Shirley Henderson says she was told not to reveal her age during an audition for a 14-year-old role in Harry Potter.
The rule was set by the producers as she was 37 when she auditioned for the role of teenage ghost Moaning Myrtle.
“The casting director said, ‘Go for it, and don’t mention your age,’” Henderson, now 60, told The Independent in a recent interview.
Henderson admits she didn’t know much about Harry Potter at the time. “I wasn’t convinced I could play a 14-year-old girl because I was in my 30s,” she added, but her sister encouraged her to try.
The 5-foot-1 actress arrived at her audition as a schoolgirl dressed in a white shirt, black skirt, ponytail—thinking it was “ridiculous.”
She delivered her scene, thanked the casting team, and assumed it was over.
Months later, she was called back and ultimately offered the role. “Myrtle is an old person in a young person’s body, and because she’s ghosty, there’s a kind of mistiness… you’re not looking closely at my face, so we could get away with it,” she explained.
Unlike her child co-stars — Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint — Henderson wasn’t widely recognized after the film’s release. Playing a spectral teen helped her stay out of the spotlight.
The Harry Potter universe has grown into seven books, eight films, and a stage play. Warner Bros. Discovery is now developing a new TV series that will adapt each book across multiple seasons.
