Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking is the latest addition to the fantastical franchise and the competition series is airing on Amazon Prime Video. The baking show is hosted by the film franchise's Weasley brothers, James and Oliver Phelps.
Throughout the series, the bakers have a chance to meet some of the Harry Potter cast, including Luna Lovegood actress Evanna Lynch as she recalls fond memories from her time filming. The 33-year-old actress was born in County Louth, Ireland, and she became a fan of the Harry Potter books when she was eight years old.
She has two older sisters and a younger brother, and her uncle, Declan Kiberd, is a well-known writer and scholar of Irish literature. Her second uncle, Damien Kiberd, is an Irish journalist and commentator who was one of the four founders of The Sunday Business Post.
He has also worked more recently as a presenter of news-discussion programmes on Newstalk and 4fm. Evanna went to school at Our Lady's College in Drogheda, where her father was the deputy principal. While on the Harry Potter film set, she was tutored for at least three hours a day in order to keep her studying up.
When she was just 11 years old, she developed an eating disorder and was hospitalised a number of times with anorexia. She wrote to Harry Potter author J K Rowling to say the books were the only thing that could distract from her condition.
"I started writing to JK Rowling and she wrote back and we became pen friends after that," she told Dancing With the Stars during her stint on the show.
"I was in and out of hospital and I would be getting these letters." The actress went on to say that "her books and her kindness really made me want to live again".
During the release of the fifth book, Order of the Phoenix, in June 2003, she was hospitalised and her family spoke to the book's publisher and the hospital so she could leave for an hour and collect a signed copy of the book.
In January 2006, she discovered the open casting call for Luna Lovegood and landed the part aged 14.
"I love the feeling of creating and acting more than I love the feeling of being skinny or of being perfect," she said.
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"Being in Harry Potter changed my life because it proved to me that I could do something, that I had something to offer the world."
Outside of acting, the star is known for being an activist and advocate for veganism. She also hosts The ChickPeeps podcast alongside her Harry Potter co-star and ex-boyfriend Robbie Jarvis.
Evanna made the relationship public in 2015 but they split the following year, remaining on good terms.
She then dated singer-songwriter AnDel in 2017 but the pair are no longer together. As of 2021, she was reportedly dating a French man she met in London.
She also hosts the podcast Just Beings, for which she explores how people can think positively and compassionately.
Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking is available to watch on Prime Video
