Scottish actor Sean Biggerstaff was born in mid-March 1983. As a seemingly inconspicuous and quiet young man, he charmed the world in the role of Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter series (Philosopher’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Deathly Hallows; part 2 – 2001, 2002 and 2011). He got a taste of acting already at the age of five, he was in front of the camera for the first time in 1996, when he participated in the series based on the novel by Scottish author Iain Banks (†59) Crow Street. As a teenager, he appeared in the 1997 film The Winter Guest, written and directed by Alan Rickman (†69), later representative of Severus Snape in Harry Potter. The young actor charmed him!
Not only that Rickman himself chose him for the film. He also recommended the boy to the London-based acting agency International Creative Management and Paul Lyon-Maris, just as casting for the Harry Potter saga was beginning. “Alan… He really cared about us young people. When he thought someone was talented, he put in the work to help them bring out their best,” Biggerstaff told the Lightning in an interview that took place at the seventh annual festival of Czech Potterheads (lovers of magical stories) LexiCon 2024, which was once again full of magic, fun and enthusiastic visitors.
“We spent a week in one room, just us two young guys in child roles – me and Douglas Murphy, and Alan. We rehearsed every scene in the film over and over as if we were doing a play. The weather was bad so we had to be really flexible… At the time, I didn’t realize how lucky I was because it was my first time making a film. Filming was never the same after that,” said Sean.
The role in The Winter Guest opened the door for him to the fantastic world of film and acting, which he has remained faithful to and still enjoys. “Especially when I’m on stage, it’s still an incredible feeling. I’m not excited just because I’m on TV, in the cinema or in a show, it really has to work for me to enjoy it,” he revealed Lightning during a break during a meeting with Czech fans who stood in long lines to meet “their” Wood. What does it say that the world of Harry Potter is still so fascinating and important to millions of people? “It’s strange, and I’m the last person to judge the reasons. I didn’t know anything about Potter myself until I auditioned,” he admitted.
“I watched the story differently, from the inside. I was in it and maybe read the books just to know what I would probably have to portray. Not just for pure pleasure.” Sean himself then listened to others tell him about the exceptionality of JK Rowling’s books (59). „It’s still so alive! Everyone has seen the world they create in their own imaginations. Transferring them to the canvas made it possible to render it in such a way that everyone sees and feels the same. Chris Columbus (65, director of the first two films) has created something incredible – a place where people really feel like they’re there.” Sean also recalled the most difficult moments of shooting the iconic images.
“Sometimes even the most amazing images in movies were relatively simple during the realization. I did my scenes pretty soon after shooting started. And then there were months when I was on set all the time, but maybe I was sitting in the background in the Great Hall and stuff. They were followed by moments that were incredibly technically difficult, when we also worked 14 hours a day in the studio to shoot two shots that took only seven seconds of film time. It was really long, boring and tiring. So the most difficult thing for me was to maintain that magically warm energy all the time,” he described the unseen miseries of the acting profession.
One of the last films in which Sean Biggerstaff appeared is Super November (2018), which Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described as a genre experiment about friends whose lives take a very strange turn. The combination of romantic comedy and Orwellian dystopia tells about the love of two people at a time when the world is irreversibly changed by a political crisis and ordinary everyday life is only a distant memory. How important is love to Sean in our sometimes complicated times? “She is always important. Love is one of those things worth living for, isn’t it? Which makes life worth living. This is as true in peaceful times as it is now.’
Of course, we asked about his impressions of our metropolis, when Sean was surprised that he knew it. “I liked it here back in 2003 when I was working on a series for the BBC,” he said. “It was great because I only had a small role, but I was here for a few weeks. During the many free days I could just wander around and visit the Old Town – I lived right next to the Charles Bridge. It’s been twenty years, I’ve forgotten a lot. But Prague is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I’ll be happy to check it out again. I want to see the house where Franz Kafka livedI’m a fan of his,” he also mentioned. And on the contrary, he recommended what is worth seeing in Scotland. “If you like nature, trips and such, go to the northwest of the country, where everything is really dramatic, mountainous. We also have two beautiful cities, definitely go to Edinburgh. It’s incredibly beautiful, with its castle, Royal Mail, parks… There’s a lot of great things in Glasgow too, but I’m biased,” added the Glasgow native with a laugh.
At the end, we talked about his work commitment, which unfortunately has been complicated by health problems in recent years. “I have a back injury that required surgery and a long recovery, I’m still resting,” Sean stated. “What was interesting for me was the participation in the Good Omens episode from Amazon, which was released about a year ago. That was great. I continue to make audio dramas and a spin-off audio series of the iconic sci-fi story Doctor Who. The main character Jenny is played by Georgia Tennant (39), she asked me to join, which is nice. So we did another series last year and the plan is to do a sequel. As far as nerds go, those are two fairly current and interesting things. Don’t miss them,” concludes Sean Biggerstaff, without whom Harry Potter wouldn’t know what a snitch or a snitch is!
Watch Oliver Wood initiate Harry Potter into the secrets of Quidditch: