In a new interview with Independent.ie, Evanna Lynch talks about her life post-Harry Potter. She talks about her recent trip to the Philippines with UNICEF.

“That was the really strange thing,” she muses down the line from her home in Los Angeles. “These people were living in tin huts with no sanitation, but they had camera-phones and knew instantly what ‘Harry Potter’ was.

“On the trip, I wanted to learn about the country and really get my hands dirty, but I found I was having to be a celebrity. I thought to myself ‘this is so useless’, and I felt like a bit of a bimbo, to be honest. But after a while I was like, ‘get over yourself’. These people want hope, and that’s what helps them in the long term. What they want is a voice in the world.”

“I’m aware of my ignorance of countries that have suffered disasters,” she says. “I often get caught up in feeling sorry for myself, and I have to work hard to combat that. Nothing forces you into gratitude more than being in a disaster-struck country.”

She also talks about when one of her projects, Monster Butler, which also starred Gary Oldman, was dropped (we originally reported on the film in June 2012):

“When ‘Monster Butler’ fell through at the last minute, I was heartbroken for a few weeks, but it was my first big lesson in LA,” Lynch admits. “I remember Jason [Isaacs] saying to me that to move out to LA, you have to make sure you really want it,” she continues. “People aren’t doing you any favours here. You can’t coast on something you did before as there are so many talented and ambitious people here.”

She goes on to talk about her other job, as a yoga instructor:

“The funny thing is that I’ve been told that to make it as a yoga teacher in Los Angeles is harder than making it in Hollywood,” she laughs. For now, she gives private sessions, and the occasional public class, where she mercifully doesn’t get recognised for her most famous alter-ego.

“Anyone who has been through an eating disorder needs to do something physical to give themselves peace of mind,” she explains. “I don’t believe in nourishing just one part of the soul or mind or body: I want to pay attention to all of them. I don’t think anyone can just be an actor. Acting jobs, when they come along, I see them as a real gift … but I needed a real person job. Acting can be very solitary, and very ‘me-me-me’. Yoga puts it all back in balance.”

Read the full interview, here.