Harry Potter star Shirley Henderson has revealed that she was actually 37 when she auditioned to play the role of 14-year-old schoolgirl Moaning Myrtle. The Scottish actress, who turned 60 this week, was told by the team behind 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to keep her age secret. “The casting director said, ‘Go for it — and don’t mention your age,’” Henderson said in an interview with British publication The Independent. “I wasn’t convinced I could play a 14-year-old girl because I was in my 30s at the time.” Henderson, who has also had roles in Bridget Jones’s Diary and Trainspotting, went to the audition dressed as a schoolgirl, complete with ponytail, thinking it was “ridiculous.” She added, “I did my wee bit for them and they thanked me. Months went by and I thought that was it, but then they phoned my agent, asked to see me again, and offered me the part… Myrtle is an old person in a young person’s body and because she’s ghosty, there’s a kind of mistiness. You’re not looking closely at my face, so we could get away with it.” She also said her otherworldly look in the movies also protected her from the fame that followed her co-stars. “I don’t think anybody recognized me at all.” Henderson reprised her role as Jude in this year’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
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