The boy who won one of the most coveted roles in film history, young Daniel Radcliffe beat out legions of aspiring bespectacled mini-wizards to fill the shoes of author J.K. Rowling's junior sorcerer Harry Potter in the much-anticipated film adaptation of Rowling's wildly popular book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Born July 23, 1989, in England, Radcliffe began to realize his love for acting at the age of five. Although his parents voiced objections, youthful enthusiasm soon won out and Radcliffe was on his way to stardom. Convincing his mother to send a picture to the BBC for consideration in an upcoming adaptation of David Copperfield, the precocious youth was quickly cast in the role of the young Copperfield, shortly thereafter turning up alongside Pierce Brosnan in John Boorman's The Tailor of Panama.

It was his next role in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, however, that would launch the young actor directly into the heart of the public eye. Based on a series of popular fantasy books that followed the adventures of young Potter as he attends Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the film promised to faithfully capture the essence of the book in bringing the otherworldly exploits of the magical youngster to the screen. A sequel, entitled Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was announced even before the release of the initial installment, and it appears as if Radcliffe has found himself caught in the whirlwind frenzy of a phenomenal franchise.

--Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide