed series of albums with the Boston Pops Orchestra began in 1980. He has to date recorded over 20 successful albums with the Orchestra including his most recent recording "Summon the Heroes," the title track of which was the official theme for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Williams has led the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra on United States tours in 1985, 1989 and 1992 and on a tour in Japan in 1987. He led the Boston Pops Orchestra on tour in Japan in 1990 and 1993. In addition to leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, Williams has appeared as guest conductor with a number of major orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with which he has appeared many times at the Hollywood Bowl. Williams holds honorary degrees from 18 American universities, including Berkee College of Music in Boston, Boston College, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Boston University, the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, The Eastman School of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

JOHN SEALE (DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY) is one of the most prolific and talented cinematographers in the film industry with a career spanning 25 illustrious and award-winning years.

He has been nominated for and has won a plethora of awards over the years, none more so than in 1997 when he swept the board with The English Patient. Not only did he win an Academy Award and a BAFTA, but the film also won him Cinematographer of the Year at the European Film Awards; Best Cinematographer at the American Society of Cinematographers; and Best Cinematographer for the Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Florida Film Critic Associations.

In 1985, Seale was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Witness, as well as winning the ACS/Milli Cinematographer of the Year and ACS Golden Tripod. Four years later, he was again nominated for an Academy Award in 1989 for Rainman as well as winning the Artistic Achievement Award for IATSE 659 and the ASC Outstanding Achievement Award.

Most recently, he received a BAFTA nomination for The Talented Mr. Ripley and prior to this he was nominated for a BAFTA Award as well as being voted Cinematographer of the Year by Premiere Magazine for Gorillas in the Mist. Further major award-winning credits include: Children of a Lesser God, for which he won the ACS Golden Tripod in 1986; Careful, He Might Hear You, for which he received the AFI Best Cinematographer; Silver City, for which he was further nominated; Goodbye Paradise, for which he won the ACS/Milli Cinematographer of the Year and the ACS Golden Tripod in 1982; and The Survivor, for which he was nominated for both an AFI and a Sammy Award.

Other major film credits include: The Perfect Storm; At First Sight; City of Angels; Ghosts of Mississippi; The American President; The Paper; The Firm; Lorenzo’s Oil; The Doctor; Dead Poet’s Society; Stakeout; The Mosquito Coast and The Hitcher.

In 1998 Seale received an Honary Doctorate at the Griffith University, Queensland. He also received the Kodak Vision Award in 1997 at the Hawaii International Film Festival, the Chauvel Award at the Brisbane International Film Festival and honoured in the ACS Hall of Fame.

STUART CRAIG (PRODUCTION DESIGNER) is a six-time Academy Award nominee and three-time winner.

Craig is one of the most visionary artists the film industry has ever known. He had been winning awards for 20 years when in 1981 he won his first Academy Award for Best Art Direction (and a BAFTA nomination) for Richard Attenborough’s Ghandi.

He went on to win a further Academy Award in 1988 for Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons (and a BAFTA nomination) and then in 1996 he swept the board with his third Academy Award, a BAFTA nomination and an Award for Excellence in Production Design from the Society of Motion Picture & Television Art Directors, USA for Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient.

Craig has also received three further Academy Award nominations for David Lynch’s The Elephant Man (1979), Roland Joffe’s The Mission (1986) and Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin (1991). He also received a BAFTA nomination for Hugh Hudson’s Greystoke (1982).

In addition to his numerous awards, Craig’s artistry can be seen in a number of features including: Cal (1983), a film which he also produced; Cry Freedom (1986); Memphis Belle (1988); The Secret Garden (1992); Shadowlands (1993); Mary Reilly (1994); In Love and War (1996); The Avengers (1997) and most recently The Legend of Bagger Vance in 1999.

JUDIANNA MAKOVSKY (COSTUME DESIGNER) has 15 years experience in the industry and is highly regarded by all as one of the most talented costume designers working today.

She has created inspirational costumes for every period and for every genre of feature film including 1950s American Suburbia, Westerns, Baseball, Sailing, through to a contemporary version of Charles Dickens. In 1998 her talents were recognized with an Academy Award nomination for Pleasantville, for which she was also honoured by her peers with a Costume Designers Guild Award.

Most recently, she has designed the costumes for The Legend of Bagger Vance starring Matt Damon; For Love of the Game starring Kevin Costner; Gloria, for which she designed the costumes for Sharon Stone; Practical Magic starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock and Great Expectations starring Gwyneth Paltrow.

Makovksy’s other major feature film credits include: Devil’s Advocate; Lolita; White Squall; A Little Princess; The Quick and the Dead; The Ref; The Specialist, for which she designed the costumes for Sharon Stone; Six Degrees of Separation; Reversal of Fortune; Big and Gardens of Stone.

In addition, Makovsky has designed the costumes for several television films including: Wild Palms, Miss Rose White, Margaret Bourke-White as well as the pilot episode of Robert De Niro’s series Tribeca.

The film industry’s own Dr. Doolittle, GARY GERO (CHIEF ANIMAL TRAINER) is possibly the most experienced animal trainer working today.

Together with his company Birds & Animals Unlimited, he has been setting standards in producing creative and safe animal entertainment in the film, TV and advertising industries for over 30 years.

Gero’s talents have been called upon for every conceivable bird, animal and insect project, including over 75 top feature films. These include: 101 Dalmatians; 102 Dalmatians; Dr. Doolittle; George of the Jungle; Homeward Bound II; The Crow I & II; Ace Ventura I & II; Batman Returns; That Darn Cat; Lady Hawke; Lethal Weapon II & IV; The Truman Show; Hocus Pocus; Mighty Joe Young; Inspector Gadget; Runaway Bride; Stigmata; The Waterboy; Payback; Pleasantville and Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book II.

His other major feature credits include: Music of the Heart; I’ll Be Home for Christmas; Wag the Dog; Instinct; Maverick; Birdy; Flipper; Volcano; Dante’s Peak; Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas; Multiplicity; Forrest Gump; Steel Magnolias; The Bodyguard; Back to the Future; The Flintstones; The Client; The Firm; Nine Months; Tango & Cash; Terminator and The Specialist.

ROB LEGATO (Visual Effects Supervisor) received a Masters degree in Cinematography from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. Upon graduation Legato went to work for the newly formed H.I.S.K. Productions (Hagmann, Impastato, Stephens & Kerns) as the live action commercial producer for director David Impastato. After a period of three years Legato switched to Robert Abel & Associates where he served as Producer, Visual Effects Supervisor and ultimately Director of visual effects-oriented TV spots. The experience led to serving as a free-lance supervisor and director for various commercial companies for several years before turning to television production.

Legato served as alternating Visual Effects Supervisor for the TV series The Twilight Zone during its second season. This series led to the Paramount Studios production of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where Legato served as Visual Effects Supervisor, Second Unit and as Episode Director for a period of five years. Legato then took over as Visual Effects Producer/Supervisor for the newly created series Deep Space Nine, as well as directing one of the episodes of its first season. Both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine earned Legato two Emmy Awards for Visual Effects.

Legato left Deep Space Nine after its first season to join Digital Domain, the visual effects company founded by Jim Cameron, Stan Winston, Scott Ross and IBM, and became the Visual Effects Supervisor, Second Unit Director and Effects Director of Photography for Neil Jordan’s Interview With The Vampire. This first feature led to Ron Howard’s Apollo 13, for which Legato served as the film’s Visual Effects Supervisor and earned his first Academy Award nomination and won the British Academy Award for his effects work.

His next feature assignment, James Cameron’s Titanic, spanned the next several years and proved ultimately to be one of the most successful films ever made. Besides earning Legato his first Academy Award, the film went on to win a total of 11 Oscars (including Best Picture) and became the highest grossing movie of all time.

Legato also offered some last minute assistance to Martin Scorsese’s production of Kundun and Michael Bay’s film Armageddon. Legato left Digital Domain soon after and joined Sony Pictures Imageworks, where he served as visual effects supervisor on two Robert Zemeckis films, What Lies Beneath, starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, and Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks.

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