From magic wands to ice cream cones, it turns out that following his time in the famed Harry Potter franchise Rupert Grint almost made a shocking career change. In an interview with The New York Times, the star revealed how after completing the fantasy movies back in 2011, he considered giving up acting altogether to become an ice-cream man instead.
Grint is best known for his time playing the Harry Potter character Ron Weasley, one of the central three protagonists throughout the eight movies. The actor explained how he was worried about making the jump from child star to adult actor. According to The New York Times, his concern led him to buy a “pink-and-white ice cream van, which he drove back to his family home just north of London on his last day of shooting.”
“He thought briefly that he could make a go of that. But after taking a year off, he tried acting again,” the publication writes. “He had been sent a lot of Potter adjacent material — more sidekicks — but he held on for edgier, more serious, more adult work. He took a part in a Jez Butterworth play, enjoying the discipline of theatre, and starred in the Crackle crime dramedy Snatch.”
Grint did not elaborate on why he chose the frozen dairy profession after acting. However, we are glad that he has made his way back in front of the camera. Since returning his ice cream van, Grint can be seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological series The Servant. He is also on board to appear in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Netflix series, Cabinet of Curiosities.
Much like his co-stars, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, Grint’s acting career has stayed firmly away from Hogwarts following the 2011 movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. After spending your whole childhood as a character, it is understandable how the next step in your career can be daunting, and similarly why you’d be anxious to try new things.
If you want to dive into the Wizarding World once more, here is our guide for everything we know about Fantastic Beasts 3. Fantastic Beasts 3 is scheduled to release on April 8 2022, in the UK and April 15 in the US.