--- ---  # Harry Potter Almost Ruined Daniel Radcliffe's First Dates by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 29, 2016 5:54 PM UTC  Daniel Radcliffe at AOL Studios on June 27, 2016 in New York. Daniel Radcliffe at AOL Studios on June 27, 2016 in New York.Daniel Zuchnik—WireImage/Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 29, 2016 5:54 PM UTC Turns out being [Harry Potter](http://time.com/4110623/j-k-rowlings-biggest-harry-potter-revelations/?iid=sr-link2) doesn’t ensure a magical childhood. [Daniel Radcliffe](http://time.com/4137021/daniel-radcliffe-harry-potter-audition/?iid=sr-link1), who played the [most famous wizard](http://time.com/4380221/jk-rowling-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them/?iid=sr-link3) in the world for most of his young life, found it hard to leave the character behind. In a recent episode of Entertainment Weekly’s [The Jess Cagle Interview](http://www.ew.com/the-jess-cagle-interview), Radcliffe discussed his first ever “proper” date and his fervent hope that wearing a hat would be enough to deter any fans from mobbing him or making things more awkward than a first date already is. “I just went out with a cap on, and you have to hope that the person you’re dating is understanding and not made to feel awkward by someone coming up or anything like that, but you just do it,” Radcliffe [told](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/29/daniel-radcliffe-first-date) Cagle. “That was always the weird thing.” Despite his fame, Radcliffe didn’t feel like starring in [Harry Potter ](http://time.com/2965574/j-k-rowling-new-harry-potter-story/?iid=sr-link4)ruined his childhood. “All those first dates and first kisses, those rites of passage, I still had them, and they were actually generally really private,” he told Cagle. While he hasn’t [ruled out a return](http://time.com/4386952/harry-potter-daniel-radcliffe-role/?iid=sr-link4) to the world of Harry Potter, Radcliffe is still looking for more challenging roles to avoid being pigeonholed as a child star. Luckily his new movie, _Swiss Army Man_, which based on the trailers looks like _Weekend at Bernie’s_ meets _Castaway_ with Radcliffe playing a dead man, should help him shake off more of the [Harry Potter](http://time.com/4145643/harry-potter-prequel-fantastic-beasts-trailer/?iid=sr-link4) aura. Not sure how gaseous corpses fare in the dating world, though. \[H/T [EW](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/29/daniel-radcliffe-first-date)\] Harry Potter Almost Ruined Daniel Radcliffe's First Dates ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4387900/harry-potter-almost-ruined-daniel-radcliffes-first-dates/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4387900/harry-potter-almost-ruined-daniel-radcliffes-first-dates/"},"headline":"Harry Potter Almost Ruined Daniel Radcliffe's First Dates","datePublished":"2016-06-29T17:54:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:54.932Z","description":"Mischief (almost) managed","url":"https://time.com/4387900/harry-potter-almost-ruined-daniel-radcliffes-first-dates/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Harry Potter","daniel radcliffe"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3269452bf1b0704d/69889a0e524fc08649df8922/daniel-radcliffe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3269452bf1b0704d/69889a0e524fc08649df8922/daniel-radcliffe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Daniel Radcliffe","caption":"Daniel Radcliffe","creditText":"Daniel Zuchnik—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4387900/harry-potter-almost-ruined-daniel-radcliffes-first-dates/","name":"Harry Potter Almost Ruined Daniel Radcliffe's First Dates"}}]}] ```