Evanna Patricia Lynch (born 16 August 1991) is an Irish actress, model, writer, dancer and activist. She is best known for portraying Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter film series. Evanna appeared as Luna Lovegood in A Very Potter Senior Year.
Early Life and Education[]
Evanna was born on 16 August 1991 in Termonfeckin, County Louth, to Marguerite and Donal Lynch. She was raised as a Catholic. Evanna read the Harry Potter series for the first time at age eight and became a fan, reading and writing fan fiction about the series.
he was educated at Cartown National School in Termonfeckin until June 2004 and then moved to Our Lady's College in Drogheda, where her father was the deputy principal. In 2008, she studied speculative fiction and drama at the Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland, a summer school for gifted teens, in Glasnevin. While on the Harry Potter film set, Evanna was tutored for at least three hours a day. In September 2010, she attended the Institute of Education to repeat her Leaving Certificate.
Evanna developed an eating disorder at age eleven. She was hospitalised several times for anorexia.
Work[]
In January 2006, Evanna auditioned at a casting call in London for the role of Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film in the series adapted from the books. After auditioning against 15,000 other girls, and a subsequent screen test with lead actor Daniel Radcliffe, she was cast at age 14. Producers were impressed with her affinity for the character; David Heyman said: "The others could play Luna; Evanna Lynch is Luna." She had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series, her experience having been limited to school plays. While filming Harry Potter, Evanna also made and helped design a number of fashion accessories for her character. The role marked her debut screen performance. Evanna reprised her role as Luna in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She also voiced the character in the series' tie-in video games.
Evanna went on to guest star as Princess Alehna in the first season finale of the Sky1 television series Sinbad. She was cast in the 2013 indie crime drama film Monster Butler, based on the life of British serial killer and thief Archibald Hall. The film was cancelled due to funding issues. Evanna starred in indie teen comedy G.B.F., which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City in April 2013 and at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco on 30 June 2013. It received positive reviews.
In May 2013, it was announced that Evanna was to star in the British stage production of Houdini, which toured the U.K from September to October 2013; Evanna portrayed Bess Houdini, the wife and assistant of magician Harry Houdini. Evanna appeared alongside Harry Potter co-stars James and Oliver Phelps in Danny and the Human Zoo, released on BBC One in August 2015. Evanna starred as the titular character in the Irish independent drama My Name Is Emily, written and directed Simon Fitzmaurice. The film premiered at the 2015 Galway Film Fleadh and garnered favourable reviews; the Galway Advertiser referred to Evanna's attributed her performance to "a lightness and ethereal quality" while remaining a "commanding lead, showing ... pain with a subtlety beyond her years." Evanna was nominated for Best Actress at the Irish Film and Drama Awards for her performance.
From July to August 2017, Evanna starred in a revival of Enda Walsh's Disco Pigs at Trafalgar Theatre. It was later transferred to off-Broadway at the Irish Repertory Theatre and played from January to March 2018. In November 2017, it was reported that she would star in the independent drama Indigo Valley, directed by Jaclyn Bethany, but was forced to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced with Rosie Day. Evanna appeared in a cameo role in Jason Mewes' directorial debut Madness in the Method (2019). On 12 September 2018, Evanna was announced as one of the celebrities to compete on season 27 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Her professional partner was Keo Motsepe. Motsepe and Evanna made it to the show's finale, finishing in third place.
In March 2019, it was announced she would appear in the British premiere of the Argentinian play The Omission of the Family Coleman, written by Claudio Tolcachir. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Bath and ran from March to April 2019. In July 2019, Evanna stated that she will star in the vegan-themed short film entitled You Eat Other Animals? late that year. Evanna lent her voice to Nickelodeon productions Middle School Moguls in 2019 and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2020. Evanna narrated the story The Fountain of Fair Fortune from the audiobook adaptation of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, an in-universe book of Wizarding World children's stories written by Rowling. The audiobook released in March 2020, in aid of her charity, Lumos.
After co-hosting the BBC Sounds official companion podcast for Normal People in 2020, she went on to work with two of its stars, India Mullen (Peggy) and Éanna Hardwicke (Rob), on Personal Space, a radio play for RTÉ Radio 1 in 2021. Evanna currently co-hosts a podcast called Just Beings with psychologist Dr. Melanie Joy.
Evanna's charity work includes participation with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland, in which she launched their MS Readathon fundraiser in 2010. Evanna is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the non-profit organisation, the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA). With the HPA, she has supported same-sex marriage in Maine, taken part in a webcast fundraiser, written an article about body image and contributed to a fundraising book.
Evanna is an ambassador for J. K. Rowling's charity Lumos. In 2016, Evanna and her Harry Potter co-star and fellow Lumos ambassador, Bonnie Wright, travelled to Haiti to learn about why there are 30,000 children living in orphanages, and met children who had been rescued from terrible conditions and reunited with their families. Evanna stated about charity work for children and families, "Without families and without love, children can't be children. The most important thing as a child is to be with your family. And you have to do everything you can to keep that family unit in place".
Evanna contributed an essay to the 2018 book Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies, curated by Scarlett Curtis, whose royalties went to the United Nations charity Girl Up.
In a 2019 interview, Evanna said she "hated the blood [from raw meat]" as a child and, at age 11, she became a vegetarian. In 2015, she turned to veganism for ethical reasons. Evanna said that her activism is mostly done "in my free time as a way to give back and a way to right the world".
In 2015, Evanna was the first person to sign the petition against live export in the On Cow tour, an event organised by Compassion in World Farming which visited eight cities in the European Union. Since then, she has joined many animal rights demonstrations and campaigns. In May 2018, Evanna Lynch and a journalist travelled to Kerala, India to observe the treatment of the endangered Asian elephant. In August, she and actor Peter Egan joined the organisation Save the Asian Elephants to hand in a 200,000-name petition to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, demanding to ban the advertisement in the United Kingdom of "unethical Asian elephant related holidays abroad", among other requests.
In 2017, Evanna narrated the short documentary iAnimal by Animal Equality, dealing with the dairy industry. The film received a nomination at the 2018 Raindance Film Festival. In June 2018, she narrated a short film by the Humane Society International against the dog and cat meat trade in Asia. In October 2019, Evanna was announced as a Lovie Award winner for her activism. The committee stated that she "raises the bar for others in a position of fame to use the Internet in the most creative and accessible ways possible, to introduce new ideas to people that can truly change our world for the better".
In November 2017, Evanna founded the podcast The ChickPeeps, co-hosted by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix actor Robbie Jarvis, Surfers Against Sewage representative Momoko Hill, and Protego Foundation founder Tylor Starr. Its content is based on veganism and features discussions on diverse topics, often joined by prominent activists such as Ingrid Newkirk, Earthling Ed, and Victoria Moran, among many others. Evanna Evanna started The ChickPeeps with the intention of running "a bit more vulnerable and human [vegan podcast] that feels like you're hanging out with friends... where we have a laugh, maybe we learn some things, maybe we ask some questions".
In November 2018, Evanna co-founded, along with American actress Daniella Monet, the vegan and cruelty-free make-up and beauty care box Kinder Beauty Box. The subscription box, which started its monthly delivery in January 2019, was intended to "put ethical brands in the spotlight" and "overcome confusing jargon" used by big brands that test on animals. Kinder Beauty Box was conceived after Evanna and Monet discussed the difficulty they had looking for vegan beauty products. The products are curated by them, shipped in sustainable packaging and a portion of the sales goes to animal rights and environmental causes and benefits for vegan rights.
In August 2022, Evanna teamed up with award-winning psychologist and bestselling author, Dr. Melanie Joy, to launch a brand-new podcast called Just Beings. On the show, Evanna and Joy examine the common psychology that drives all harmful and unjust behaviours. Through conversations with changemakers, they explore how we can shift our thinking to create a more compassionate and just world for people, animals, and the planet — and improve our personal lives and relationships in the process.
Controversy[]
When J.K. Rowling posted a series of tweets on X about the transgender community starting in 2020, she received a lot of criticism, including from the Harry Potter cast members. While a supporter of the transgender community herself, Evanna defended Rowling, tweeting "I do wish people would just give her more grace and listen to her," though she added "I wish she wouldn't." However, after posting these tweets, Evanna deleted her X account.
StarKid Productions[]
Evanna made a guest appearance as Luna Lovegood in the staged reading of A Very Potter on the show's cast recording. This was Evanna's only show with the company.
Personal Life[]
Evanna lives in London, England. She lived in Los Angeles for five years. She dated Harry Potter co-star and ChickPeeps co-host Robbie Jarvis for nine years. She then dated singer-songwriter AnDel in 2017. They have since broken up, but the date they did this is unspecified. As of 2021, Evanna is reportedly dating an unidentified French man she met in London.
In a 2014 interview, she mentioned her devout Catholic upbringing. "I stopped going to Mass a few years ago, mainly because I disagree with the rules," she said. "I don't like anything that's about punishing yourself and making you feel bad about yourself, and growing up I felt bad about indulging myself or doing anything for fun".
Evanna has worked to promote healthy self-esteem and body image in young girls because of her previous experiences with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. She wrote an essay, "Why the Body Bind is My Nightmare", where she described her emotional struggle with her appearance and how she managed to overcome it through allusions pertaining to the Harry Potter series.
In October 2021, Headline in the UK and Ballantine Books in the USA published Evanna's book The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and Glory of Growing Up – A Memoir. It details "her recovery from anorexia and how the conflict between the comfort of self-destruction and the liberation of creativity still rages inside of her".
Evanna has said that her favorite book is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix "no matter what pretentious answer I give you". She loves knitting and reading and "[dangling] off any circus apparatus within reach", as well as dancing and circus arts. As a vegan, Evanna loves banana smoothies and has also shared vegan recipes for several Harry Potter delicacies like butterbeer.
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