From Broadway understudy to star: John Skelley's magical journey with Harry Potter comes full circle

“It’s like something that just kind of keeps coming back into my life,” says Skelley. “There have been multiple times where I thought, ‘Well, that might be the last time I do it.’ And then the opportunity kind of keeps coming back.”

All this from a guy who wasn’t initially a huge fan of Potter and the gang from Hogwarts. He hadn’t read the books before he auditioned, nor seen the stage show, although he had seen the movies when visiting his now-wife in grad school while she was at class.

Once he landed the gig, Skelley inhaled the “Harry Potter” books — one a week for seven weeks — and has listened to two different audiobooks. Harry Potter is now front and center.

“It’s definitely become a huge part of my professional and personal life,” he says. “I mean, the amount of Harry Potter memorabilia sitting in front of me right now is crazy.”

‘Do you want to go to Hogwarts?’

The Minneapolis-born Skelley has been acting since age 8 when he starred in “It’s a Jungle Out There,” his second grade class musical. He graduated from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program and has been a professional actor since 2007.

He and his wife, the actor Maren Searle, moved to New York in 2014 and for four years landed commercial voice work, off-Broadway gigs and narrated audiobooks.

He earned a New York actor’s rite of passage when he was cast in an episode of “Law & Order: SVU,” playing a Legal Aid lawyer. “I had like two lines, but I felt like I’d made it: ‘I’m a New York actor now. ‘Law & Order,’ baby!’”

Then he got a call from his agent asking if he was willing to audition as an understudy for Potter, going on if the main actor was ill or unavailable. He naturally said yes.

The play picks up 19 years after the end of the final novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” An adult Potter is married to Ginny Weasley, sister of his best friend, Ron, who married brainy Hermione. Both couples have children and all are in danger again.

Skelley attended an hourlong movement call — at one point dancing with a wand — and then was asked to perform two scenes from the play. He tried to keep smiling.

“When I was a kid, I was trying out for the freshman football team, and I was not the greatest athlete by far. But my philosophy was like, ‘Run to the end of the drill, run to the end of the line, make sure you’re the kid who doesn’t give up early.’ And that won me my spot on the football team. So, I tried to have that same attitude.”

He got a call-back two days later for another movement call. He left thinking it hadn’t gone well and he’d lost the chance. The next day his agent called with a question: “Do you want to go to Hogwarts?”

“My wife and I are both actors, and we had been in New York for about four years and struggling and trying to just make ends meet,” he says. “And then, all of a sudden, this job came up, and it just felt like such a like a lifesaver.”

Taking Potter around the nation

The day after he made his Broadway debut as Potter, he went to a call-back and got the same role for the upcoming San Francisco production, which opened in December 2019. It closed in March 2020 as the pandemic gripped the nation.

The San Francisco show reopened in December 2021 and closed the following September. Skelley and his wife moved back to New York and within weeks got an offer to take “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on tour — Chicago for six months, Los Angeles for four and Washington, D.C., for two. Searle got a job in the ensemble, so they toured together. Then the call came for him to make the Potter role his own this winter on Broadway.

One of Skelley’s fans is John Tiffany, who directs “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and calls the actor a vital member of the show’s extended family.

“He brings so much truth and vulnerability to the role of Harry. It’s been a joy to watch his performance deepen over the last seven years as he’s explored this iconic character,” Tiffany says. “A consummate professional and company leader, we’re beyond thrilled to have John back on Broadway for this full-circle moment.”

Skelley’s wife also landed a role in the company, and she understudies, among other parts, Ginny, which means every once in a while, they get to play husband and wife on stage. And these days, he’s acting opposite Tom Felton, who reprises the role of Draco Malfoy.

“It’s amazing seeing people kind of my age who grew up with the books who have kids of their own who are bringing them to the theater,” Skelley says. “A lot of the time, it’s their first time seeing a play.”

Skelley hopes that people coming to see “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” will leave wanting to see more live theater in their communities.

“I’ve made my career in the theater, and it’s certainly not easy for a lot of theaters, especially now. So I just hope that this in some small part can re-energize and excite people to go see theater.”