You probably know Tom Ackerley as the powerhouse producer behind Barbie or as the husband of Margot Robbie. They're a Hollywood power couple. Total moguls. But if you rewind the clock about twenty years, long before the red carpets and the LuckyChap Entertainment empire, Tom was just another kid in a school robe standing on a set in Leavesden.
Yeah. He was in the Wizarding World.
Most people don't believe it at first because, honestly, he isn't exactly front and center. He wasn't playing a young Sirius Black or a secret Weasley cousin. He was an extra. A background actor. But his "role" in the franchise has become a bit of a legendary trivia nugget, mostly because of how his wife, Margot Robbie, talks about it in interviews.
Why Tom Ackerley in Harry Potter Is Such a Viral Secret
It started on The Graham Norton Show. Margot Robbie, a self-proclaimed "massive, massive Harry Potter nerd," revealed the truth to a global audience. She basically joked that if she’d known he was in the films when they met, they would have been married much sooner. It’s a funny image: the future producer of Saltburn and I, Tonya just hanging out while Daniel Radcliffe learned how to handle a wand.
Specifically, Tom appeared in the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
He wasn't a Gryffindor. Actually, he was a Slytherin.
If you go back and watch the scene where Draco Malfoy pushes through a crowd of students to get a look at Buckbeak the Hippogriff, keep your eyes on the background. When Draco yells "Get out of the way, Potter!" and shoves past people, he actually shoves a young Tom Ackerley.
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That’s his big moment. Getting pushed by Tom Felton.
Life as a Child Extra in the UK
Back in the early 2000s, being a background actor in Harry Potter was almost a rite of passage for kids living near the London film hubs. It was a massive operation. They needed hundreds of students for the Great Hall scenes, the courtyard shots, and the Hogsmeade trips.
Tom wasn't alone in this.
The production was famous for its "Potter school," where kids would do their actual schoolwork in trailers between takes. It was a grind. Long hours. Cold English mornings. Wearing heavy wool robes for twelve hours a day while waiting for the lighting department to fix a rig. For Ackerley, this was his first real taste of a professional film set. It wasn't about the "glamour" of acting; it was about the mechanics of how a massive production functions.
You can see how that shaped him. Most actors who start as extras stay in front of the camera or leave the industry entirely. Ackerley went the other way. He saw the gears turning. He saw how the assistant directors managed the chaos. Eventually, he worked his way up the ladder not as a performer, but as a crew member. Before he was producing Oscar-nominated films, he was a floor runner and an assistant director on sets like War Horse and Macbeth.
The Slytherin Connection
It’s kind of perfect that he was cast as a Slytherin. In the movies, the Slytherins were always the ones looking slightly moody in the background, wearing the green and silver scarves. While we don't see him casting any Unforgivable Curses or hanging out in the common room with Pansy Parkinson, he fits the aesthetic of that 2004 era perfectly.
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Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who famously told the kids to wear their uniforms however they wanted. He wanted them to look like real teenagers, not stiff actors. This is why you see kids with untucked shirts and messy hair in that movie. If you spot Tom in that crowd, he looks like any other British schoolboy of the time.
Does it actually matter?
Some people think these tiny cameos are overblown. "He was just a background actor," they say. Sure. But in the context of film history, it's a bridge between two very different eras of cinema. You have the massive, studio-driven machinery of the early 2000s Potter mania, and then you have the modern, creator-led era that Ackerley now helps lead with LuckyChap.
It also says a lot about his work ethic. He didn't parachute into the top of the industry. He started at the literal bottom of the call sheet.
How to Find Him Yourself
If you’re planning a rewatch, here is exactly what to do. Skip to the scenes where the Care of Magical Creatures class is heading out to the forest. Look for Draco Malfoy. Usually, Draco is flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, but there’s a wider circle of Slytherin extras.
- Load up Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
- Find the Hagrid/Buckbeak sequence.
- Look for the "shove."
- Pause.
It’s a "once you see it, you can't unsee it" situation. He has that same distinct face, just much younger and surrounded by 90s-style wizarding hair.
Beyond the Wand: From Extra to Executive
It’s wild to think about the trajectory. From being an unnamed student shoved by a fictional bully to producing Barbie, the highest-grossing film of 2023. Ackerley’s career path is a masterclass in industry longevity.
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He didn't lean on the "I was in Harry Potter" thing to get ahead. In fact, most people didn't even know about it until his wife started teasing him about it during the Barbie press tours. It’s a fun piece of trivia, but his real legacy is the slate of films he’s produced that actually challenge the industry norms.
Actionable Takeaways for Movie Buffs
If you're hunting for Tom Ackerley in the Harry Potter universe, keep these specific details in mind so you don't waste time looking at the wrong movies:
- Stick to Film Three: Don't bother looking in Sorcerer's Stone or Deathly Hallows. His confirmed appearances are centered around the Cuarón-directed third installment.
- Watch the Slytherins: He is never in Gryffindor red. Focus on the green ties and the darker robes.
- Check the Credits: You won't find his name in the acting credits on IMDb for these roles because background work is rarely credited. You have to look at his "Production" credits to see his actual professional rise, starting around 2011.
- Verify the Source: If you see "quotes" from him talking about his deep character back-story as a wizard, they’re probably fake. He’s been very low-key about it, usually letting Margot do the talking.
The next time you’re watching Draco Malfoy act like a brat in the Forbidden Forest, remember that one of the guys he’s pushing around would grow up to run one of the most successful production companies in modern Hollywood. It’s a small world, especially in the UK film industry.
To see the transition for yourself, compare his "Slytherin student" look to his later work as an assistant director on The Brothers Grimsby or Promising Young Woman. It’s the ultimate "started from the bottom" story for the film industry.
Next Steps for Research:
Check out the The Graham Norton Show episode featuring Margot Robbie and Jamie Dornan for the original clip where this was revealed. You can also cross-reference his early crew credits on IMDb to see how he transitioned from background work to third assistant director roles within a few years of the Potter franchise ending. For a deeper look at his current work, look into the founding of LuckyChap Entertainment in 2014, which marks his official shift from the "crew" side of the camera to the "producer" side.