Harry Melling doesn't want to be "shackled" to the Harry Potter franchise for the rest of his career.
The British actor, who played Dudley Dursley between the ages of 10 and 21, has been taking on "eclectic" roles since the end of the series because he doesn't "want people to know" him or "pigeonhole" him as Harry's spoiled cousin.
Melling, now 36, told The Hollywood Reporter that he was "a wee babe" when he played Dudley, "but people hold onto that", so he has been doing "so much" varied work now to ensure he doesn't "fall into" the child actor box.
"To establish yourself so early as in this huge franchise - it was never a destination. At 10, or whatever, there was so much more to do," he explained. "In a weird way, I knew that getting trapped within the child-actor thing was not going to allow me to do the other things that I wanted to do. Now I do theatre and work with the likes of the Coen Brothers, work in America, and do so much work in UK independent film.
"Sometimes child acting can get a negative stigma. I just never wanted that to be me. I didn't fall in love with being in Harry Potter. I fell in love with the concept of people being many things, and that's the thing that I wanted to spend my life doing."
Melling noted that even when he was making the fantasy series, he was "obsessed" with theatre and knew that he wanted to have a career like the "incredible stage actors" in the adult Harry Potter cast.
"Harry Potter is this huge, huge franchise, and I never wanted to be in any way shackled to it. I always wanted to have a really big career and try lots of different things," he added.
Melling, who appeared in five Harry Potter films between 2001 and 2010, has since starred in projects like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Queen's Gambit and The Pale Blue Eye.
His boldest move so far has been the BDSM comedy-drama Pillion, in which he plays a meek gay man who embarks on a dom-sub arrangement with Alexander Skarsgard. He was recently nominated for a British Independent Film Award for his performance.
