Entertainment

Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne reveals his childhood passion for magic

He performed an illusion on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
He performed an illusion on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He performed an illusion on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne has revealed he had a passion for magic as a child.

The British actor is reprising his role as wizard Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald and appeared on US talk show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday.

Redmayne, 36, told Fallon that as a child growing up in London, he was “embarrassingly” into tricks and even invited a magician to his 18th birthday party.

He said: “I was properly, embarrassingly into magic as a kid. You know how kids have magicians for their birthday, but normally until about the age of eight, nine, maybe pushing it 10, 11?

“Age 15, 18, no-one came to the parties but I was still inviting magicians. I had a little brother who was about six years younger than me, it was the perfect audience so I could do magic tricks on him.”

The actor then performed an illusion for Fallon, having him pick a card at random before having it appear again in a sealed envelope.

Redmayne will star alongside Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the latest Fantastic Beasts film, a sequel to 2016’s Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald will be released in the UK on November 16.