Sean Biggerstaff is a young Scottish actor best known (so far) for his role as House Griffindor's Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood, in the first two Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Sean's acting career started at the age of seven when he joined the Maryhill Youth Theater, a local drama group. His first role on stage was as Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; his first professional role was the son of MacDuff in Michael Boyd's Macbeth at the age of ten. At eleven Sean moved up to the more well-known Scottish Youth Theater, where he met friend and mentor Alan Rickman. Sean's television debut was in 1996 in the Scottish miniseries The Crow Road, an adaptation of the novel by Iain Banks, as Young Darren. His full-length film debut was in the 1997 film The Winter Guest (directed by Alan Rickman) as the schoolboy Tom. The first two Harry Potter films came out in 2001 and 2002 respectively, and in 2003, Sean was the voice of Chris Parson in the BBC's Flash animation production of Doctor Who's Shada, an old episode written by Douglas Adams for the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who.
Random Facts:
Sean learned guitar by ear at thirteen (first song learned: "Scentless Apprentice" by Nirvana) and used to play for the band Crambo. He maintains that he is not homosexual, despite the insistence (or maybe hope?) of many fans, and in 16 Magazine (December 2001) he is quoted as saying "I'm devilishly good-looking and single!" He says he is "not even a teeny weeny bit religious," but he does read the Old Testament occasionally. His favorte band is the little-known Welsh group Man (also called Manband). He is inexplicably obsessed with badgers, and says things like "On a more serious note; Cheesy badger." And yes, he does wear a kilt.
A brief autobiography written on February 8, 2002:
The Life and Times of Mr. Sean Biggerstaff, Esq, MMus BME.
Born on the ides of March under a full moon in 1983 to a fireman and a community education worker, I initially suspected that I was the reincarnation of Julius Caesar. I soon realised that this couldn't be so as the idea of conquering Europe, or even living there, didn't appeal to me in the slightest. With the exception of a passing infatuation with the music of Michael Jackson, the 7 years immediately following my birth were fairly uneventful. Then I decided I wanted to act. So I did.
I joined the local drama group in Maryhill which I attended for about 5 years. I got my first professional role as the son of MacDuff in Macbeth, directed by Michael Boyd at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow when I was 10. I then joined Scottish Youth Theatre and spent 6 years performing with them. I'm not ashamed. The shows were of a commendable standard and there really was very little nudity. It was at SYT that I was chosen for The Winter Guest. Alan Rickman (known to most of the kids as "the bad guy from Die Hard") popped along one day looking for two boys to accompany him to the coldest place on earth, Fife, for two months to make a film. Myself and the suspicious character that is Douglas Murphy were the lucky ones.
In 1999 I asked Alan if he knew anyone in London who may be interested in representing me and he put me in touch with Paul Lyon-Maris, his own agent at ICM. We met at his flat in Edinburgh and I apparently met his standards. About a week later I successfully auditioned for Harry Potter.
And the rest is history.
Full Name: Sean Biggerstaff (no middle name)
Date of Birth: March 15, 1983
Place of Birth: Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Height: 5'9"
To the dismay of many fans (including yours truly), Sean did not appear in the third Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, or any of the other Harry Potter movies up to the very last one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2, in which he reprises the role of Oliver Wood for the last time.
References:
Sean's official website: http://www.seanbiggerstaff.com/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/