Harry Potter: The Actors Who Played Voldemort & What They Look Like Now
Out of all the unsavory characters in the "Harry Potter" franchise, nobody looms quite as large as Lord Voldemort. Born Tom Marvolo Riddle to a pureblood wizarding family and an unwitting Muggle man (also named Tom Riddle), the eventual Dark Lord is, as we learn throughout the series, unsettling from the start... and after his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he assembles a force known as the Death Eaters and becomes the most evil wizard in the universe's known history. A cold, ruthless, and unrepentant killer, Voldemort will stop at nothing in his goal to conquer the wizarding world, no matter who stands in his way, and the entire story leads up to his eventual defeat.
So who plays him in the "Harry Potter" movies? Well, that's complicated. In nearly every film, Voldemort interacts with or faces off against Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), his nemesis, in one way or another, whether he's only seen in visions or flashbacks or fighting Harry in the flesh. With eight films in the "Potter" series — not counting the "Fantastic Beasts" spin-off movies — a whopping five actors play Voldemort in various forms. (That's not counting Richard Bremmer, who briefly plays Voldemort in the first film in a flashback... but his face isn't shown.) Here's everybody who plays Lord Voldemort in the "Harry Potter" movies and where they are now.
Ian Hart briefly played Voldemort in the first film
The first installment in the franchise, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," barely features Voldemort, but his presence is felt throughout the entire story. Ten years prior to the start of the story, Voldemort tries to kill Harry after murdering his parents — but for reasons he doesn't yet understand, his attempted Killing Curse just rebounds onto him, leaving Harry alive and Voldemort presumed dead. He's not quite finished yet, though, and as it turns out, he's been inhabiting the back of a guy's head for the entire school year: specifically, that year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell. Apparently, before Harry arrived for his first year at Hogwarts, Quirrell ran afoul of Voldemort's disembodied spirit, and as a result, he's been trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone — which grants eternal life — for his master all year. It also explains the giant turban he wears for most of the film.
Ian Hart pulls double duty in "Sorcerer's Stone," voicing the Voldemort strapped to the back of Quirrell's head and playing the professor as well (the face itself is computer-generated). So where else have you seen Hart before? The British actor appeared in recent projects like "The Last Kingdom," where he was a series regular, as well as "The Terror" and "The Responder," the second of which co-starred Martin Freeman.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets featured Christian Coulson as a young Voldemort
In the second film, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," Harry arrives back at school with his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) after fighting Voldemort the year before... only to face him again, but in a very different sense. Shortly after the school year begins, students without "pure" wizarding blood — meaning that they're either half-Muggle or a magical child unexpectedly born to non-magical Muggles — start facing attacks from a mysterious source, leading to rampant rumors that a monster dwelling within the school's mythical Chamber of Secrets has been unleashed. Turns out, that's exactly what happened; after Ron's younger sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright) is slipped an enchanted diary, she unwittingly becomes a pawn used by the mere memory of Tom Riddle, who opens the Chamber and sets a deadly basilisk loose in the halls of Hogwarts. That memory nearly kills Harry as well before he manages to destroy the diary with a basilisk fang, erasing this memory for good.
This vision of Tom Riddle is played by Christian Coulson, who also very briefly appeared in archival footage in later films. Coulson's post-"Potter" work is mostly on the small screen, and he's appeared on shows like "Gossip Girl," "Nashville," "Mozart in the Jungle," "High Fidelity," and "Blue Bloods," as well as two "Doctor Who" specials titled "The Bride of Peladon" and "The Haunting of Thomas Brewster."
The youngest on-screen version of Voldemort was played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin
Voldemort returns to his human form in the fourth movie, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," and appears in the fifth movie, "Order of the Phoenix" as well — but we'll circle back to that imminently. First, we'll look at the versions of Tom Riddle we see in flashbacks as Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) and Harry explore different memories Dumbledore has obtained from various people that explore the Dark Lord's past and the young Riddle's quest to create a Horcrux. The youngest version they see is a young Tom Riddle who's stuck in a miserable London orphanage when Dumbledore goes to tell him that he'll start attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — and immediately, Riddle tells Dumbledore that he always knew he was special, especially because he discovered the ability to hurt his fellow orphans when they wronged him.
This young Tom Riddle is played by Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, and if part of that last name is familiar, it's because Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldemort at his full power, is the actor's uncle. (The resemblance is, honestly, pretty spot-on.) Beyond "Harry Potter," audiences probably know Fiennes-Tiffin from the "After" movies, where he plays brooding romantic lead Hardin Scott.
Frank Dillane is the second version of a teenage Voldemort
After seeing Tom Riddle in the orphanage in one memory, Harry and Dumbledore explore the memories of Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), who taught a young Tom Riddle during his first stint as the Hogwarts Potions Master. Slughorn, who has a habit of "collecting" students he thinks might grow up to become impressive and influential wizards, is drawn in by a young Tom's charisma... and much to his future embarrassment, he actually is the one to tell a teenage Tom Riddle exactly how he can make a Horcrux. This is one of the darkest things a wizard can do; in order to create one, you have to split your soul into pieces, which you can only do by committing murder.
This third and final young Tom Riddle is, like Fiennes, played by what some might consider a "nepo baby" — and this time, his relative starred in a different fantasy franchise. That would be Frank Dillane, whose father Stephen Dillane played Stannis Baratheon from the second until the fifth season of "Game of Thrones." Since "Half-Blood Prince," Dillane has appeared in movies like "Astral" and "How to Build a Girl," and he stars in a leading role on "Fear the Walking Dead."
Ralph Fiennes is the most recognizable actor who played Voldemort
Of course, the Voldemort everybody is most familiar with is his restored form, which he regains at the climax of "Goblet of Fire." In "Order of the Phoenix," after using his connection with Harry to trick the young wizard into retrieving the prophecy made about the two of them a decade earlier, Voldemort appears in person at the Ministry of Magic, facing off against Dumbledore in a battle for the ages. Finally, he appears in both parts of "Deathly Hallows" as his battle with Harry draws closer and closer, ending in Voldemort's final downfall after Harry manages to destroy all of the Horcruxes... including the one within himself that Voldemort made by complete accident.
Fiennes is a pretty familiar face in Hollywood; before "Harry Potter," he starred in classics like "The English Patient" and "Schindler's List," and he's been in a string of major movies since. Beyond other franchise work in the "James Bond" films, where he's played Gareth Mallory (or "M") in three movies alongside Daniel Craig, he's also worked with Wes Anderson on "The Grand Budapest Hotel," the Coen brothers on "Hail Caesar!," and in the recent dark comedy "The Menu." Fiennes is one of the most well-known British actors around, and he was the perfect choice to play Voldemort in the majority of the "Harry Potter" movies.