London’s Most Influential List Includes Wealth of “Potter” Stars

Is it really that time of year again already? It seems like we’ve only just finished with award season, and here we are, already looking at lists of names. However, this one is a little different from the usual award nominations list. The Evening Standard, a London newspaper, has revealed its list of London’s Most Influential People 2016, called Progress 1000, and as can be expected, it includes a wide range of familiar Potter names – from stars of the Harry Potter films to Cursed Child cast and crew.

The list is divided into categories, including Theater, Pioneers, Rising Stars, Film, and more, as well as a separate Top 25.

Sonia Friedman, producer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, has been named tenth on the Top 25 list. On the recognition, she said,

I am of course thrilled to be listed alongside so many talented and dedicated Londoners. I am especially pleased that in doing so the Evening Standard’s list recognises the vital part that art and in particular theatre, plays in the capital’s economic, social and cultural life.

Other familiar names on the overall lists range from stars of the Harry Potter films to current cast members of Cursed Child. Check out the highlights below.

Film

Emma Thompson (Professor Sybill Trewlawney, Harry Potter)

Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts)

Colin Farrell (Percival Graves, Fantastic Beasts)

Katherine Waterston (Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein, Fantastic Beasts)

Theater

Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter)

Sir Kenneth Branagh (Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry Potter)

Noma Dumezweni (Hermione, Cursed Child)

Sir Lenny Henry (voice of the shrunken head, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)

Jamie Parker (Harry, Cursed Child)

Rory Kinnear (Barry Fairbrother, The Casual Vacancy)

Simon McBurney (Kreacher, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1)

Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy, Harry Potter)

TV (Drama)

Dame Maggie Smith (Professor Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter)

Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour, Harry Potter)

Keeley Hawes (Samantha Mollison, The Casual Vacancy)

Equality Champs

Stephen Fry (British audiobook narrator)

Legacies

Alan Rickman (Professor Severus Snape, Harry Potter)

Find out more about the Progress 1000 lists here. Congratulations to everyone on the list! It’s great to see so many familiar names making an impact on London stages and on TV and movie theater screens everywhere across the world.

Any other Londoners you think should have been featured? What do you make of the list? Let us know in the comments!