Oliver Phelps

Short Biography

James and Oliver were born in the Sutton Coldfield area of Birmingham, England on 25 February 1986. They are the only sons of Susan (née Spare) and Martyn Phelps. James is the younger of the two by 13 minutes. Growing up, they attended Little Sutton Primary School and the Arthur Terry Secondary School. As they spent an extensive amount of time shooting for Harry Potter, the twins were tutored on set, along with their fellow school-age cast mates.CareerIn 2000, at age 14, the twins skipped school exams to attend an open audition, despite having no previous acting experience, and, after about six auditions, were cast as Fred and George Weasley in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. They went on to portray their characters in all of the subsequent Harry Potter films.Outside of acting, James has worked as a runner on the set of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince although he has afterwards jokingly admitted that he prefers the actor's job because he doesn't have to get up so early, and other film productions, such as The Da Vinci Code. In 2009, the twins appeared as brothers in the 5th episode of the 3rd season of the TV series Kingdom. In 2012, they starred in "A Mind's Eye, " a short documentary film based on the philosophical ideas of Plato.The brothers have also been involved in the Harry Potter Exhibition; they were present during its 2009 official opening in Chicago and have since followed its tour around different cities and countries to promote it. Their second tour was a solo one around Thailand.In January 2014, both went to the Harry Potter Celebration in Orlando, with Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis and Devon Murray. They also made a LiveCast, where they answered fans' questions and talked about the expansion at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where the fans can go to the Diagon Alley, summer 2014.Personal lifeBoth twins enjoy golf and play regularly. Oliver's handicap is 18 and James' is 20. The twins support rival football clubs in Birmingham. Oliver supports Aston Villa, and did so alongside his late grandfather, while James supports Birmingham City with his father. However, both support Gloucester RFC together.The twins enjoy travelling. Both travel around the world to tour and attend sports games and events; Oliver also maintains his own website called JOP World, where he chronicles the various places he visits and keeps fans updated with the brothers' activities.James and Oliver are close with several of the Harry Potter cast members, including Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Daniel Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis. They attended Radcliffe's Broadway performances, and often meet up with Grint, Felton and Lewis to play golf.In the summer of 2013, the twins moved to Santa Monica, California for a while to look at different film projects. Currently, they spend time in the US and back home in the UK.