Tom Felton certainly made a name for himself in Harry Potter, and he made a fortune while doing so
Harry Potter actor Tom Felton was paid more than £14 million to appear in the movie franchise for half an hour.
The actor turns 37 on Sunday (22 September) and despite his young age, he’s got an impressive resume.
Of course, Felton is best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the iconic franchise – in fact, it’s hard to imagine anybody else taking on the role.
But did you know that the actor was so successful that he was paid £14 million to appear for just 31 minutes?
You might be surprised to learn that Felton appeared for just half an hour across all eight movies.
Despite being one of the main characters, the Rise of the Planet of the Apes star had little more than half an hour of screen time, which is less than most Netflix shows.
In fact, if you watched every single scene that Felton appeared in, it would take less time than it would to watch an episode of Stranger Things.
Of course, it feels like so much more because Malfoy was such a huge part of the Harry Potter storyline.
Jun Sato/WireImage
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Felton’s screentime throughout the Harry Potter series is much less than Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson or Rupert Grint, who had 539 minutes, 205 minutes and 211 minutes, respectively – but surprisingly it was even less than Hagrid, who managed to rack up a solid 45 minutes and 45 seconds.
That’s more than the Dark Lord himself, who had 37 minutes and 15 seconds, but Hagrid definitely deserved every second he got.
So, while Felton only featured in less than three percent of the overall series, he walked away with a hefty paycheque of £14 million – that’s £451,613 per minute.
Not a bad deal, if you ask me.
The actor was just 13-years-old when Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone began filming, and considering most kids that age are usually only familiar with the money in their piggy banks, it’s not that surprising that Felton apparently wasn’t the most sensible with his earnings.
Warner Bros.
According to the Express in 2010, Felton had previously told The Daily Mail that he’d spent much of his money on ‘typical teenage stuff’.
“I bought a lot of rubbish things that kids buy: skateboards and clothes and typical teenage stuff. And, as soon as I could, I wasted a lot of money on cars – BMWs mostly – for myself and my family,” he explained.
“My mum told me: ‘You have worked hard for it so get what you want, but beware, you will lose money on cars’. And she was right.”
Felton reportedly ended up getting in trouble with the taxman after splashing the cash, and at one point even had ‘the bailiff at the door’, but he later managed to get a grip on his finances thanks to the help of an accountant.
