Harry Potter villain Jason Isaacs sneaked off in his father's car and took pals on a hair-raising joyride before crashing into a ditch.

The British actor has confessed he enjoyed some wild times during his teenage years, and his most memorable stunt was a death-defying drive.

He tells the June issue of Reader's Digest magazine, "Like all teenagers, I thought I was immortal and that the laws, both of land and nature, didn't apply to me. At 16, I used to push my parents' car out of the drive while they were asleep at night, pick up my friends and go for drives. And I'd drive amazingly irresponsibly, without any skill or knowledge of the road.

"I'm afraid to say there were many crashes... One time, I was driving to school with a bunch of other kids. I took the bend way too fast and the car rolled over two or three times. We ended up in a ditch, upside down. Being 17 and self-conscious, it was important to me not to be thought of as uncool. So we're hanging there and I went, 'No problem, guys. You go off to maths and I'll see you in a minute.'"

Isaacs was so terrified of getting into trouble with his parents he took the vehicle to a mechanic for repairs - and his father knew nothing of his exploits until he confessed years later.

The actor adds, "We rolled the car back onto its four wheels and I went to the garage, had it cleaned and the wheels straightened. I only told my father the truth about two years ago. He just smiled as if to say, 'Thank God I didn't know on the day.'"