Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe comes to Inside the Actor's Studio

With a newly grown, yet sparse, beard and crisp gray suit, Daniel Radcliffe stepped onto the stage at the University's Michael Schimmel Center amidst frenzied cheering and shrieking from the mostly female crowd. As Radcliffe took his seat across from Inside the Actor's Studio host James Lipton, he scanned the crowd bemusedly.

"This is really easy," he said. "I don't even have to say anything…Wow, this is a huge glass."

Born on July 23, 1989, Daniel James Radcliffe is most renowned for his role as Harry Potter in the movie adaptations of J.K. Rowling's book series. Since his acting career launched, there have been a slew of projects - both for the silver screen and television - in which he proved to the critics just how versatile and daring he can be. Perhaps the most notable of these endeavors is his starring role in Peter Shaffer's play, Equus, now on Broadway.

Radcliffe was born to a Northern Irish Protestant father and a Jewish mother, both of whom were initially adamant against their son entering the entertainment industry due to their religious piety. At around 12 years old, Radcliffe became decidedly less religious. "I realized I can't believe more out of fear than anything else," he said. Ultimately, his folks backed him in his ambitions.

"I was crap at everything." Radcliffe laughed, telling Lipton that back in school, he was neither exceptional in academics or athletics. Radcliffe's mother hoped that acting would help her son break out of his shell and watched him grow first in a small production of Aladdin at age five; David Copperfield, in which he starred with Maggie Smith (Harry Potter's Professor McGonagall); then in The Tailor of Panama, alongside Pierce Brosnan. Despite these early forays into the world of drama - he amusingly compares his transformation to a "baby photo slideshow" - Radcliffe admits that he is still somewhat shy. "I'm very good with adults," he said. "I only have a few friends my age…It's sort of hard to talk to people." He likens this and several of his other idiosyncrasies to the character of Harry Potter.

"Many young children live through their imagination. Did you?" inquired Lipton. "Yes, and I still do," Radcliffe responded. "I have this fascination with the world. I like to observe weird things like how a door closes, or the grates on a subway platform."

Although he allows that he cannot even begin to imagine what Rowling's protagonist's loss of his parents could have felt like, Radcliffe said that like Harry, he too has an "innate curiosity about the world…We have very good friends too."

Radcliffe added, "We have a stubbornness not to involve people and to solve our own problems…And I pick people up on stuff. I'm very irritating to argue with, like Harry would be, I'd imagine."

It was only during the filming of the third Harry Potter installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, that Radcliffe became fully convinced that acting was his calling. This was largely due to the methods of director Alfonso Cuaron, who oftentimes pushed Radcliffe to his limits. Radcliffe described his ideal director: "You want somebody you can suggest things to, not someone you're intimidated by. You also want somebody who will turn to you after a take and say, 'That was not very good at all.' That's how you know you can trust his judgment."

A few remarkable tidbits about filming the Potter series were revealed. For instance, in the most recent films, all the shots of Hogwarts were merely close-ups of models. The Quidditch broomstick on which Radcliffe rode was in fact attached to a bike saddle - Radcliffe remarked, "You lean forward on…everything." In addition, he cites Robbie Coltrane, who plays Hagrid the groundskeeper, as "the guy who tells dirty jokes." Alluding to the epilogue in the final Potter book being portrayed in film by his cohorts Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, Radcliffe chuckled, "It's going to be a source of entertainment to see Ron and Hermione together."

Several clips of Radcliffe's varied roles were played, including Harry Potter, December Boys, My Boy Jack and his infamous cameo in Ricky Gervais' series, Extras. In the latter, Radcliffe played an oversexed youth who is all too eager to break free of the mold that Harry Potter had cast him in. Radcliffe remarked that the appearance revealed to critics that he wasn't "a complete prat…I think it helped people see that I have a sense of humor." Radcliffe squirmed and turned away from the screen as it played his earlier work, calling the clips "embarrassing." "You don't look back," Lipton aptly observed.

On a totally different plane is Equus, a play in which Radcliffe portrays Alan Strang, a tormented stable boy who looks for comfort in horses as a means of escape from his oppressive father. This ultimately leads to a sexual fixation on the animals. This psychological tour de force explores the consequences of, as Radcliffe put it, "taking away someone's identity in order to make them fit into society." He had already done the play for a year in London prior to coming to Broadway.

In describing his preparation for the role, he remarked, "I knew I had to get fit, because I'd be naked," to which the audience responded with approving whoops and hollers. "Nice. That was like the sounds of the rainforest," Radcliffe mused in response. He is especially partial to New York audiences in contrast to those of London. "[New York audiences] are amazing. They pick up on everything and are more generous." He then turned towards the audience. "Let me try something. What would you guys say if I said Barack Obama?" The crowd immediately erupted in ecstatic applause. Radcliffe didn't seem surprised. "You're very lucky to have him," he said simply. One of Hollywood's most wanted talents, Radcliffe insists that he is an average guy. He loves The Simpsons and artists like The Libertines, David Bowie and Lou Reed - "Nothing that's pseudo-pop punk," he added. "That's terrible."