Rupert Grint

Biography

Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint was born in Harlow, Essex, England, the elder son of Joanne (Parsons) and Nigel Grint, who dealt in memorabilia. The first of 5 children, Rupert has one brother and three sisters.

Rupert grew up in Hertfordshire, the English county directly to the north of London, conveniently placed for commuting to Leavesden Film Studios.

Before successfully auditioning for the Harry Potter films, Rupert attended Richard Hale Secondary School in Hertford: here he took an active interest in school plays, being cast as Rumplestilskin in the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.

He was also a regular attendee at weekend drama classes at Top Hat Stage School, also in Hertford.

Time at school was limited, as Rupert was needed on set for the Harry Potter films, where all of the child actors were tutored for four hours a day on set, to keep up with legal requirements.

During the summer of 2004, he took his GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams and completed his formal education.

Neglected to write the essay describing Ron Weasley for director Alfonso Cuarón, reasoning "That's what Ron would have done".

Has arachnophobia and, as of 2010, has still not watched the whole, completed Aragog scene from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).

After the immense success of the Harry Potter movies, the actor was able to fulfill a childhood fantasy of, not just driving an ice cream van, but actually owning one.

According to friend Emma Watson, Grint bought a fully equipped van with all the traditional accouterments

After taking his GCSE exams in May/June 2004, he chose to finish school at the age of sixteen to focus on his role in the Harry Potter films.

On his audition tape for Harry Potter, he performed hip-hop lyrics that he wrote to promote himself for the role of Ron Weasley.