In the film adaptations of Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Chamber of Secrets (2002), Dumbledore is portrayed by Richard Harris, who was expected to play the character throughout the series. Before Harris was cast, Patrick McGoohan reportedly had an interest in the role, but could not commit due to health issues. Sean Connery was approached, but declined due to the film's subject matter. Harris turned down the role three times but eventually accepted it because his 11-year-old granddaughter threatened to never speak to him again if he did not take it. Harris was determined to portray Dumbledore again in Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), despite having been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, and asked David Heyman not to recast the role. However, his death in October 2002 necessitated recasting.

Christopher Lee was the producer's immediate choice for replacing Harris, but scheduling conflicts due to Lee's commitments as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels forced him to decline. Ian McKellen was also offered the role, but he turned it down, having played the similar character Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as feeling it would have been inappropriate to take Harris' role, as Harris had called McKellen a "dreadful" actor. Harris' family had expressed an interest in seeing Peter O'Toole being chosen as his replacement. Harry Robinson, who doubled for Harris in the first two films, and who also lent his voice in the first Harry Potter video game, was also considered for the role of Dumbledore. Four months after Harris's death, Michael Gambon was cast as his replacement. Gambon adopted a slight Irish accent for the role. He plays the character in all the remaining Harry Potter films.

In flashback scenes in Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, a young Dumbledore is portrayed by Toby Regbo. In the prequel films Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), Dumbledore is played by Jude Law.

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In the novels, Dumbledore is described as tall, thin and elderly. His hair and beard are long and silver. He has a long and crooked nose, long fingers and bright blue eyes. He wears half-moon spectacles and a colourful array of robes. He once claimed to have a scar above his left knee in the shape of a map of the London Underground. At some point between the fifth and sixth novels, Dumbledore puts on a cursed ring, which causes his right hand to become blackened and disfigured.

Dumbledore is described as benevolent and wise. His demeanour is often described as serene, ethereal and composed, and he rarely displays strong emotions. He is eccentric, slightly effeminate and fond of knitting. He is known for his odd displays of whimsicality, and he often uses humour to put others at ease. His eyes are sometimes described as twinkling with kindness or mischief. Dumbledore is highly perceptive and emotionally intelligent, and has a deep capacity for love. He sees the good in every person, and insists on giving people second chances. Dumbledore's personality also has a more steely aspect. When he apprehends Barty Crouch Jr in Goblet of Fire, the look upon his face is described as "more terrible than Harry could have ever imagined." As Harry observes the "cold fury" in Dumbledore's visage, he understands why Voldemort fears him.

In spite of Dumbledore's many extraordinary qualities, he is a flawed character. According to Rowling, "Although Dumbledore seems to be so benign for six books, he's quite a Machiavellian figure, really. He's been pulling a lot of strings." In a 2005 interview, Rowling commented: "Immense brainpower does not protect you from emotional mistakes, and I think Dumbledore really exemplifies that." Dumbledore's greatest flaw, which he admits to Harry, is his desire for power. He eventually finds that those best suited for power are those who do not seek it. When he and Grindelwald first meet, they make plans to enslave Muggles and re-establish wizards as the natural rulers of the world. However, Dumbledore becomes disillusioned of this fantasy after his sister Ariana is killed during a duel between himself, his brother Aberforth, and Grindelwald.

Dumbledore is riddled with guilt over the circumstances surrounding the death of his sister. He feels enormous remorse for his selfishness in getting involved in the circumstances that led to her death, and is tortured for the rest of his life by the possibility that he might have been the one who cast the spell that killed her. When he looks into the Mirror of Erised, he sees himself redeemed in the eyes of his brother and his entire family alive and together.

Dumbledore is considered by many characters to be the most powerful wizard alive. Some say he is the only wizard Voldemort ever feared. During his education at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was known as the most brilliant student to have ever stepped into the school, winning "every prize of note that the school offered", and doing "things with a wand [the examiner had] never seen before". Rowling has said that Dumbledore is primarily self-taught, although he "had access to superb teachers at Hogwarts". Dumbledore readily acknowledges that he is unusually intelligent and an exceptionally powerful wizard. He admits a number of times to Harry in that he makes mistakes, and since he is smarter than most people, his mistakes "tend to be correspondingly huger." Dumbledore is also skilled in Occlumency, Legilimency and Transfiguration.

Dumbledore is the owner and master of the Elder Wand, an extremely powerful object which is one of the Deathly Hallows. He also has a pet phoenix named Fawkes. It is revealed in Philosopher's Stone by Mr. Ollivander that Harry's wand carries a phoenix feather as its magical core and that particular phoenix only gave one other feather, the one in Voldemort's wand that gave Harry his scar. It is later revealed in Goblet of Fire that Fawkes was the phoenix whose feathers provide the magical core in Harry's and Voldemort's wands.

The character of Albus Dumbledore has been compared to other archetypal "wise old man" characters. Dumbledore acts much like Merlin from The Sword in the Stone, in the manner of an "absent-minded professor"; both Merlin and Dumbledore educate a story's main character in a castle. As writer Evelyn Perry notes, "Dumbledore resembles Merlin both personally and physically; he is an avid lover of books and wisdom who wears flowing robes and a long, white beard." Dumbledore has also been compared with Gandalf from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Dave Kopel draws comparisons between Rowling's writing and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and states that, among the Christian symbols that Rowling has used in her books, Dumbledore acts like "the bearded God the Father" figure in which Harry puts his faith to be saved from Voldemort and his servants. IGN also listed Dumbledore as their fifth favourite Harry Potter character, saying that "[f]or a character that was introduced into popular culture a mere twelve years ago, it speaks volumes that Professor Dumbledore has already taken his place among the great mentor figures in literature and film". IGN's Joe Utichi called Dumbledore his third favourite Harry Potter character, calling the revelation that he wasn't so "infallible" one of the most heartbreaking themes of the final book. Actor Michael Gambon received some criticism for his louder, more aggressive, portrayal of the character, who is depicted as exhibiting a more subdued, unflappable calm in the books. This has been attributed to Gambon's policy of not reading the source material from which his films are adapted.

As a main character of the series, major facts relating to Dumbledore have generated a vast number of essays and discussions. The death of Dumbledore at the end of Half-Blood Prince was discussed by fans and critics alike. A website named DumbledoreIsNotDead.com sought to understand the events of the sixth book in a different way and provided arguments to claim that the character did not really die. However, Rowling confirmed on 2 August 2006 that Dumbledore was, in fact, dead, humorously apologising to the website as she did so. Along with DumbledoreIsNotDead.com, a collection of essays, Who Killed Albus Dumbledore?: What Really Happened in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Six Expert Harry Potter Detectives Examine the Evidence, was published by Zossima Press in November 2006. In NextMovie.com's Harry Potter Mega Poll, Dumbledore's death was voted as the most unforgettable moment in the whole series.

In the Chamber of Secrets DVD interview, screenwriter Steve Kloves stated that he considers Dumbledore a fascinating character because of the wisdom he provides, but he feels that "Dumbledore bears such a tremendous dark burden, and he knows secrets and I think in many ways he bears the weight of the future of the wizard world" and the "only way that he can keep that at bay, the darkness, is to be whimsical and humorous".

In October 2007, while answering reader questions during a book reading at Carnegie Hall, Rowling was asked if Dumbledore had ever been in love. She answered, "I always thought Dumbledore is gay". She discussed for the first time his romantic relationship with his rival Gellert Grindelwald, describing it as a "great tragedy". She said she had informed David Yates, the director of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, of Dumbledore's sexuality by writing a note in the screenplay. She had crossed out a section where Dumbledore describes his attraction to a woman, and had written "Dumbledore is gay." When Yates learned about Dumbledore's sexuality, he recalled thinking it was "pretty cool". Michael Gambon, who portrays Dumbledore in six of the eight Harry Potter films, was reportedly amused by the revelation. Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry in the film series, found the news "hilarious".

The revelation of Dumbledore's sexuality occurred after the publication of the final novel, and made international news. Some gay rights activists and organizations praised Rowling, while others wished she had gone further to promote acceptance of homosexuality. A spokesman for the advocacy group Stonewall applauded the revelation, saying "It's great that JK has said this. It shows that there's no limit to what gay and lesbian people can do, even being a wizard headmaster." The gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell welcomed the news about Dumbledore, but was disappointed that Rowling did not mention his sexuality in the novels. In an editorial for The Guardian, the journalist James Ball wrote that depicting "the respected, heroic and beloved Albus Dumbledore as [a] fully realised gay character—whose sexuality was merely incidental to his achievements—would have provided a fictional role model like no other. With homophobic bullying still such a significant issue in schools, this is a missed opportunity with a real sting in the tail." Writing for Time, John Cloud argued that Dumbledore's silence about his sexuality implies that he is ashamed of it. Cloud claimed this silence "suggests a lack of personal integrity that is completely out of character."

Melissa Anelli, the webmaster of the fan site The Leaky Cauldron, praised the revelation, saying it promoted tolerance towards homosexuality. She added, "By dubbing someone so respected, so talented and so kind, as someone who just happens to be also homosexual, [Rowling is] reinforcing the idea that a person's gayness is not something of which they should be ashamed." Mark Harris of Entertainment Weekly said Rowling's choice "to make a beloved professor-mentor gay in a world where gay teachers are still routinely slandered as malign influences was, I am certain, no accident." Mike Thomas of the Orlando Sentinel claimed that Rowling displayed great skill by writing a gay character without labelling him as gay. Edward Rothstein of The New York Times said that "Rowling may think of Dumbledore as gay" but "there is no reason why anyone else should".

In a 2016 article, Aja Romano of Vox observed a critical stance among many Harry Potter fans towards Rowling's revelation. Romano asserted that because Dumbledore's homosexuality was revealed after his death, certain fans felt that Rowling contributed to a "longstanding, problematic 'dead gays' trope" instead of showing the headmaster "living out his queer identity". After the release of the film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), Delia Harrington of Den of Geek criticised the film's failure to mention Dumbledore's homosexuality. She claimed that Rowling, who wrote the screenplay, put Dumbledore back in "the closet". In a 2019 opinion piece in The Washington Post, Richard Morgan also expressed frustration that the headmaster is not portrayed as gay in the film. He quoted Matt Collette, the producer of the Nancy podcast, who had discussed the topic in a 2017 episode. Collette called Rowling a "queerbaiter", which Collette defined as "a writer who puts in just enough of a queer story line to appease the fans who'd like one, but not so much as to offend anyone who doesn't like gay people."

Some critics argued that Dumbledore's sexuality might not be considered canon. The New York Times columnist Edward Rothstein said that "Ms. Rowling may think of Dumbledore as gay"; however, "there is no reason why anyone else should". The East Tennessee State University's student newspaper accused Rowling of lying, saying her answer was a publicity stunt. Other critics quoted the Death of the Author principle, stating that Rowling's subsequent commentary is irrelevant to the understanding of the books.

In the third film in the series, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), Dumbledore mentions that he was in love with Grindelwald, and tells other characters about their romantic relationship. After these lines were cut from the film's Chinese release, the filmmakers faced additional criticism from fans.

• Dry, Jude (1 February 2018). "J.K. Rowling, Stop Queerbaiting: We're Ready for Gay Dumbledore in 'Fantastic Beasts' — Opinion". IndieWire. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
• Smith, Michelle (22 December 2014). "The 'death' of J. K. Rowling: Why it doesn't matter what she has to say about Harry Potter". The Conversation. Retrieved 20 August 2024.

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