Harry Potter star Timothy Spall reveals how losing weight has changed his career and shares the one diet change he made to shed the pounds

Daily Mail​

22-04-2025

Harry Potter star Timothy Spall has revealed how losing weight has changed his career.
The actor, 68, has discussed his weight loss journey and told how he decided to shed the pounds for his role in 2015 horror The Enfield Haunting.
Timothy, who famously played Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail in the wizarding franchise, revealed he was suddenly considered for parts he wouldn't have been before.
Admitting it changed his career, Timothy also revealed the one major diet change he made in order to lose weight.
'I wanted to lose weight for a part in The Enfield Haunting, so I stopped drinking wine and that regulated my diet,' he told Saga magazine.
'The weight came off and I started to get parts I wouldn't have had before - funnily enough, I'm currently filming a Netflix movie directed by Kate Winslet called Goodbye June where I had to fatten up by wearing a strap-on belly.'
The actor, 68, has discussed his weight loss journey and revealed how he was suddenly considered for parts he wouldn't have been before (pictured left in 2022 and right in 2006)
Timothy also discussed his weight transformation back in 2019, revealing it felt 'liberating' to change his lifestyle.
'As a character actor, it's put me in a position where I'm not hobbled by being a certain shape. I'm no longer that avuncular round bloke,' he told The Radio Times.
In his wide-ranging interview with Saga, Timothy also discussed being diagnosed with myeloid leukaemia - a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells - at the age of 39.
He emotionally admitted he begged for God to 'spare him' and revealed there was a time when his family thought he wouldn't make it.
'The pain and the horror of what me dying would do to the people I loved was the only unbearable side of it, the rest I could take,' he bravely shared.
Timothy has been married to his wife Shane since 1981 and they share three children - famed actor Rafe, 42, and daughters Pascale, 49, and Mercedes, 40.
He has secured many major film credits throughout his career, including in 1996's Secrets and Lies, 2023's The Sixth Commandment and Wicked Little Letters.
Timothy also secured the role of betrayer and rat animagus Wormtail in the Harry Potter franchise, appearing in six of the eight popular movies.
He didn't appear in the first two instalments but made his debut appearance in The Prisoner of Azkaban, coinciding with the storyline of JK Rowling's novels.
He then appeared in the subsequent films - The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince and the Deathly Hallows' Part 1 and Part 2.
Despite his decades-long career, Timothy was only awarded his first BAFTA last year when he took home the prestigious Best Actor gong.
He collected the accolade for his 'heart-wrenching' performance as murdered Peter Farquhar in The Sixth Commandment.
Receiving his award at the Royal Festival Hall with a beaming smile on his face, he told the audience: 'Acting's a stupid thing, it really is.
'It's a soppy old thing really. Standing up, pretending to be somebody, p****ing around in costumes. 67 and you think, is this me - am I still doing this?
'But, the reality is, sometimes you get the chance to play people that have had a terrible thing happen to them and all they wanted was love and it's a beautiful thing to be able to tell a story about something like that.
'This story is about many things, it's about a terrible crime but it is also about love. We're privileged, especially when telling real stories about real lives, that people give you permission to do this.
'We're just storytellers really, when we can tell stories that are really touching and really affect people and it makes a difference and we can all share in this human condition, some of it horrible, some of it beautiful and some of it both.
Admitting that he was overjoyed by the award, Peter, who was given the gong by Lashana Lynch, said: 'Even though acting is a silly, stupid thing, and the other actors in this are bl**dy brilliant and I am in owe of their talent.
'It's lovely, I've always wanted one of these - it's lovely to have one. I'll shut up now because I'm just drivelling on. But I'm just so pleased to be here, among you lot. We have quite a good life really don't we. Thank you very much.'
Timothy previously quipped that he was always 'a bridesmaid and never the bride at these awards'.
In 2014, after a win at Cannes Film Festival, he said: 'I've always been the bridesmaid at these awards. I've been nominated for BAFTA awards but never won.'