Gerard Butler

You've heard it before -- how difficult it can be to break into Hollywood as an actor, the money spent on acting lessons and audition coaches, the years of fruitless gigs for student films, the embarassing commercial roles taken on just to get by. It isn't always like this. Some actors luck their way into the business.

How Gerard Butler was Discovered

Gerard Butler was "discovered" in a coffee shop in London by actor Steven Berkoff, best known for small film roles and television parts. Berkoff was looking for actors for a stage production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus. At the time, Butler was a recent Glasgow University law school graduate who had just been fired from his firm one week to the day before he would be legally allowed to practice law. Besides the unfortunate firing incident, all signs seem to point to a bright legal future -- young Butler was president of his school's law society, and good looks never hurt when arguing a case in front of a judge. Interesting note -- during rehearsals for Coriolanus, Butler was poked in the eye and had to have surgery to save his sight.

By all accounts, Butler made the right decision by going into that coffee shop in London. His career has been fast paced -- having appeard in a number of movies in a few short years. He has appeared in one of the highest rated TV movies ever (2001s Attila, in which he played title character Attila the Hun) as well as a James Bond film (Tomorrow Never Dies from 1997), Wes Craven's Dracula 2000, Timeline, the title role of the film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical The Phantom of the Opera, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. But of all of his roles, perhaps his best known is as King Leonidas in 300, the role that made his name known worldwide. Butler's work has assured him a wide fan base, an unofficial Gerard Butler fan site, and critical praise.

Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler - Phamtom of the Opera

Butler's talents are not limited to acting -- Weber, the creative force behind 2004s Phantom of the Opera, claims that Butler was his favorite Phantom ever, with a "rock and roll" voice he had always been looking for. Butler was also granted a Certificate of Bravery from the Royal Humane Society of England for rescuing a drowning boy. Not only is he a star, but he's a superhero to boot. Every humble, Butler claims he was just "doing what anyone would do" in the situation.

His first film role saw him on set with one of the big names in film -- Dame Judi Dench, for the film Mrs. Brown. He has continued to appear with films greats, and two of his most recent films were with big name stars, including 2007s P.S. I Love You opposite Oscar winner Hilary Swank, and 2009s The Ugly Truth (not released at the time of writing) opposite Katharine Hegl. Butler's stock continues to rise as he accepts more and more diverse roles. Having said that, five of Butler's films have found him in the title role -- Atilla, Phantom of the Opera, Beowulf and Grendel, Dracula 2000, and Burns (in which he plays the titular Scottish poet Robert Burns). Some people just have a face for film, and Butler's charisma probably has more to do with his stardom than any particular skill in acting -- and Butler goes so far as to admit as much in a quote from People magazine:

"In Scotland I'm just like a lot of other guys, but in America I'm seen as a very strong, masculine guy."

Whether this says more about Butler's looks or the looks of men in America one cannot be sure.

Gerard Butler & His Fans

Known as one of the nicest actors in the industry, Butler can often be seen talking with fans rather than hiding his face or running from a limo to the movie set. It is rare that a genuinely talented (and especially a good looking) actor does not get a swollen head, and we can only hope that other up and coming actors will follow his lead. Butler's rugged looks and surprising talent at one time put his name on the short list of actors vying to be "the next Bond", though this never panned out.

In terms of his love life, Butler has been a very lucky man, linked to celebrities like Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston, and Naomi Campbell to name a few. In 2007, Butler was named number ten on the list of the 100 Sexiest Men in History by Empire Magazine, and was Hello! Magazine's Sexiest Man of the Year in 2005.

Gerard Butler's New Film - GAME

Excitement is growing for his new film GAME, filmed on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The film, also starring Ludacris, John Leguizamo, and Kyra Sedgwick, is a futuristic negative Utopia story about an online game where players control real people. It is only the second film to utilize the new Red One high definition digital camera technology. While it may seem like just another future-bad technology-bad story, the script was written by Brain Taylor, responsible for 2006s high action film Crank -- memorable mostly for how action packed it was, featuring some kind of thrill every fifteen to twenty seconds. GAME ought to be at least as thrilling, and fans of Butler will be glad to see him in another lead role.

Gerard Butler's story is a unique one. Not many actors are truly 'discovered' out in public the way he was -- it is the stuff of dreams for young actors. His somewhat meteoric rise to fame in the past 8 or 9 years is remarkable, and many of his film projects have been quite successful. 300, in which he plays one of the leading roles, cracked the top 25 list of box office openings and made hundreds of millions of dollars. He's also had critical success, most notable in 2004s Phantom of the Opera. We look forward to his upcoming thriller movie with Jamie Foxx (Law Abiding Citizen), as well as his appearance in the Watchmen-related short film Tales of the Black Freighter (any coincidence that Watchmen is being directed by 300 director Zack Snyder?) Also, Butler will soon make his first animated appearance in the children's animated fantasy How to Train Your Dragon, coming out later this year.