Once known almost exclusively as Draco Malfoy, the actor is stepping back into the role that defined his youth — but this time, it’s not in front of a camera.
After nearly 15 years away from the wizarding world, Tom Felton finally stepped onto a Broadway stage in November 2025, bringing Malfoy to life once again in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”
Felton is reprising the role of Malfoy — the very character that catapulted him to international stardom. Only now, he’s doing it live, on stage, as a grown man and a father in the story’s timeline.
“It’s very much a pinch-me situation,” he confessed in an interview with TODAY. “I keep thinking I’m dreaming. I let go of that character 16 years ago, and now I get to step back into his shoes, as a father this time, in a new story.”
Felton’s path to Broadway stardom traces back to Epsom, Surrey, where he was born to Sharon and Peter Felton. The youngest of four boys, the actor never aimed for the spotlight — he was more interested in becoming a fisherman and only joined drama club to tag along with friends.
By six, he had already starred in his first commercial. At the age of eight, at the suggestion of a family friend, he signed with an agent and won a major international campaign after auditioning alongside more than 400 children.
The early days of his career were shaped by long hours and his mother’s sacrifices — she worked multiple jobs and traveled across the globe with him for acting gigs, including his early role alongside Jodie Foster in “Anna and the King.” Everything changed when he was 12.