Congratulations, Evanna Lynch! Ireland is celebrating as the Irish Harry Potter actress comes third in the final of Dancing with the Stars.
Co Louth actress Evanna Lynch has come third in the final of the US Dancing with the Stars. She celebrated alongside professional dance partner Keo Motsepe after receiving a perfect score of 30 out of 30 but it wasn't enough to bring her home the glitterball trophy.
Leading up to her semi-final performance a few weeks back, the 27-year-old opened up about her struggle with anorexia as a young girl and how reading the Harry Potter books and ultimately getting cast for the role of Luna Lovegood "saved" her.
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The Co. Louth native revealed that 2006, "the year [she] booked the role in Harry Potter", was without a doubt the best year of her life.
One of the most recent themes on the reality TV show asked contestants to dance to a song that represented the most memorable year of their life - and naturally, Lynch chose to perform to the Harry Potter theme tune.
The blond actress recalled "knowing in her soul" that she was meant to play Luna Lovegood as she read J.K. Rowling's books.
At the time, when she was 11 years old, she was in and out of hospitals as she suffered from anorexia. She began writing letters to the British author, who would respond.
These letters and the books helped Lynch "through a really difficult time."
Her moving Viennese Waltz performance to Hedwig's Theme with her professional dance partner, Keo Motsepe, was enough points to graduate to next week - she earned 9/10 from all three judges to achieve joint-second.
She movingly told cameras that securing the role as whimsical Luna Lovegood showed her she had something to offer the world.
"I love the feeling of creating and acting more than I love the feeling of being skinny," she said.
Have you been following Evanna's success? We'll be tuning in next Monday night to cheer her along in the final.
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