How Much The Harry Potter Cast Was Paid At The Beginning & End

The Harry Potter franchise has made over $9.5 billion worldwide for Warner Bros. (via The Numbers), but how much did Daniel Radcliffe make from Harry Potter? The long-running series brought together Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, who rose to fame and consequently saw their salaries rise as the series progressed. Based on J.K. Rowling’s bestselling books, Harry Potter witnessed the blooming of Harry (Radcliffe), Ron (Grint), and Hermione’s (Watson) friendship at Hogwarts, where they met to study witchcraft and wizardry.

While the three actors are hesitant to join the cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, they met for the 20th-anniversary reunion special that saw Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint back together. The iconic trio will forever be remembered as the Harry Potter characters, but since then, each has grown in their career. Radcliffe has starred in both plays and movies, Emma Watson earned praise for Beauty and the Beast and Little Women​​​​​​, and Rupert Grint is a hit on Apple TV+’s Servant, the salaries of the Harry Potter cast are interesting to explore.

How Much Daniel Radcliffe Was Paid For Harry Potter

Beginning: $1 Million/Ending: $50 Million

After becoming internationally renowned for the franchise, Radcliffe has filmed a lot since Harry Potter. However, rewinding to 2001, the young actor was being cast as The Boy Who Lived, and he was perfect as the mischievous and courageous 11-year-old wizard. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Radcliffe made $1 million for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which is a surprisingly high amount for such a young actor in just the first film in the series. Comparatively, Daisy Ridley only earned $100,000 for playing Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (via Esquire).

As the titular character with the most scenes and lines, Radcliffe’s pay increased substantially with each sequel, as it essentially doubled with the following three movies. Radcliffe earned $3 million for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, $6 million for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and $11 million for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The actor made $50 million for the last two movies, which were shot back to back. By the time Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 wrapped, he had made $109 million from the series in total (via Cosmopolitan).

How Much Emma Watson Was Paid For Harry Potter

Beginning:<$1 Million/Ending: $30 Million

A brilliant Muggle-born witch, Hermione became an integral part of the trio, serving as the voice of reason, and saving her friends from many difficult situations. After her stint as Hermione Granger, Watson has had prominent roles since Harry Potter. While she isn’t as prolific of an actor as Radcliffe in her post-Harry Potter career, Watson has become a huge bankable star. The actor most notably starred in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, which earned $1.26 billion (via Box Office Mojo). Still, her tenure in the wizarding world helped her accrue most of her net worth.

Watson was cast in Harry Pottery and the Sorcerer’s Stone at 10 and, according to Parade, made less than $1 million for the first movie. However, growing in popularity both on and off-screen for her role as the wisest member of the Golden Trio, the actor’s salary rose considerably throughout the series. Though it isn’t clear exactly how much Watson made for each Harry Potter movie, the actor earned $4 million for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and was paid a massive $30 million for the two-part finale of the Harry Potter franchise (via Cosmopolitan).

How Much Rupert Grint Was Paid For Harry Potter

Beginning:<$1 Million/Ending: $30 Million

Rounding out the trio, Grint played an excellent Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise. The sixth of seven children in the Weasley family, Ron proved himself a loyal friend to Harry, ultimately helping to defeat Voldemort and keeping their friendship strong 19 years later. As said by the directors during the 20th-anniversary reunion, Rupert “was” Ron in Harry Potter and fit the character perfectly, which likely resulted in a steady pay increase. Based on Grint’s disclosed salaries for the Harry Potter series, the actor was seemingly paid the same as Emma Watson.

The Ron Weasley actor’s first pay for The Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001 was under $1 million (Celebrity Net Worth), but his salary grew to $4 million mid-franchise. Just like Watson, Grint earned $30 million for his performance in the two-part Harry Potter finale. However, Grint has the lowest net worth of the trio. Radcliffe amassed his wealth thanks to being the series lead and continuously working, and Watson has made millions of dollars due to earning $5-20 million from fashion brands for endorsements, whereas Grint has had a much quieter post-Harry Potter career.

What The Rest Of The Harry Potter Cast Made

Many Harry Potter Cast Members Made Millions From The Franchise

While the exact salary of each Harry Potter cast member made during each movie isn’t public knowledge, there are some interesting notes about how much actors other than Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint were paid for their appearances. For example, Tom Felton reportedly earned just shy of $18 million dollars for portraying Draco Malfoy across the 8 Harry Potter movies (via LadBible).

According to celebritynetworth, the late Alan Rickman was worth about $16 million at the time of his death, a large portion of which was due to playing Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies, so it’s safe to assume he also received a sizeable salary. Interestingly, while the stars of Harry Potter made a substantial amount, this wasn’t the case for many of the background cast members. Extras on set were reportedly only earning around $45 per day (via DailyMail).

While extras are understandably paid far less than the listed cast members on any movie set, this is still a surprisingly low amount. However, this also may have been due to the age of many of the Hogwarts students. It can be presumed that the younger extras on the Harry Potter set weren’t used for the longer shooting days as can be normal with extra work.

How Much The Harry Potter Cast Made In Later Projects

Emma Watson Earned The Highest Post-Harry Potter Payday

Given that the main members of the Harry Potter cast haven’t worked in big-budget franchises much since the series ended, their salaries in other projects have not been as widely publicized. However, it is possible to get a sense of what they were paid for some of these post-Harry Potter projects. In the case of Daniel Radcliffe, the actor has worked on a lot of indie projects, like Swiss Army Man and Imperium, in which the salaries are usually kept smaller to help with the overall budget. However, he has worked on some bigger projects as well.

Though not the star of the show, Radcliffe appeared as the villain in the adventure rom-com The Lost City with Sandra Bullock, who made $20 million for her starring role. Given the bigger budget, it is safe to assume Radcliffe made a low seven-figure salary for his work. The same is likely true of Radcliffe’s supporting turn in the star-studded movie Now You See Me 2. With one of Radcliffe’s most recent starring roles in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, the comedy was reportedly made for $8 million, meaning Radcliffe’s salary was likely small.

Rupert Grint has also been taking on smaller projects since the Harry Potter series, though he has appeared in a number of TV series. With the likes of Servant and Snatch both being smaller television productions, it seems likely that Grint was paid a low six-figure salary for each show. As for his movie roles, Grint’s most notable one was in M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin. While Dave Bautista was reportedly given a $4 million salary for the movie, Grint likely made a mid-six-figure salary.

One of the Harry Potter cast members whose salary is confirmed outside the franchise also happens to be the biggest salary earned by one of these actors after their franchise ended. Emma Watson took on the role of Belle in the live-action Disney remake of Beauty and the Beast. With the big-budget Disney production and Watson being the big-name star in the lead role, she earned $3 million upfront which escalated to $15 million after the movie’s box-office success (via The Hollywood Reporter).