Evanna Lynch

"I promise all Luna fans that I will stay completely true to her because she deserves no less."

Evanna Lynch is an Irish actress, born August 16, 1991. Best known for playing Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies. Her performance has been so good that one could almost say she is Luna.^[1] She is also one of the most involved in the Harry Potter fan community, regularly showing up at premieres and conventions. In 2011, Evanna moved to Hollywood to continue acting and find new roles. In 2012, she was cast in the TV series Sinbad, based on Sinbad the Sailor. She is also on the Board of Advisors for the Harry Potter Alliance, a large charity.

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Evanna Lynch provides examples of the following tropes:

• Cloudcuckoolander: In real life. If you get the chance, read her Twitter account. As accurate as her portrayal of Luna Lovegood in the movies is, you get the feeling she might not be acting...
• Doing It for the Art: Evanna contributed a lot to her character in the film, even designing and making some of the costumes and jewelry.
• Fake Nationality: Weird example. Being Irish, Lynch breaks J. K. Rowling's British only cast rule. However, Seamus Finnegan is Irish, so it's clearly canon that Irish wizards attend Hogwarts. Luna has never been specified to be Irish. In any case, Rhys Ifans, who is Welsh, plays his role as a Fake Irish in order to sound more like his on-screen daughter. So, whatever.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Has several cats, and named them for Harry Potter characters.
• Nice Hat: Several, most notably the lion hat she wore in Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince.
• One of Us: A fan of Glee, Michael Jackson, Tintin, Legally Blonde, Lady Gaga, history, and (of course) Harry Potter.
  • At 2011 LeakyCon, she and Scarlett Byrne (Pansy Parkinson) were wearing Team Starkid shirts!
  • Not just shirts. Evanna hung out with Darren Criss and went to the Yule Ball with Joey Richter. She and Scarlett also hung with the entirety of Team Starkid the first night of the con.
• Promoted Fangirl: Evanna Lynch heavily identifies with the character of Luna Lovegood since the day the character was introduced. Her audition consisted of her walking in on a whim, telling the producers "Nobody understands Luna like I do", and portraying the best Luna they'd seen. She makes many of the props and trinkets Luna wears in the films, notably her radish earrings, and for all of this portrays one of the few characters the fandom agrees the casting was great for.
• Strange Girl: Almost as much in real life as when she is playing Luna. For example, on her Twitter page, she says she wants to be a cat, and later says all her interviews will be fiction-based.
• Suppressed Mammaries: She was strapped down for her role as Luna, though it's a more minor example.
• Your Costume Needs Work: She has recounted how she joined and posted "hello" messages in just about every online Potter fan forum she could find after she was cast as Luna Lovegood, only to be ignored at best and mocked as an impostor at worst. Fortunately, though, she's recognizable enough that it doesn't seem to be an issue in person.

1. ↑ Given that J.K. Rowling admitted that her mental image of Luna became Lynch after her performance in Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix, this is more literal than one might think.