Background and career
Evanna Lynch (born 16 August 1991) is an Irish actress and activist. Lynch made her film debut as Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), reprising her role in successive sequels to critical praise, concluding with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011) and series parody A Very Potter Senior Year (2012). Following her success in Harry Potter, Lynch appeared in G.B.F. (2013), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to positive reviews. She made her stage debut in Houdini as Bess Houdini, which toured the UK in 2013. Lynch starred in the indie drama My Name Is Emily, which premiered at the 2015 Galway Film Fleadh to critical acclaim. In 2017, Lynch starred in a revival of Disco Pigs at the Trafalgar Theatre in London. In 2018, she competed on season 27 of Dancing with the Stars, placing third. She went on to star in the British stage adaptation of The Omission of the Family Coleman at the Theatre Royal, Bath in 2019. As an activist, Lynch advocates for veganism and animal rights. She has been involved with several non-profit organisations and launched both a vegan-themed podcast and the cruelty-free cosmetics brand Kinder Beauty Box.
Evanna Lynch was born on 16 August 1991 to Marguerite and Donal Lynch of Termonfeckin, County Louth, Ireland. She has two older sisters and a younger brother. Her maternal uncle is Declan Kiberd, a scholar of Irish literature who is a professor at the University of Notre Dame. Lynch was raised a Catholic. Lynch read the Harry Potter series for the first time at age eight and became a fan, reading and writing fan fiction about the series and sending letters to the author, J. K. Rowling. She 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, Lynch was tutored for at least three hours a day. In September 2010, she attended the Institute of Education to repeat her Leaving Certificate. Lynch developed an eating disorder at age eleven. She was hospitalised several times for anorexia, and stated that the Harry Potter novels were the only thing that could distract from her condition. During this period, she often wrote to Rowling, stating that "her books and her kindness really made me want to live again." Rowling wrote then-11-year-old Lynch "incredible, wise letters" back. During the release of the fifth book Order of the Phoenix in June 2003, Lynch was hospitalised and was allowed to leave for an hour to collect a signed copy of the book.
In January 2006, Lynch auditioned at a casting call in London for the role of Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film in the series adapted from the books. 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." Although uninvolved in the casting process, Rowling believed that Lynch was perfect for the role. She had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series, her experience having been limited to school plays. While filming Harry Potter, Lynch also made and helped design a number of fashion accessories for her character.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was Lynch's debut screen performance in 2007. The film was a box office hit and garnered favourable reviews. Critics praised the performances of the supporting cast; Lynch was often singled out for acclaim: The New York Times called her performance "spellbinding", and Jane Watkins of Country Life said she "[brought] an appealing sweetness to her character that's not so developed in the book". She also voiced the character in the film's tie-in video game. Lynch reprised her role in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). The film was critically and commercially successful. Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe wrote that Lynch "combats the movie's occasional sluggishness with a hilarious sluggishness of her own", and Michael Dwyer of The Irish Times called her the best Irish actress of 2009 for her work on the film. Her performance earned her Scream Award and Young Artist Award nominations, and she returned in the film's tie-in video game.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was released in 2010 to positive reviews and box office success. The Boston Herald commented that Lynch "is still delightfully lunar," while Quickflix criticised the film, noting that "the delightful Evanna Lynch is brutally underutilised". She reprised her role in the film's tie-in video game. Lynch appeared in the role for the final time in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. The film opened to critical acclaim and went on to become the fifth highest-grossing film of all time. The Seattle Times wrote that Lynch "continues to be all-that-and-a-radish-earring as the ever-wafting Luna Lovegood," and Orlando Sentinel named her as "maybe" one of his "favourite players in the finale." She again reprised her role in the film's tie-in video game. In August 2012 at Leakycon in Chicago she joined the cast of StarKid to play Luna Lovegood in a script reading of the third Harry Potter parody musical, A Very Potter Senior Year (the other two being A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel). Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling has maintained that, of all the actors in the film series, Lynch had the most influence on how the respective character was subsequently written; in 2012, she told Charlie Rose that when writing the final books, "I saw her. [She] got in my head. I even heard her voice when I was writing Luna."
Lynch 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. Lynch 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.
