Harry Melling (actor)

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Harry Melling
Melling during the 2018 Venice Film Festival
Born	Harry Edward Melling London, England
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present
Known for	Dudley Dursley in Harry Potter
Relatives	Patrick Troughton (grandfather) David Troughton (uncle) Michael Troughton (uncle) Sam Troughton (cousin) Jim Troughton (cousin) William Troughton (cousin)

Harry Edward Melling is an English actor. He is best known for playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films, and Harry Beltik in The Queen's Gambit.

Career[]

In his early career, Melling performed in stage productions of The Provoked Wife, King John, Antigone, and Plenty. He appeared in five of the Harry Potter films as Harry Potter's spoiled cousin Dudley Dursley. In 2009, he starred in a revival of Mother Courage and her Children at the Royal National Theatre. He appeared in "The Sorcerer's Shadow", an episode of the BBC television series Merlin, playing a young warlock named Gilli who intends to use magic to help him win Camelot's legendary tournament. He also played Robert Brown in the BBC television series Just William.

In October 2009, it was announced that Melling had lost so much weight since his last appearance in Harry Potter that he was now "unrecognisable". The role of Dudley was almost recast for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, but Melling was able to reprise the part by wearing a fat suit. He commented positively about the change, "I can now shed the child actor thing, like the fat, and start a new career, because no one sees me as Dudley."^[1]

In 2014, Melling made his playwrighting debut at HighTide Festival with his one-man show Peddling.^[2]

In 2018, Melling played alongside Liam Neeson in the Coen brothers' Western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Of Melling's performance, New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane wrote:

[I] came away haunted by a scattering of sights and sounds--above all, by the recitations of the limbless man, which thrum with genuine yearning. He is beautifully played, with a little help from C.G.I., by Harry Melling, who was once the odious Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. Funny how people grow up.^[3]

In 2020, Melling played Evangelical priest Roy Laferty in the Netflix thriller The Devil All The Time. That same year, he appeared in the Netflix series drama The Queen's Gambit in which he plays Harry Beltik, a friend and one of Beth's competitors in Kentucky.

Filmography[]

Film[]

Television[]

Stage[]

Video games[]

References[]

External links[]

• Harry Melling at IMDb
• Melling at Mill Hill School
• Agency CV
• S., Eric (22 March 2013). "Harry Melling shares his thoughts with MuggleNet on the black comedy "Smack Family Robinson" in an exclusive interview". MuggleNet.