Austin Butler

Austin Butler is an American actor born on August 17, 1991, in Anaheim, California. He began working on television as a teenager, appearing in Nickelodeon’s *Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide* before playing James Garrett in the final season of *Zoey 101*. He later played Wilke on *Switched at Birth* and Sebastian Kydd, a love interest of Carrie Bradshaw, on the CW prequel series *The Carrie Diaries*. In MTV’s fantasy adaptation *The Shannara Chronicles*, he starred as Wil Ohmsford, a young man drawn into a struggle against demonic forces.

Butler’s stage work brought him particular attention in 2018, when he made his Broadway debut in a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s *The Iceman Cometh*. He played Don Parritt opposite Denzel Washington’s Theodore Hickey. The following year, Butler appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s *Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood* as Tex Watson, a member of the Manson Family. The role placed him in the film’s violent final sequence at Rick Dalton’s house.

His best-known performance came in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biographical film *Elvis*. Butler portrayed Elvis Presley across different stages of the singer’s career, from his early success to his Las Vegas performances. The film frames much of that story through Presley’s complicated relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks. Butler’s work won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. He also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

In the 2024 Apple TV+ miniseries *Masters of the Air*, Butler played Major Gale “Buck” Cleven, a pilot in the US Army Air Forces’ 100th Bomb Group during the Second World War. The series follows the crews undertaking bombing missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. Also in 2024, he appeared in Denis Villeneuve’s *Dune: Part Two* as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the Baron’s nephew and a rival to Paul Atreides. Butler gave Feyd-Rautha a starkly different physical presence from Presley, including a shaved head and a distinctive voice.

Butler then starred as Benny Cross in Jeff Nichols’s *The Bikeriders*, released in 2024. Inspired by Danny Lyon’s photographs and interviews with motorcyclists, the film follows the fictional Vandals club and Benny’s relationships with his wife Kathy, played by Jodie Comer, and the club’s founder Johnny, played by Tom Hardy. The part continued Butler’s run of films centered on sharply drawn historical or period settings.