Tom Felton banned his mother from Googling him.

Tom Felton bans mum from Googling him

Tom Felton bans mum from Googling him

The 34-year-old actor - who has 11 million followers on Instagram - shot to fame playing Draco Malfoy in the blockbuster wizarding saga 'Harry Potter', and he's admitted he won't allow his mum, Sharon Anstey, to search his name online in case she discovers anything negative about him.

Tom said of social media: “It can really affect you. I try to do as best as I can, really. We don’t really have too many examples – bearing in mind that when we did it, 20 years ago, obviously there was no social media.

"There wasn’t anything at all. To suddenly be in this world now where you can type in God knows what … I banned my mum from Googling me."

The 'Ophelia' star also revealed that he doesn't get noticed much on the streets, and even when people do spot him, they don't necessarily know who is.

Speaking to Square Mile, he said: "I get the best of both worlds. I take the Tube, I take the bus, I walk my dog in the park. I saw Emma [Watson, Hermione Granger] the other night – she looks exactly the same as she did 10 years ago. It's almost impossible for her not to be spotted. I get a lot of people whispering, 'Is that whatshisname?'"

However, things may have been very different for Tom, if he had been cast in the titular role like he very nearly was.

Director Chris Columbus – who helmed the first two movies – recently revealed Warner Bros. bosses were keen to cast Tom in the lead role but he "knew" the young actor would be better as the villainous schoolboy.

Chris said: “Tom was a great actor as well, so we thought, let’s just dye Tom’s hair, give him a scar, give him the glasses and let’s see.

"He did a great Harry Potter reading. The problem is you can really kind of tell when an 11- or 12-year-old kid’s hair is dyed.

"He was so good at Malfoy. I just couldn’t pass that up. I knew Tom had to play Malfoy.”

Chris had been keen to cast Daniel Radcliffe as Harry from the moment he saw the then-11-year-old actor's "complex and interesting" onscreen presence on TV.

He recalled: “I was up late one night in London watching BBC, and there was a miniseries of David Copperfield. There was a young Dan Radcliffe in it, for about two or three scenes. But I thought, ‘That’s Harry Potter.'"

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