Before Hero Fiennes-Tiffin was stealing hearts as Hardin Scott in the After movie franchise, he was playing a younger version of his uncle on the big screen! The actor got his start as a Young Tom Riddle (Voldemort) in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Once the British star got older, he decided to pursue a more serious acting career.
“I realized that I was doing a bunch of auditions that I had to do late at night or an inconvenient time, because I’d had coursework to do, and I was working at a food business as well,” he told Wonderland in March 2019. “Juggling all three, auditions were the only thing where there wasn’t an immediate punishment, so it was the easiest one to take a hit and put at the bottom of my priorities.”
Eventually, Hero “realized the only way to put the right amount of pressure into acting and auditions was to drop out of school.”
That’s when the opportunity for After came along. Based on a book series by Anna Todd, the movies follow a bad boy named Hardin Scott (played by Hero) and his infatuation with eventual girlfriend Tessa Young (played by Josephine Langford).
“He’s definitely a controversial one,” Hero explained. “I definitely learnt how not to judge my character, because there are times when you want to. You know when you’re screaming at the screen in a film? I felt like Hardin is like that a lot. But also, that’s great to play as an actor, because it’s that kind of illogical, impulsive stuff that you really have to get into to do it.”
Before being cast as the fictional heartthrob, the actor had no idea the level of fame he would reach because of the fans.
“It was initially overwhelming,” he admitted to FLAUNT Magazine in February 2021. “But now, at this point, I’m obviously able to enjoy the good things and not dwell too much on the changes. I didn’t plan for this, I just wanted to stay busy and do loads of auditions and do things on the side. Now a few years later, I’ve kind of settled from a sudden change in a sudden period of time to now a long couple years of adjustments.”
He’s definitely grown into himself as an actor, especially since playing a young wizard! Scroll through our gallery to see Hero’s Hollywood transformation over the years.
You’re a Wizard
Hero played Young Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which premiered in 2009.
