Evanna Lynch

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.[16][17] After auditioning against 15,000 other girls,[16] and a subsequent screen test with lead actor Daniel Radcliffe, she was cast at age 14.[12] Producers were impressed with her affinity for the character; David Heyman said: "The others could play Luna; Evanna Lynch is Luna."[18] Although uninvolved in the casting process, Rowling believed that Lynch was perfect for the role.[19] She had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series, her experience having been limited to school plays.[20] While filming Harry Potter, Lynch also made and helped design a number of fashion accessories for her character.[9][21][22][23]

Lynch posing for a photograph at a Half-Blood Prince DVD signing in London in December 2009

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.[24][25] Critics praised the performances of the supporting cast; Lynch was often singled out for acclaim: The New York Times called her performance "spellbinding",[26] and Jane Watkins of Country Life said she "[brought] an appealing sweetness to her character that's not so developed in the book".[27] She also voiced the character in the film's tie-in video game.[28] Lynch reprised her role in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). The film was critically and commercially successful.[29][30] Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe wrote that Lynch "combats the movie's occasional sluggishness with a hilarious sluggishness of her own",[31] and Michael Dwyer of The Irish Times called her the best Irish actress of 2009 for her work on the film.[32] Her performance earned her Scream Award and Young Artist Award nominations,[33][34] and she returned in the film's tie-in video game.[35]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was released in 2010 to positive reviews and box office success.[36][37] The Boston Herald commented that Lynch "is still delightfully lunar,"[38] while Quickflix criticised the film, noting that "the delightful Evanna Lynch is brutally underutilized".[39] She reprised her role in the film's tie-in video game.[40] 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.[41][42] The Seattle Times wrote that Lynch "continues to be all-that-and-a-radish-earring as the ever-wafting Luna Lovegood,"[43] and Orlando Sentinel named her as "maybe" one of his "favorite players in the finale."[44] She again reprised her role in the film's tie-in video game.[45] 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 gave a speech during the premiere of Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in London, where she stated that there were seven major cast members in the series, whom she referred to as "The Big Seven", and she named Lynch as one of the seven members, along with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis and Bonnie Wright.[46] 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."[47]

Lynch went on to guest star as Princess Alehna in the first season finale of the Sky1 television series Sinbad.[48][49] She was cast in the 2013 indie crime drama film Monster Butler, based on the life of British serial killer and thief Archibald Hall.[48][50] 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. The film received positive reviews.[51]

Lynch in at the British Podcast Awards in 2018

In May 2013, it was announced that Lynch was to star in the British stage production of Houdini, which toured the U.K from September to October 2013; Lynch portrayed Bess Houdini, the wife and assistant of magician Harry Houdini.[52] Lynch appeared alongside Harry Potter co-stars James and Oliver Phelps in Danny and the Human Zoo, released on BBC One in August 2015.[53] Lynch starred as the titular character in the Irish independent drama My Name Is Emily, written and directed Simon Fitzmaurice.[54][55] The film premiered at the 2015 Galway Film Fleadh and garnered favorable reviews; the Galway Advertiser referred to Lynch's attributed her performance to "a lightness and ethereal quality" while remaining a "commanding lead, showing ... pain with a subtlety beyond her years."[56] Lynch was nominated for Best Actress at the Irish Film and Drama Awards for her performance.[57]

From July to August 2017, Lynch starred in a revival of Enda Walsh's Disco Pigs at Trafalgar Theatre.[58] It was later transferred to off-Broadway at the Irish Repertory Theatre and played from January to March 2018.[59] In November 2017, it was reported that she would star in the independent drama Indigo Valley, directed by Jaclyn Bethany,[60] but was forced to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts[61] and was replaced with Rosie Day.[62] Lynch appeared in a cameo role in Jason Mewes' directorial debut Madness in the Method (2019).[63] On 12 September 2018, Lynch 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.[64] Motsepe and Lynch made it to the show's finale, finishing in third place.[65]

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.[66] In July 2019, Lynch stated that she will star in the vegan-themed short film entitled You Eat Other Animals? late that year.[67] Lynch lent her voice to Nickelodeon productions Middle School Moguls in 2019 and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2020.[68][69] Lynch 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.[70]

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.[71]

Lynch currently co-hosts a podcast called Just Beings with psychologist Dr. Melanie Joy. [72][73]

Her charity work includes participation with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland, in which she launched their MS Readathon fundraiser in 2010.[74] Lynch 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,[75] taken part in a webcast fundraiser,[76] written an article about body image and contributed to a fundraising book.[77]

Lynch is an ambassador for J. K. Rowling's charity Lumos. In 2016, Lynch 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. Lynch 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".[78]

Lynch 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.[79]

In a 2019 interview, Lynch 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.[80][81] Lynch said that her activism is mostly done "in my free time as a way to give back and a way to right the world".[82]

In 2015, Lynch 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.[83] Since then, she has joined many animal rights demonstrations and campaigns.[84][85][86][87][88][89] 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.[90][91]

In 2017, Lynch narrated the short documentary iAnimal by Animal Equality, dealing with the dairy industry.[92] The film received a nomination at the 2018 Raindance Film Festival.[93] In June 2018, she narrated a short film by the Humane Society International against the dog and cat meat trade in Asia.[94] In October 2019, Lynch 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".[95]

In November 2017, Lynch 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.[82] Evanna Lynch 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".[80]

In November 2018, Lynch co-founded, along with American actress Daniella Monet, the vegan and cruelty-free make-up and beauty care box Kinder Beauty Box.[96] 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 Lynch and Monet discussed the difficulty they had looking for vegan beauty products.[82] 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.[96]

In August 2021, Lynch teamed up with award-winning psychologist and bestselling author, Dr. Melanie Joy, to launch a brand-new podcast called Just Beings. On the show, Lynch and Joy examine the common psychology that drives all harmful and unjust behaviors. 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.[97][98][99]