Side-By-Side Pics Of Tom Felton's Face Transformation Are Jarring

When looking at photos of former child star Tom Felton, from December 2025, certain people found it difficult to believe that he was only 38 at the time they were taken. In fact, at first glance, many social media commentators even mistook Felton for "Succession" star Matthew Macfadyen, who is notably 13 years older than him. Plenty couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that Felton's former co-star, Daniel Radcliffe, was also only two years his junior either. When we compare photos of Felton from November 2021 and December 2025, it's hard to ignore all the visible signs of aging that have appeared on his face in the intervening years. Even the actor's hair seems to have noticeably thinned out over a relatively short amount of time. However, Felton seems to be aging naturally, which is something worth appreciating in a world where countless male celebrities have become unrecognizable after plastic surgery. 

Stephane Cardinale – Corbis & Bruce Glikas/Getty

For his part, the British star has taken a lighthearted approach to growing older in the past. In 2019, the former child actor posted an Instagram snap of himself posing next to a portrait of him in character from one of the earliest "Harry Potter" films. The photo was aptly captioned, "Agings [sic] a b****h." The throwback warranted a hilarious response from Matthew Lewis, the actor who played Neville Longbottom and grew up to be gorgeous. "Speak for yourself lad!" he wrote underneath, to appreciate the passage of time for his own glow-up. At the end of the day, though, it's not just Felton's apparent aging that has had tongues wagging. It has been nearly impossible for him to escape the criticism that he never grew out of his "Harry Potter" character.

While most of the cast of "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" has been up to a lot since the beloved franchise ended, Tom Felton has stayed relatively close to home. After appearing predominantly in smaller roles in various movies and TV shows over the years, the former child star reprised his most famous character in Broadway's "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" in 2025. While some fans happily raced down memory lane after his first appearance onstage, others rolled their eyes at it, arguing that he should not be clinging to the role 14 years after the final movie was released. One commentator on X, formerly known as Twitter, even quipped that he would soon move on to playing his onscreen father, Lucius Malfoy. Moreover, Felton's decision to appear in a modern adaptation of JK Rowling's work did not sit right with people either. 

When Variety asked the actor if he had any reservations about reprising his role due to the controversy surrounding Rowling and her transphobic remarks, he answered in the negative, reasoning, "I'm not really that attuned to it." After gushing about how the franchise had positively impacted his life, the actor added, "I have not seen anything bring the world together more than Potter. She's responsible for that, so I'm incredibly grateful." His response naturally didn't sit well with many netizens, who called Felton out for being self-serving and tone deaf. Moreover, it's difficult to imagine that the "Fackham Hall" star was not "attuned" to the controversy surrounding Rowling, given that his former co-stars Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Daniel Radcliffe all publicly voiced their support for the trans community when the author amped up her rhetoric.