Tom Felton says playing ‘evil’ Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter did him ‘no favours’ with girls at school

‘I was walking around with dyed hair and played an evil wizard. It wasn’t cool’

Tom Felton has revealed that his “evil” Harry Potter character affected his dating life at school.

The 34-year-old actor, who played the role of house Slytherin’s Draco Lucius Malfoy, said his character did him “no favours” with girls at school.

“Some people really struggle with the idea that I wasn’t this special, popular kid,” Felton told The Guardian in a new interview.

“But I was walking around with dyed hair and played an evil wizard. It wasn’t cool. It did me no favours with the girls.”

Felton, who made his West End debut last week in 2:22 A Ghost Story at the Criterion Theatre in London, starred in all eight Harry Potter movies, based on novels written by JK Rowling.

Other lead actors to star alongside him in the franchise were Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.

Earlier this year, during the Harry Potter reunion special titled Return to Hogwarts, Watson, who played the role of Hermione Granger, spoke about the moment she first “fell in love” with her co-star Felton.

“I walked into the room where we were having tutoring,” she recalled.

“The assignment that had been given was to draw what you thought god looked like and Tom had drawn a girl with a backward cap on a skateboard. And I just don’t know how to say it – I just fell in love with him.”

Watson clarified that nothing “ever, ever, ever happened romantically” but that the pair “just love each other”.

In the special, Felton said that he was aware of Watson’s feelings for him.

“I think I was in the hair and make-up chair and someone said something along the lines of, ‘Yeah, she had a crush on you’,” he said.

The 34-year-old added: “I became very protective over her. Yeah, I’ve always had a soft spot for her and that continues to the day.”