Evanna Lynch

Infobox actor
name = Evanna Lynch

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caption =
birthname =
birthdate = birth date and age|1991|08|16
birthplace = Termonfeckin, Ireland
occupation = actress
yearsactive = 2007—present
influences =
influenced =
website =

Evanna Lynch (born 16 August 1991) is an Irish actress, known for playing Luna Lovegood in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix".cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6890000/newsid_6896300/6896311.stm | title = Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) | accessdate = 2007-12-05 | date = 2007-07-12 | work = CBBC Newsround | publisher = BBC ]

Personal life

Evanna is from Termonfeckin, County Louth, Ireland. She lives with her father Donal, mother Marguerite, elder sisters Máiréad and Emily, and younger brother Patrick.cite web|url = http://www.evannalynch.net/faminterview.php|title = First Interview with Lynch Family|accessdate = 2007-08-01|date = 2006-02-15|work = The Tubridy Show|publisher = RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Limited|language = English]

As of September 2008, she is in her fifth year at Our Lady's College, Greenhills, an all girls' Catholic school located in Drogheda, Ireland.cite news | url=http://www.unison.ie/drogheda_independent/stories.php3?ca=34&si=1561577&issue_id=13676 | publisher=Drogheda Independent | title=Potter girl Evanna speaks only to the Drogheda Independent | date=2006-02-08] While filming however, she does not attend Greenhills but is tutored on set. During her primary school years, she attended Cartown National School.cite news | url=http://www.unison.ie/drogheda_independent/stories.php3?ca=133&si=1005707&issue_id=9452 | publisher=Drogheda Independent | title=Evanna let out of hospital to get Potter book | date=2003-06-26] She has been attending CTYI cite news | url=http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=226080262&p=zz6x8x968 | publisher=Ireland On-Line | title=Potter star Evanna visits talented-youth centre | date=2007-07-24] and completed a 'Speculative Fiction' course. cite news | url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/luna-lovegoods-a-wizard-with-words-1043541.html | publisher=Ireland On-Line | title=Luna Lovegood's a wizard with words
date=2007-07-25] She returned to CTYI for Session 2 in 2008, with her subject choice being Drama.

Career

It was revealed on 2 February 2006 that Lynch, who was then fourteen, had been cast as Luna Lovegood in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" after her father flew her to London for the open audition for the role,cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4670000/newsid_4672700/4672798.stm | publisher = BBC | title = Luna Lovegood role has been cast | date = 2006-02-02] beating nearly 15,000 girls in the auditions. She began the actual filming of "Order of the Phoenix" at the end of February at Leavesden Studios in England.

The open call was made because the producers felt that a conventional actress would not be suitable for the role of the eccentric Luna Lovegood. As producer David Heyman recounted in the ITV2 documentary, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Behind the Magic", "We had three girls who we thought would be good, but they were going to act Luna, they weren't going to be Luna."

Lynch had the chance to meet "Harry Potter" author J. K. Rowling at the Leavesden Studios during the early stages of the fifth film's production. After a long chat, Rowling had one thing to say about Lynch portraying Luna: "perfect".cite news | url=http://www.hpana.com/news.19367.html | publisher=HPANA | title=Rowling: "Evanna is perfect" | date=2006-04-05] However, as Lynch has naturally dark blonde hair, her hair had to be bleached light blonde for the role of Luna. On set Lynch became very good friends with fellow actresses Bonnie Wright (who plays Ginny Weasley), Katie Leung (Cho Chang) and Afshan Azad (Padma Patil).cite news | url=http://www.drogheda-independent.ie/entertainment/from-drogheda-to-harry-potter-150-evanna-living-every-girl146s-dream-642605.html
publisher= Drogheda Independent | title=From Drogheda to Harry Potter – Evanna living every girl’s dream| date=2007-03-24 |accessdate=2007-07-25]

Since the release of the film, she has received many positive reviews, being called one of the true "standouts" of the film.cite news | url=http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/columnists/13659310/detail.html | publisher=WTAE-TV Pittsburgh | title=Comparison: 'Phoenix' Book Vs. Movie | date=2007-07-20]

When receiving her James Joyce Award in 2008, Rowling said that Evanna Lynch's voice was the only one she "heard" while composing subsequent novels. [cite web|title=What J.K. Rowling says about... |work=Accio Quote|year=2008|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/|accessdate=2008-05-17]

Fandom

Lynch is a huge "Harry Potter" fan and, according to her family, is obsessed with the series. As a younger child, she constantly wrote to J.K. Rowling, and in one such letter the youngster commented how much she would love to act in a "Harry Potter" film but doubted this would happen as she lived in "this sleepy little place called Termonfeckin, where nothing ever happened". To Lynch's surprise, Rowling replied, saying "Don't be too hard on Termonfeckin; it does have a brilliant name! And I come from a very sleepy place".

In 2003, aged eleven, Lynch was disappointed that she would miss the release of the fifth book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" as she had been hospitalised. However, the hospital released her for the morning of the launch and a local bookstore arranged for her to receive a copy signed by author Rowling.cite news|url=http://www.hpana.com/news.19265.html|title=First official photo of Luna Lovegood actress|publisher=HPANA|date=2006-02-02] Lynch's love for the novels even saw her choosing to name her cat Luna, who has had several kittens, one of them named Dumbledore. Another cat she had owned which died in early 2006 had been named Crookshanks, after character Hermione Granger's cat.cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_5190000/newsid_5195400/5195422.stm | publisher=BBC | title = Lizo's interview with Luna Lovegood | date = 2006-07-20 | author = Mzimba, Lizo]

Lynch is an avid visitor to the "Harry Potter" fan site MuggleNetFact|date=February 2008. She also called in to the popular "Harry Potter"-themed podcast, PotterCast, to talk about the title of the seventh "Harry Potter" book ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows") on the day it was announced. [cite web|url=http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2006/12/23/evanna-lynch-on-pottercast-transcript|title=Evanna Lynch on PotterCast Transcript|publisher=The Leaky Cauldron|date=2006-12-23|accessdate=2007-07-27]

Filmography

References

External links

*Imdb name|id=2121541|name=Evanna Lynch