Rupert Grint was offered so many sidekick roles after Harry Potter that he almost gave up acting to sell ice cream

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Rupert Grint has revealed that he nearly gave up on acting after the Harry Potter movies wrapped. His alternative career path? Selling ice cream. 

"I definitely did think, 'Is it too late to pick something else?'" Grint said in a recent interview with The New York Times. The actor reportedly bought a pink and white ice cream van, which he drove back to his family home on the last day of shooting Harry Potter and thought he could "make a go of". 

After a year out of acting, however, he gave acting another go, but was offered a lot of sidekick roles after playing Harry Potter's best friend Ron Weasley for 10 years. He held off for more serious roles and ended up taking on theater roles and starring in TV shows like comedy drama Snatch and mystery thriller The ABC Murders.

While Grint may want to stay away from the Wizarding World, it isn't staying away from us – our next chance to return is with the prequel Fantastic Beasts 3: The Secrets of Dumbledore, starring Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, and Mads Mikkelsen, which hits cinemas on April 8. 

Grint, meanwhile, can currently be seen in Servant season 3, the Apple TV Plus series from showrunner M. Night Shyalaman. He's also set to star in the Netflix anthology series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. 

That series doesn't have a release date yet, but in the meantime you can check out our list of the best Netflix shows available to stream right now.

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.