One Harry Potter Star Looks Totally Unrecognizable 20 Years Later
As giggling Gryffindor Romilda Vane, Anna Shaffer famously played the schoolgirl with a crush on Harry Potter.
Sadly for Romilda, her infatuation was unrequited and she went through her Hogwarts career (spanning 2009 – 2011) never getting together with the Boy Who Lived.
Fast forward 14 years, though, and Shaffer was wowing the crowds at the 2023 EE British Academy Award: Vanity Fair EE Rising Star Party.
Now aged 30, the actor has since gone on to star as Ruby Button in teen soap Hollyoaks – another role that saw her develop a crush on another character.
Only this time it was on her headteacher (played by Irish actor Peter Mitchell) and caused far more of an uproar when she misread the signs and kissed him.
She is currently appearing as Triss Merigold in the Netflix fantasy action series The Witcher alongside Henry Cavill.
Shaffer has had more luck in her love life than the characters she has played and eventually married her long-term partner Jimmy Stephenson in July 2021 after their wedding plans were initially put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic.
While the ceremony was scaled back due to lockdown restrictions still being in place, the star was able to share images of the couple’s nuptials with her 147,000+ followers on Instagram.
Arriving at the Academy Awards in February, the star sported a grey silk ball gown and court shoe heels.
While she may be unrecognisable from the girl who fawned over Harry Potter and ended up joining Dumbledore’s Army, Shaffer has spent sufficient time on our screens that she’s no doubt recognised by many Brits for one of the roles they have seen her in.
Aside from the roles already mentioned, she also appeared as Heather in an episode of the 8-part teen drama, Glue, that aired on E4 in 2014, played Rachel Chapman in two episodes of 2016 Dr Who spin-off, Class, and starred in 4 episodes of the 6-part ITV thriller Fearless in 2017.
Shaffer also starred in the 2018 British action movie I am Vengeance which was a box office flop and did little to further her career.
In 2013, she was longlisted for Sexiest Female at the British Soap Awards, with the award eventually being handed to Michelle Keegan who played Tina McIntyre in Coronation Street. The category was ditched in 2014 after it was deemed inappropriate for modern times. Sexiest Male went the same way, with categories these days focusing on talent and performance rather than looks.