Harry Potter actor made sobering admission about her life after movie series ended

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson became household names thanks to the success of the Harry Potter franchise - but not all of their co-stars were as lucky.

The so-called 'golden trio' each boast enviable movie credits and net worths, however, the same can't be said for some of the secondary characters.

Take the memorable Luna Lovegood, for example, who played an integral part in the plot after joining the gang for the first time in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

But the actress who took on the role revealed that despite working on four of the eight incredible films, she drastically overestimated how it would impact her career.

It's been over a decade since Evanna Lynch last rubbed shoulders with Radcliffe, Grint and Watson on set, but Harry Potter remains the most high-profile role she has secured.

The 33-year-old, from County Louth, Ireland, beat out more than 15,000 girls at an open casting call to score the role of Lovegood when she was just 14 years old.

During a recent appearance on the Talking Tastebuds podcast, she opened up about how she wrongly assumed that a successful career was pretty much guaranteed after she got the part.

"I think I over blew it, I think I thought, 'Great this is me set for life, this is my career'," Lynch said. "I didn’t think it would be as hard to be an actor as it actually is.

"I noticed a lot of fans have that same reaction to me.

"Sometimes I’ll meet them at conventions and at plays, and I’ll meet them after that and they’ll be like, 'Why are not you doing blockbuster movies?'

"And I’m like, 'Yeah, why am I not? I don’t know, I just didn’t feel like it, that’s all'. They have no concept of how cut-throat the industry is."

Lynch admitted she mistakenly thought she was 'set for life' after playing Luna Lovegood (Warner Bros)

Lynch found that life outside of the wizarding world was a lot tougher than she had imagined - especially as she went from being an 'obsessive' Potterhead to becoming a pivotal character.

Some fans might not be aware, but the actress has an extremely special connection to Harry Potter, as she previously credited J.K Rowling's books with saving her life.

Lynch suffered from anorexia during her school years and found solace in the novels, seeing her eventually write to the author to thank her for 'making her want to live again'.

She knew everything there was to know about the magical franchise and it's cast, before becoming a part of it herself.

"I wasn’t prepared for fame," Lynch continued. "I was ready for the story-telling part, but it was so weird to go from being a fan that used to stalk Daniel Radcliffe to being someone people send fan mail to.

"I was a really obsessive Harry Potter fan. I started reading them when I was about eight, and that was just my whole identity for a while."

Although her affection for Rowling's work ended up doing her a favour in the end, Lynch reckons it is 'not healthy' to be so consumed by fictional things.

"It’s quite embarrassing," the My Name Is Emily star went on. "I did everything - I queued up for the books, I wrote fan mail to Daniel Radcliffe and got his autograph.

The actress, 33, also discussed what it was like going from a Harry Potter superfan to starring in the film (Tristar Media/Getty Images)

"I wrote fan mail to JK Rowling and we became friends," Lynch said. I completely manifested it. All my energy was focused on this.

"But the thing I found is, the whole fan culture is not healthy...being obsessed with someone."

As a self-proclaimed Harry Potter expert, Lynch found it difficult to form organic friendships with her co-stars.

She explained: "When I met Daniel, Rupert, and Emma, I knew everything about them, their pets’ names, birthdays, I knew their parents’ names. I had to pretend I didn’t.

"It also meant I had nothing to say to them, I just adored them.

"I was suddenly confronted with ‘who am I’ and when they asked me what I was interested in, I realised I didn’t even know myself, I didn’t know what to say."

Lynch said although it's okay to admire celebrities, she doesn't think youngsters should view them as 'amazing and godly'.

"Being an obsessive fan is disempowering," she added. "And now, I get people messaging me saying, 'I think you’re my best friend and you just don’t know it yet'.

"And I don’t respond to those people, as I don’t think it’s healthy."