Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe gives up drinking and partying

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has given up alcohol after the pressures of fame made him rely on whisky and partying to enjoy life.

Radcliffe, who played the boy wizard in the film adaptation, has said he is now teetotal and prefers to spend his evenings at home with his girlfriend rather than at parties.

Radcliffe, 22, said he has not had a drink since August last year after he realised that he had become  dependent on alcohol to enjoy himself and was increasingly "complacent" about his job as he developed a penchant for whisky and partying, Australian media has reported.

He said: "I became so reliant on [alcohol] to enjoy stuff. There were a few years there when I was just so enamoured with the idea of living some sort of famous person's lifestyle that really isn't suited to me."

He said he was fortunate that the paparazzi failed to capture his drink-fuelled excess, the Telegraph, London, reported. "I really got away with that because there were many instances when a shot like that could have been taken," he said.

"I'm actually enjoying the fact I can have a relationship with my girlfriend where I'm really pleasant and I'm not ….ing up totally all the time," he said of his new lifestyle.

He told GQ magazine: "As much as I would love to be a person that goes to parties and has a couple of drinks and has a nice time, that doesn't work for me. I do that very unsuccessfully. I'd just rather sit at home and read, or talk to somebody that makes me laugh."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, the last instalment in the franchise, is released this month. Radcliffe said he felt "emotional, nostalgic, elated" that the series based on JK Rowling's books was coming to an end.

Radcliffe was 11 when he was first cast as Harry. He is currently appearing in the Broadway musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, and recently finished filming a big screen version of Susan Hill's ghost story The Woman In Black.

Radcliffe has never confirmed who is his girlfriend, but he is said to be dating Olive Uniacke, stepdaughter of Harry Potter producer David Heyman.