Austin Butler

Austin Robert Butler (born August 17, 1991) is an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he has received a BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two Critics' Choice Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.

Butler began his career on television, first in roles on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, most notably on Zoey 101 (2007–2008), and later on teen dramas, including recurring parts on The CW's Life Unexpected (2010–2011) and Switched at Birth (2011–2012). He gained recognition for starring in The Carrie Diaries (2013–2014) and The Shannara Chronicles (2016–2017). Butler made his Broadway debut in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (2018) and portrayed Tex Watson in Quentin Tarantino's period dramedy Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

Butler gained wider recognition for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's biopic Elvis (2022), for which he won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award, and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He has since starred as Gale Cleven in the Apple TV+ war drama miniseries Masters of the Air (2024), Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the Denis Villeneuve science fiction film Dune: Part Two (2024), and a bartender caught up in a web of crime in Darren Aronofsky's thriller Caught Stealing (2025).

Butler was born on August 17, 1991, in Anaheim, California, the son of Lori Anne (née Howell), an aesthetician, and David Butler. The two divorced when he was seven. He has an older sister, Ashley (b. 1986), who worked as a background actress alongside him on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. His maternal great-great-grandparents, Matti Matinpoika Sillanpää and Liisa Jaakontytär Järvelä, were Finnish immigrants from Ostrobothnia, Finland, who settled in Wisconsin.

When Butler was thirteen, he was approached by a representative from a background acting management company at the Orange County Fair who helped him get started in the entertainment industry. He found that he enjoyed it and soon began taking acting classes. Butler attended public school until the seventh grade, when he left to be homeschooled to better accommodate his work schedule. He continued his homeschooling until the tenth grade and later passed the CHSPE, the state's high school equivalency diploma exam.

In 2005, after working as an extra on several television series including Unfabulous and Drake & Josh, Butler landed his first regular job as a background actor playing the role of Zippy Brewster for two seasons on Nickelodeon's Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. His friend on the show, Lindsey Shaw, introduced him to her manager, Pat Cutler, who signed him and launched his career. From that point on, Butler began taking acting seriously as a career. In May 2007, Butler landed a guest starring role on the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana playing the role of Derek Hanson opposite actress Miley Cyrus, and in September of that same year, he portrayed Jake Krandle in the episode "iLike Jake" on the Nickelodeon series iCarly.

In February 2008, Butler landed a main role on another Nickelodeon series, Zoey 101, playing James Garrett, the love interest of Jamie Lynn Spears's title character Zoey in the fourth season; previously, he guest starred on the same show playing the role of Danifer on the third-season episode "Quarantine". In March of that year, he appeared in an episode on the short-lived Cartoon Network sitcom, Out of Jimmy's Head, playing the role of Lance in the episode titled "Princess".

In July 2009, Butler starred in 20th Century Fox's family adventure film Aliens in the Attic portraying Jake Pearson, alongside Ashley Tisdale, Carter Jenkins, Robert Hoffman, Kevin Nealon and Doris Roberts. In the film, his character, along with his family, battles to save their vacation home and the world from an alien invasion. That same summer, Butler appeared in the starring role of Jordan Gallagher on the popular, but short-lived ABC Family series Ruby & the Rockits, alongside David Cassidy, Patrick Cassidy and his good friend, Alexa Vega.