Ellie Darcey-Alden

Ellie Darcey-Alden (b. 4 September 1999) is an English teen film, stage and television actress who is best known for playing young Lily Evans in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. She is also known for playing Francesca "Franny" Latimer in the Doctor Who series 7 Christmas special, "The Snowmen." Before joining such large franchises as Harry Potter and Doctor Who, she appeared in minimal parts in British theatre and television. She has also done small time modelling, commercials, voice over work and competitive dancing.

2007–2009: Early work
Darcey-Alden first broke into the world of acting around 2007, appearing in small bits on the British stage and television, including her stage debut in Aladdin, directed by Peter Duncan for the Oxford Playhouse and followed by an uncredited cameo role in the 2008 mini-series Tess of the D'Urbervilles.



She began training in specialised dancing much earlier in 2005, with the Dance 10 Theatre School within Edward Feild Primary School in Kidlington.



In 2009, she appeared in her first guest-starring role as Mary in one episode of Robin Hood and in select episodes as Emma Walker in Holby City—for the BBC, respectively. She auditioned for the latter part earlier in June that year, accompanied by her mother, and was cast at the age of 9. Commenting on the experience, Darcey-Alden said:

"It was very entertaining and a very good experience. I really, really enjoyed it. [Co-stars Jade Jackson and Patsy Kensit] were really nice, funny and entertaining. I want to be like Patsy Kensit when I am older because she is such a good actress. I am a big Holby City fan and I am really excited about seeing it on the television. All my friends and family are coming to watch it with me."

- Ellie Darcey-Alden



That year, she appeared in further stage credits, including Adrian Noble's musical production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the New Theatre Oxford which was a revamped production of the original 2002 London production and the Mardi Gras Challenge, a UK dance competition at the Sadler's Wells Theatre.

She later commented at a 2013 LeakyCon panel in London on which form of media she preferred more—theatre, TV or film:

"I love both. I actually started out doing theatre first and worked my way into TV and film. [...] I don't mind either, really. It's great!"

- Ellie Darcey-Alden



2009–2011: Harry Potter
Of course, Darcey-Alden's most notable role came in December 2009, when she attended an open audition for the latest Harry Potter installment (a year before she was actually needed due to the producers' decision to split the book into two parts). In January 2010, she was called back for a second audition (known as a recall). She subsequently received a screen test with then 13-year-old Benedict Clarke (who would be cast as young Severus Snape) at Leavesden Studios and just a few weeks later, she was contacted by the producers and was told that she received the part of young Lily Evans, cast at age 10, in the commercially successful Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.



In the film, Darcey-Alden appears in a flashback sequence as Harry's mother in her schooldays and reveals how she befriended Snape as child, which is crucial in explaining the back story of the shady professor and his complex relationship to Harry's deceased parents, particularly his bitter resentment to his father James.

It was revealed in a 2011 article for the Oxford Mail that years before landing the part Darcey-Alden was tipped for future success by her agents at Enfield, London-based casting and theatrical agency A&J Management, although her parents decided to not treat her passion for acting seriously until she was more mature. Despite this, she resisted her mother for a chance in the business, especially for a part in Harry Potter, a role which her mother initially did not believe she would eventually win. In the same article, it was further reported that she was not allowed to tell her close friends of her part in Potter as she left school for Leavesden Studios and Hatfield House to film her scenes in 2010, where she met then 21-year-old actor Daniel Radcliffe on her first day on set. She was quoted:

"I am still trying to get over that I am actually in Harry Potter. When I got the part, I was so happy I was speechless. It was the best time of my life. It was very funny. Everyone was so friendly to me and it was really fun. At first, it was really difficult to keep the secret. But when my friends did find out, they were so happy for me and supported me all the way through it."

- Ellie on her part in Potter



At a 2013 LeakyCon panel in Portland, Oregon, Darcey-Alden further elaborated on her meeting with Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe. She said:

"This story is when I just had my screen test for Harry Potter. [...] I'm leaving, and the car is waiting outside and I was thinking, 'Alright.' And I got my stuff together, and I was just about to leave and the second AD came up and said, 'Oh, come up to my office. I got something for you, I got someone to see of you.' I thought, 'Okay, this is a bit weird.' And so I came up there and she was [like], 'Oh yeah, I'd just like you to meet Dan [Radcliffe]. And I thought, 'Oh my God! Hi! Hi, I'm Ellie!' And inside my heart's going boom-boom-boom-boom-boom! [...] And [Dan was] like, 'Hi! I guess I'll call you Mum!' And I'm like, 'Okay!' [...] And then he's like, to my mum, he said, 'Oh, you must be Grandma, then.' And Mum's like, 'Yeah, sure!' And I'm thinking, 'No, Mum!' [...] And I was so relaxed and thought, 'Oh yeah...' We're just having a conversation [...] and the second AD said, 'Look, the car's waiting, we've got to go, this is your quick hello-goodbye.' And so, [Dan is] so nice and was just like, 'Oh, I'm really sorry to keep you waiting, oh my God!' And I said, 'Okay, bye!' And I shake his hand and he's like, 'I'll see you around then!' And then I walked away [...] and I'm shaking his hand [...] and was like, 'I'm never washing this hand again!' And Mum looked at me and she turned around to look at Dan. Dan went (gestures), 'Alright!' [...] And Mum's like, 'You played it so cool and you just messed it all up!' And I'm like, 'I'm sorry!'"

- Ellie on meeting Daniel Radcliffe

She also mentioned in the same panel session that she met Dame Maggie Smith and was quoted, jokingly:

"She spoke to me. It's not my fault."

- Ellie Darcey-Alden

She later said in detail:

"When I was filming my Great Hall scene where I had to be sorted, we were rehearsing and I think it was sorting off-camera and I sat on the stool and the Sorting Hat was sort of next to me and I looked down and was thinking, 'Wow! It's the Sorting Hat. Okay!' [...] And then there was Maggie Smith behind me and I've been told, you know, give her a bit of space. You know, let her breathe [and] if she comes up to you, don't talk to her. And I was thinking, 'Oh, I'm really nervous!' Because I've been told not to say anything, not to talk her, just to sit there. And then she comes up to me and she's like, 'Oh, you have beautiful hair!' And I'm like this (mimics gawking), 'Oh my goodness, that's Maggie Smith!' And she's like, 'You have really beautiful hair! Well done! You're really catchy! Good job!' And I'm like, Thanks... Oh my God!' But because I was so nervous on set and that was the first scene I did, it kind of gave me more confidence. [...] Even though it wasn't advice, it just gave me more confidence to be myself and just have fun and relax and everything. And [Smith is] such a lovely lady. She just comes up to you and talks to you."

- Ellie on Maggie Smith



Filming her scenes along with Benedict Clarke (young Snape), Ariella Paradise (young Petunia Dursley), Alfie McIlwain (young James Potter I) and Rohan Gotobed (young Sirius Black) took place in April 2010.

According to Darcey-Alden and Clarke at a 2013 LeakyCon cast junket in London, production alternated between sets at Leavesden Studios and on location shooting by the River Lea in the gardens of Hatfield Park near Hatfield House—both set in Hertfordshire, respectively. Of the river scene in particular, Clarke elaborated by saying:

"[W]e did so many ludicrous camera angles, we had a camera up on a crane looking down at Ellie and I. And we had a camera crew coming across the river on a boat for one of those, and then they could play around [...] decide what they wanted, how they wanted to pan across the river and take a look at us. I thought it was really outstanding how they had such a ridiculous extent of angles to play with."

- Benedict Clarke on filming The Prince's Tale



Darcey-Alden added:

"We only did half-and-half at Leavesden. [...] There was the actual Hatfield House there and we got to have a look around and it was really beautiful."

- Ellie on filming The Prince's Tale



Shooting only lasted four days where one scene was shot per day.

To satisfy the look of her character as described in the books, Darcey-Alden is naturally red haired although she was required to wear blue contact lenses to match Daniel Radcliffe's eyes given her eyes are brown. In the novels, Harry is described as having his mother's eyes, which are in fact green although Radcliffe never sported any colour-correcting contacts in the films due to a negative reaction to them; J.K. Rowling later commented on this by saying it was not an absolute need that Harry have green eyes in the films, as long as there was a resemblance between his and his mother's. However, the method of using blue contacts ultimately backfired and Darcey-Alden's natural eye colour showed through when captured on camera. For an unknown reason, this error was not digitally corrected in post-production.



When later asked by a fan of what it was like to be apart of a popular movie franchise, Darcey-Alden commented:

"I'm not famous, people don't recognise me. I'm just a normal crazy 12 year old who was very lucky to be in such a huge film."

- Ellie Darcey-Alden

2012–present: Upcoming projects
Darcey-Alden has been cast in a variety of independent and larger budget films. It was announced on 20 July 2011 via the official A&J Management Twitter that she had been cast in a cameo role in Welcome to the Punch, a British thriller co-starring James McAvoy, Mark Strong and Harry Potter alum Peter Mullan. Other roles include Pranks, a children's ghost story about a 12-year-old orphan named Katie confronted by the spirit of her foster mother's dead son, which also co-starred her real life brother Joseph Darcey-Alden and was shot in four days in St Albans; and Sam & Isobel, a coming of age tale of the titular characters—two young children brought together within the confines of a woodland through childlike innocence and naivety. Although, Sam eventually realises that Isobel is not as innocuous as she seems. For the latter, filming began on 9 April 2012 and wrapped production the following week on the 15th. The official teaser trailer was released online on 2 April 2013 by director Brendan Lyle Moles. According to the video description, the film was making its circuit at film festivals that year and will be released to the public afterwards.



She has also landed other big TV breaks. In 2012, she returned to the BBC for the Doctor Who series 7 Christmas special, "The Snowmen" as Francesca Latimer reuniting with real life brother Joseph Darcey-Alden as on-screen sibling Digby and co-starring alongside Jenna-Louise Coleman and Matt Smith. To date, Darcey-Alden is the latest in a line of Harry Potter cast members to have appeared in both Potter and Doctor Who, including David Tennant, Michael Gambon, Helen McCrory, John Cleese, Zoe Wanamaker, Jim Broadbent, Toby Jones, Roger Lloyd Pack, Bill Nighy, Shirley Henderson, Adrian Rawlins, David Bradley, and John Hurt.

The same year, it was confirmed that she would guest star in the second season of Tom Fontana's French-German-Czech historical television drama Borgia (not to be confused with Showtime's The Borgias) as Felice della Rovere, on-screen and illegitimate daughter to Dejan Čukić's Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (better known as Pope Julius II). Series two was shot on location in Prague and Italy in March through November 2012. Darcey-Alden filmed her scenes in Italy that October over the span of three days, sharing the screen alongside Matt Di'angelo and Mark Ryder. The show premiered on Canal+ on 18 March 2013 and Netflix on 1 May 2013.



Although Felice is considered a powerful and influential historical figure, Darcey-Alden's part in the show is reduced to a minimal appearance in the shadow of her powerful father; based on documentation, Felice was married as early as 14 years of age and was widowed shortly after, years before she remarried Gian Giordano Orsini and subsequently became a prominent figure of the Italian Renaissance.

While Darcey-Alden filmed minimal scenes for episodes 11 and 12, they were eventually cut from the final version, yet her name still appears in the credits of the Season 2 DVD (Region 2). The show has been renewed for a third season, which is currently in pre-production; it has been confirmed that this will be the final of the series, although it is currently unknown whether Darcey-Alden's character will return to the show.

Her latest stage credits include Ellen Kent's Aida Verdi for the New Theatre Oxford and The Nutcracker Twisted which was presented by Elite Dance Studio and performed at the Norris Theatre on 30 November 2013.

On 17–18 January, she competed in the 47th Annual Miss Dance Drill Team USA: California dance competition and pageant. On 7–9 March, she participated in the KAR: Kids Artistic Revue 2014 Redondo Beach, CA Competition, a national dance competition, which tool place at the Centinela Valley Center For The Arts in Lawndale, California.

On 23–26 May, she appeared in the Showstopper! Competition 2014, a major dance competition, which took place at the Disneyland Hotel in California. She competed in a ballet solo, ballet group, jazz group and contemporary group. She and her group were later awarded two Platinum 1st Place prizes with scores of 114.2 and 114.0, respectively for their performances "Stranded" and "Hold It Against Me" presented by the Elite Dance Studio.

Other work
Outside of screen and stage credits, she modelled small time, including an ad for the Morleys Stores Ltd c. 2009-10 and the British children and pre-teen magazine Girl Talk in 2012.



In December 2013, she along with the Elite Dance Studio performed for the Halftime Show NBA, Los Angeles Clippers.

Personal life
Darcey-Alden is originally from Yarnton in Oxford, Oxfordshire although she moved to the United States with her immediate family in late 2012 to early 2013 when she was 13 years old and she now currently resides in Los Angeles in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes. Her parents are Sarah (née Darcey) and Philip "Phil" Alden who runs a charity website. She has a younger brother, Joseph (b. 2002) who is also an actor and two older half-siblings, Becki and James Alden. Her extended family includes her maternal uncle Chris Darcey and her paternal uncles Martin and Jeremy Alden.

She is a former pupil of the Dance 10 Theatre School within the Edward Feild Primary School named after Bishop Edward Feild, respectively in Kidlington which she attended from September 2005 to July 2011 based on English education. From the autumn of 2011 to the autumn of 2012, she attended Gosford Hill School for the first year and a half of her secondary education—Year 7 and the first semester of Year 8—before moving to the U.S. Since moving to the States, she finished her middle school education at Ridgecrest Intermediate School, which she attended from early 2013, starting at the second semester of Grade 7, and graduated in June 2014. In late August 2014, she began attending Palos Verdes High School and is set to graduate in 2018. She currently attends the Elite Dance Studio in L.A. for dance classes.



She has appeared at many Harry Potter events and other fan conventions over the years, including the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 world premiere on 7 July 2011 in Trafalgar Square in London, LeakyCon 2011 in Orlando, Florida, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter in October 2012,  LeakyCon Portland 2013, LeakyCon London 2013 and Misti-Con 2013 in Laconia, New Hampshire. In December 2012, she along with Potter alum Ryan Turner (Hugo Weasley) participated in the Leighton Christmas Festival.

Most recently, she was scheduled to appear as a guest at Gallifrey One 2014, a science fiction and Doctor Who fan convention, which took place 14–16 February at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. It was announced that she would be returning to LeakyCon 2014, which took place in Orlando, Florida from 30 July to 3 August. She and her brother Joseph will appear as guests at the Midwest's Premier Doctor Who event, Chicago TARDIS 2014 from 28–30 November at the Westin Lombard Yorktwon Center.



She is also a big fan of Muggle Quidditch, and was taught to play by members of the five National teams that participated in the 2012 IQA Summer Games (Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, and the United States). She commented to CNN:

"I think [Muggle Quidditch is] brilliant, it's really funny to watch! I didn't realise it was so rough and tough and it's great to just have a go!"

- Ellie on Muggle Quidditch

Behind the scenes

 * She met the likes of Evanna Lynch and Jason Isaacs at the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 world premiere on 7 July 2011 in Trafalgar Square, London.
 * Since starring in Harry Potter, she has maintained a close acquaintanceship with fellow alum Daniel Radcliffe who she saw perform in The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Noël Coward Theatre.
 * Is friendly acquainted with Benedict Clarke, Will Dunn, Ryan Turner, Helena Barlow, Chris Rankin, Scarlett Byrne, Robbie Jarvis, Devon Murray, and Evanna Lynch.
 * Her role as Lily Evans was formerly preceded by Geraldine Somerville (as the adult incarnation) and Susie Shinner (as the teenage incarnation), respectively.
 * On 28 February 2014, it was announced on MuggleNet that a fan-made Harry Potter prequel entitled The Gathering Storm by a group of students from Emerson College in Boston, MA was in the works and was successfully backed on Kickstarter. Darcey-Alden took to her Twitter a day later that she was interested in auditioning for a part, implying that she hoped to reprise her role as Lily in a reply to the main announcement tweeted by MuggleNet. However, upon learning that the required playing age of the key cast was 16, she tweeted on 5 March that she thought she was "too young" in a reply to a tweet by The Gathering Storm official film Twitter regarding a deadline for open auditions through video application submissions. The part of Lily Evans eventually went to Laura Tarver.
 * Many online sources have confused Ellie with fellow Harry Potter actress Daphne de Beistegui, possibly due to a slight resemblance in their appearances, as well as which young Lily each of them played—Harry's mother, the late Lily Evans or Harry's daughter, Lily Luna Potter.
 * She somewhat shares a stronger physical resemblance, as described in the books, to Ginny Weasley—ginger hair worn as a long mane, freckles and brown eyes—than she does to Lily Evans—dark, thick red hair worn to her shoulders and brilliant green, almond-shaped eyes.
 * She revealed to MuggleNet during a Leakyon Portland 2013 panel that the characters she relates to the most from Harry Potter are Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. She stated, "I think because a lot of the characters, the main characters in Harry Potter, they're all kind of [points to Scarlett Byrne and Devon Murray ] your age now growing up... so, it's kind of hard for me. But I think I'm probably part Ginny, part Hermione. Hermione, because she's, 'Books, books, books! School, school, school!' That's kind of me because I'm very 'school', very 'books.' But then Ginny, because she's a really friendly person, she likes to have a bit of fun. She's a bit 'risk takey', sometimes she'll take risks and stuff, which is me sometimes, depending. [...] Yeah, probably between those two, because it's kind of difficult for me because also they [Scarlett and Devon] are a lot older."