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'''Gerard James Butler''' (born 13 November 1969) is a |
'''Gerard James Butler''' (born 13 November 1969) is a British actor, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in English productions such as the [[James Bond (film series)|James Bond]] film ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'' (1997), which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in the American miniseries ''[[Attila (TV miniseries)|Attila]]'' (2001). He garnered critical acclaim for his breakthrough work as the lead in [[Joel Schumacher]]'s 2004 film adaptation of the musical ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film)|The Phantom of the Opera]]''. In 2007, Butler gained worldwide recognition through his portrayal of [[King Leonidas]] in the film ''[[300 (film)|300]]''. Since then, he has appeared in projects including ''[[P.S. I Love You (film)|P.S. I Love You]]'' (2007), ''[[RocknRolla]]'' (2008), ''[[The Ugly Truth (film)|The Ugly Truth]]'' (2009), and ''[[The Bounty Hunter (2010 film)|The Bounty Hunter]]'' (2010). |
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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Revision as of 17:53, 15 June 2010
Gerard Butler | |
|---|---|
 Arriving at the "Elton John AIDS Foundation" Oscar Party | |
| Born | Gerard James Butler |
| Other names | Gerry Butler |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1997–present |
Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a British actor, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in English productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in the American miniseries Attila (2001). He garnered critical acclaim for his breakthrough work as the lead in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. In 2007, Butler gained worldwide recognition through his portrayal of King Leonidas in the film 300. Since then, he has appeared in projects including P.S. I Love You (2007), RocknRolla (2008), The Ugly Truth (2009), and The Bounty Hunter (2010).
Early life
Butler was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. The youngest of three children of Margaret and Edward Butler.[1] Butler was brought up in a strict Roman Catholic[2] family and spent the first few years of his life in Montreal, Canada,[3] before returning to live in Scotland.[4] His family originates from all around the Republic of Ireland. Before aspiring an actor's career, Butler studied law at the University of Glasgow, he even became the president of the Law Society. Then Butler took time off to go to California. Living in Venice Beach, Butler worked different jobs and enjoyed his time in California. According to him, " I was out of control, and justifying it with this idea that I'm young, this is life. This is me just being boisterous". After his time off in America, Gerry Butler went back to Scotland to finish his final year at university. After getting a job as a lawyer, Butler was eventually fired. Butler became close with the acting world when he saw The Edinburgh Festival, which fostered in him a desire to become an actor[5]
Career
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Auditions for the films Trainspotting and The Lost Boys inspired him to become an actor. Butler went to London where he was approached by actor Steven Berkoff (who later appeared alongside him in Attila (2001/I) (TV)), who gave him a role in a stage production of Coriolanus. He was cast as Ewan McGregor's character Renton in the stage adaptation of Trainspotting. His film debut was as Billy Connolly's younger brother in Mrs. Brown (1997).
His film career continued with small roles, first in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and then Russell Mulcahy's Tale of the Mummy (1998). In 2000, Butler was cast in two breakthrough roles, the first being Attila the Hun in USA film Attila (2001/I) (TV). The film's producers wanted a known actor to play the part but kept coming back to Butler's screen tests and decided he was their man. He was cast as Dracula in Dracula 2000 (2000).
Since then he has appeared in Reign of Fire (2002) as Creedy and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) as Terry Sheridan, alongside Angelina Jolie. In the role of Andre Marek in the big-screen adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel Timeline (2003), Butler played an archaeologist who was sent back in time with a team of students to rescue a colleague. He went on to appear in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera (2004), playing the title character in the adaptation of the stage musical. Other projects that followed include Dear Frankie (2004), The Game of Their Lives (2005) and Beowulf & Grendel (2005).
In 2007, he starred as Spartan King Leonidas in the Warner Bros. production 300 (2007), based on the Frank Miller graphic novel, and Butterfly on a Wheel (2007) co-starring Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello, which aired on network TV under the title Shattered. In 2007, he starred in P.S. I Love You with Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank . In 2008, he appeared in Nim's Island (2008) and RocknRolla (2008). More recently he has also starred in the Mark Neveldine / Brian Taylor film Gamer, The Ugly Truth and Law Abiding Citizen, which he also co-produced. He recently also played in How to Train Your Dragon as Stoick the Vast.
Filmography
References
- ^ "Drawn Together: Gerard Butler & Craig Ferguson". Cineplex Movie Blog. 2010-03-15. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
- ^ "Gerard Butler". Hello magazine. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
As a youngster the star grew up in a strict Catholic household where a good education was considered paramount to success.
- ^ "Gerard Butler". mysticbliss.net. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
- ^ Daily News. "Gerard Butler breaks the mold"
- ^ "300 Things We Didn't Know About Gerard Butler". Esquire.com. 2009-06-13. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ Machine Gun Preacher–slated to go into production in June
External links
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
- 1969 births
- 20th-century actors
- 21st-century actors
- Alumni of the University of Glasgow
- Living people
- MTV Movie Award winners
- People from Glasgow
- People from Paisley
- Scottish actors
- Scottish film actors
- Scottish stage actors
- Scottish television actors
- Scottish lawyers
- Scottish Roman Catholics
- Scottish film producers
- British actors
- Scottish people of Irish descent