Rupert Grint may have landed the role of a lifetime in Harry Potter, but the actor admits all was not as it seemed.

The 34-year-old, who played Harry Potter's best friend Ron Weasley from 2001 to 2011, said the experience was at times "overwhelming".

“Potter was so intense – shooting all year, and the rest of the time we'd be promoting the film. It was quite overwhelming," the Brit told Bustle.

"I wanted a break, to reflect on everything... It was a difficult experience, but I think we ended it at the right time. If we had continued, it could have gone wrong."

Elsewhere in the interview, the actor said that at one point, it became unclear who he was and who the character was.

"I felt overshadowed. My character and I became one. At one point I was just playing myself."

Grint revealed that he still responds to the name "Ron" if someone addresses him that way, adding that it is now his "middle name".

The rise in the public eye also brought a "competitive element" among the cast.

"'Who's doing what?' People opposing our careers. We're all completely different and we're going down different paths," he said of his former co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson.

The actor is now the father of a daughter, Wednesday G. Grint, with his partner Georgia Groom. They met in 2011 and welcomed their first child in May 2020.