Gerard Butler poses for a picture as he attends the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on September 13, 2009, in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2009
6 King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud St - Dubai - UAE
Gerard Butler poses during a portrait session on day seven of the 6th Annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on December 15, 2009, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2010
Paseo de la Castellana, 22, 28046 Madrid, Spain
Gerard Butler and actress Jennifer Aniston attend "Exposados" (The Bounty Hunter) photocall at the Villamagna Hotel on March 30, 2010, in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2011
Toronto, Canada
Gerard Butler of "Machine Gun Preacher" poses for a portrait during the 2011 Toronto Film Festival on September 9, 2011, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Matt Carr)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2013
New York City, NY, USA
Gerard Butler attends the after party for The Cinema Society with Roger Dubuis and Grey Goose screening of FilmDistrict's "Olympus Has Fallen" at The Darby on March 11, 2013, in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2014
8687 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90069, USA
Gerard Butler at the "How To Train Your Dragon 2" Press Conference at the Pacific Design Center on June 9, 2014, in West Hollywood, CA. (Photo by Vera Anderson)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2014
6215 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Gerard Butler attends the 18th Annual Hollywood Film Awards at The Palladium on November 14, 2014, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2014
1 Notts Ave, Bondi Beach NSW 2026, Australia
Gerard Butler attends the Ellery show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia 2014 at Bondi Icebergs Dining Room on April 7, 2014, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Caroline McCredie)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2015
Los Angeles, California, USA
Gerard Butler is seen on July 23, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by SMXRF)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2016
188 University Ave, Toronto, ON M5H 0A3, Canada
(L-R) Actors Reese Witherspoon, Lupita Nyong'o, Gerard Butler and Michelle Williams attend the Vanity Fair and Tiffany & Co. private dinner toasting Lupita Nyong'o and celebrating Legendary Style at Shangri-La Hotel on September 11, 2016, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Todd Williamson)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2016
188 University Ave, Toronto, ON M5H 0A3, Canada
Gerard Butler (L) and Morgan Brown attend the Vanity Fair and Tiffany & Co. private dinner toasting Lupita Nyong'o and celebrating Legendary Style at Shangri-La Hotel on September 11, 2016, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Mike Windle)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2016
188 University Ave, Toronto, ON M5H 0A3, Canada
Gerard Butler attends the Vanity Fair and Tiffany & Co. private dinner toasting Lupita Nyong'o and celebrating Legendary Style at Shangri-La Hotel on September 11, 2016, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Todd Williamson)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2017
Via del Babuino, 9, 00187 Roma RM, Italy
Gerard Butler attends a photocall for Geostorm at Hotel De Russie on October 22, 2017, in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Ernesto Ruscio)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2018
1120 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach, FL 33139, USA
Gerard Butler in the green room at The Den Of Thieves special screening at Regal South Beach on January 10, 2018, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Thaddaeus McAdams)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2018
6840 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, USA
Gerard Butler is seen at 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' on January 15, 2018, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by RB)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2018
The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Gerard Butler participates in a news conference about his new submarine action film 'Hunter Killer' at the Pentagon on October 15, 2018, in Arlington, Virginia.
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2018
The Ritz-Carlton, 900 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015, USA
Gerard Butler (L) and O'Shea Jackson Jr. attend the after-party for the premiere of STX Films' "Den Of Thieves" at WP24 Restaurant in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2019
9390 N Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, USA
Gerard Butler attends the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 24, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by John Shearer)
Gallery of Gerard Butler
2019
Los Angeles, California, USA
Gerard Butler attends the 2019 Hollywood For Science Gala at Private Residence on February 21, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter)
Achievements
Membership
Awards
MTV Movie + TV Award
2007
100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608, USA
Gerard Butler accepts Best Fight award for "300" during 2007 MTV Movie Awards - Show at Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by John Shearer)
World Stunt Award
2007
Gerard Butler, winner Action Movie Star of the Year Award (Photo by M. Phillips)
Golden Camera Award
2016
Hamburg, Germany
Gerard Butler attends the Goldene Kamera 2016 show on February 6, 2016, in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Franziska Krug)
100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608, USA
Gerard Butler accepts Best Fight award for "300" during 2007 MTV Movie Awards - Show at Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by John Shearer)
Gerard Butler poses for a picture as he attends the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on September 13, 2009, in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk)
6 King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud St - Dubai - UAE
Gerard Butler poses during a portrait session on day seven of the 6th Annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on December 15, 2009, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole)
Gerard Butler and actress Jennifer Aniston attend "Exposados" (The Bounty Hunter) photocall at the Villamagna Hotel on March 30, 2010, in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez)
Gerard Butler of "Machine Gun Preacher" poses for a portrait during the 2011 Toronto Film Festival on September 9, 2011, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Matt Carr)
Gerard Butler attends the after party for The Cinema Society with Roger Dubuis and Grey Goose screening of FilmDistrict's "Olympus Has Fallen" at The Darby on March 11, 2013, in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin)
Gerard Butler at the "How To Train Your Dragon 2" Press Conference at the Pacific Design Center on June 9, 2014, in West Hollywood, CA. (Photo by Vera Anderson)
Gerard Butler attends the 18th Annual Hollywood Film Awards at The Palladium on November 14, 2014, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk)
Gerard Butler attends the Ellery show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia 2014 at Bondi Icebergs Dining Room on April 7, 2014, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Caroline McCredie)
(L-R) Actors Reese Witherspoon, Lupita Nyong'o, Gerard Butler and Michelle Williams attend the Vanity Fair and Tiffany & Co. private dinner toasting Lupita Nyong'o and celebrating Legendary Style at Shangri-La Hotel on September 11, 2016, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Todd Williamson)
Gerard Butler (L) and Morgan Brown attend the Vanity Fair and Tiffany & Co. private dinner toasting Lupita Nyong'o and celebrating Legendary Style at Shangri-La Hotel on September 11, 2016, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Mike Windle)
Gerard Butler attends the Vanity Fair and Tiffany & Co. private dinner toasting Lupita Nyong'o and celebrating Legendary Style at Shangri-La Hotel on September 11, 2016, in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Todd Williamson)
Gerard Butler in the green room at The Den Of Thieves special screening at Regal South Beach on January 10, 2018, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Thaddaeus McAdams)
Gerard Butler participates in a news conference about his new submarine action film 'Hunter Killer' at the Pentagon on October 15, 2018, in Arlington, Virginia.
The Ritz-Carlton, 900 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015, USA
Gerard Butler (L) and O'Shea Jackson Jr. attend the after-party for the premiere of STX Films' "Den Of Thieves" at WP24 Restaurant in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter)
9390 N Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, USA
Gerard Butler attends the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 24, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by John Shearer)
Gerard Butler attends the 2019 Hollywood For Science Gala at Private Residence on February 21, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter)
Actor Bradley Cooper arrives at Cosmopolitan's 2009 Fun Fearless Awards at the SLS Hotel on March 2, 2009, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kristian Dowling)
Friend: James McAvoy
2014
Belvedere Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 8XT, United Kingdom
James McAvoy attends the BFI London Film Festival Awards during the 58th BFI London Film Festival on October 18, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI)
(An all-star cast brings one of the 20th century's greates...)
An all-star cast brings one of the 20th century's greatest plays to the big screen. Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard is the timeless story of an aristocratic Russian family torn apart by buried secrets and changing times. Charlotte Rampling, "at the peak of her powers" (LA TIMES) stars as Madame Lyubov an aging but still beautiful Russian aristocrat. Alan Bates is "pitch-perfect" (NY Times) as her brother.
(Sam and Sarah grew up together, and Sam hoped they'd grow...)
Sam and Sarah grew up together, and Sam hoped they'd grow old together. His world fell apart the day Sarah left and now she's back; standing on his doorstep telling him she'd like to spend some time with him, turn his life inside out all over again. One More Kiss is about rediscovering love and how when perceptions are forced to change, life can hold an entirely different meaning.
(When a team of techno-savvy thieves break into a high-sec...)
When a team of techno-savvy thieves break into a high-security vault, they don't discover priceless works of art... they find a crypt unopened for 100 years! Suddenly, the ancient terror of Dracula is unleashed, and his first destination is America and the exotic city of New Orleans.
(A group of archaeological students becomes trapped in the...)
A group of archaeological students becomes trapped in the past when they go there to retrieve their professor. The group must survive in 14th century France long enough to be rescued.
(This touching and humorous movie has earned the raves of ...)
This touching and humorous movie has earned the raves of critics and won the hearts of audiences everywhere! To spare the feelings of her boy, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) secretly authors letters from the boy's father. Torn between exposing the truth and protecting her son, Lizzie gets more than anyone bargained for when she hires a handsome stranger for a day to play the role of a lifetime!
(From director Joel Schumacher comes this big-screen adapt...)
From director Joel Schumacher comes this big-screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash-hit stage musical! The Phantom, a disfigured musical genius.
(Twenty thousand private soldiers operate in Iraq. Who are...)
Twenty thousand private soldiers operate in Iraq. Who are these people? What do they do and why do they do it? This documentary is a groundbreaking investigation into the secretive world of modern mercenaries. It follows one British contractor on his tour of duty, contrasting his experiences in Iraq with previous operations. This is the definitive film on the changing face of modern war.
(When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson set upon Iceland...)
When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson set upon Iceland to film Beowulf & Grendel in 2004, they expected the usual complication involved in making a movie, but what they encountered made them wonder if the Norse gods were actually working against them
(When his daughter is kidnapped, Neil (Gerard Butler) must...)
When his daughter is kidnapped, Neil (Gerard Butler) must take matters into his own hands to get her back. Also starring Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello.
(Anything can happen on Nim's Island, a magical place rule...)
Anything can happen on Nim's Island, a magical place ruled by a young girl's imagination. It is an existence that mirrors that of her favorite literary character, Alex Rover - the word's greatest adventurer.
(London is ground zero for the changing times with big-tim...)
London is ground zero for the changing times with big-time mobsters from the East, criminals from the streets, all vying to change the rules of commerce and crime.
(Set in a future-world where humans can control other huma...)
Set in a future-world where humans can control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming environments, a star player (Butler) from a game called "Slayers" looks to regain his independence while taking down the game's mastermind (Hall).
(A brilliant sociopath (Gerard Butler) orchestrates a seri...)
A brilliant sociopath (Gerard Butler) orchestrates a series of high-profile murders that grip the city of Philadelphia - all from inside his jail cell. The prosecutor assigned to his case (Jamie Foxx) is the only one who can end his reign of terror.
(As superhero Dr. Manhattan abandons Earth, leaving its fa...)
As superhero Dr. Manhattan abandons Earth, leaving its fate hanging, a boy reads a survival tale about a doomed sailor who goes mad while returning home from being marooned.
(A romantically challenged morning show producer (Katherin...)
A romantically challenged morning show producer (Katherine Heigl) is reluctantly embroiled in a series of outrageous tests by her chauvinistic correspondent (Gerard Butler) to prove his theories on relationships and help her find love. His clever ploys, however, lead to an unexpected result.
(Hiccup is a young Viking who defies convention when he be...)
Hiccup is a young Viking who defies convention when he befriends one of his deadliest foes - a ferocious dragon he calls Toothless. But humans and dragons are supposed to be mortal enemies, not buddies, and this unlikely pair must overcome many obstacles and one ultimate challenge - to save both their worlds.
(Ralph Fiennes directs and stars in this dramatic thriller...)
Ralph Fiennes directs and stars in this dramatic thriller about the revered and feared General Coriolanus' revenge on the city of Rome following his banishment.
(Machine Gun Preacher tells the inspirational true story o...)
Machine Gun Preacher tells the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds his unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children in war-torn Sudan.
(Gerard Butler, Elisabeth Shue and Hollywood newcomer Jonn...)
Gerard Butler, Elisabeth Shue and Hollywood newcomer Jonny Weston star in this inspiring true story of courage and friendship the whole family will love.
(From the twisted minds of producers Peter Farrelly (Hall ...)
From the twisted minds of producers Peter Farrelly (Hall Pass, Shallow Hal) and Charles Wessler (There's Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber), comes Movie 43 - the outrageous new ensemble comedy starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood!
(A terrorist mastermind kidnaps the President of the Unite...)
A terrorist mastermind kidnaps the President of the United States inside the White House, and a disgraced former Secret Service agent must save the President and take down the terrorists.
(This new chapter of the epic "300" saga takes the action ...)
This new chapter of the epic "300" saga takes the action to the sea, where Greek general Themistokles battles invading Persian forces led by Xerxes and the naval commander Artemisia.
(This thrilling second chapter of the How to Train Your Dr...)
This thrilling second chapter of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy returns to the fantastical world of Hiccup and Toothless as they unite to save the future of men and dragons!
(Based on true events, Septembers of Shiraz follows a secu...)
Based on true events, Septembers of Shiraz follows a secular Jewish family caught in the turmoil of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. When Isaac (Brody) is suddenly arrested, his wife (Hayek) is left to make sense of what happened.
(Dane Jensen (Gerard Butler) is a hard-driven headhunter w...)
Dane Jensen (Gerard Butler) is a hard-driven headhunter working at a cut-throat firm. When Dane's boss (Willem Dafoe) pits him against Lynn Vogel (Alison Brie), Dane gears up for the professional battle of his life. When his son Ryan is given a harrowing diagnosis, Dane is suddenly pulled between achieving his professional dream and spending time with his family, who need him now more than ever.
(Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau star as rival god...)
Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau star as rival gods locked in an epic battle to decide the fate of the universe in this thrilling fantasy-adventure.
(The President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) and hi...)
The President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) and his Secret Service head (Gerard Butler) must stop a London terrorist attack at the British Prime Minister's funeral.
(On an uninhabited island 20 miles from the Scottish coast...)
On an uninhabited island 20 miles from the Scottish coast, three lighthouse keepers arrive for their six-week shift. They stumble upon something that isn't theirs to keep, triggering a tense battle for survival.
(When the appearance of a Light Fury dragon coincides with...)
When the appearance of a Light Fury dragon coincides with the darkest threat they have faced, Hiccup and Toothless must journey to a hidden world and discover their destinies.
(As the Roman Empire became weaker in the fifth century AD...)
As the Roman Empire became weaker in the fifth century AD, a powerful military leader appeared on the eastern plains of Mongolia. Even his name is fearsome - Attila the Hun! Leading a vast army of horseback-riding warriors, Attila invaded the empire repeatedly, and it is his attack on the Romans and their allies in present-day France that is retold in the colorful television miniseries "Attila."
(The highly-publicized murder trial of a young Sikh studen...)
The highly-publicized murder trial of a young Sikh student brings together twelve jurors, who must survive the media circus and reach a verdict in this thoughtful and gripping mini-series. Featuring an all-star cast including Gerard Butler, Mark Strong, Julie Walters, and Derek Jacobi.
Gerard Butler is a Scottish actor, distinguished by his rugged masculinity and charm, who often appeared as larger-than-life literary and historical figures. Butler is best known for his role as King Leonidas of Sparta in 300.
Background
Gerard Butler was born on November 13, 1969, in Glasgow, Scotland. He is the youngest of three children of Margaret and Edward Butler, a bookmaker. Butler grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family. When he was 6 months old, his family relocated to Montreal, Canada, where his father tried a few business ventures but ultimately failed. A year and a half later, his parents divorced, and his mother moved Gerard and his two older siblings back to her hometown of Paisley, Scotland. He had no contact with his father between the ages of two and 16 years old when Edward Butler called to meet him at a Glasgow restaurant. After this meeting, Butler cried for hours, and recalled later: "That emotion showed me how much pain can sit in this body of yours; pain and sorrow that you don’t know you have until it is unleashed." After this, they became close. His father passed away when Gerard was in his early 20s.
Gerard was enthralled with movies and acting when he was a child, and his mother even took him to a few auditions. He became a member of the Scottish Youth Theatre and played one of Fagin's boys in the production of the popular musical Oliver! with the company.
Education
Butler attended High School in Paisley, rose to the position of Prefect (and later Head Boy) at St Mirin's & St Margaret's High School and achieved respectable grades. Despite his love for theater and film, Butler was anxious to please his family and believed that acting was not a realistic career choice for him. "I was a 16-year-old kid on the other side of the world from where they made movies," he later said. "Scottish actors never really got play. There was Sean Connery, and that was it." Though he claims he is "not the most academic of guys," Butler graduated near the top of his high school class and enrolled in the University of Glasgow, where he studied to become a lawyer and solicitor. During his time in university, Butler was also the president of the law society and graduated with honors.
Like many other new graduates, Butler decided to take a year off to travel abroad, and his ventures soon landed him in Venice, California, where he indulged in the high life: "This is when things started to go a little crazy," he later said. "Something very compulsive and dark and lusty and pleasurable but damaging took over. It was suddenly knowing I could go out and have a life of traveling, craziness, adventure, partying, women, and all the other things that go with that - including a sense of abandonment."
After California, Butler returned to Scotland to begin a two-year traineeship at one of Edinburgh's top law firms but soon found that he despised the job more and more, and he started slacking off and letting his depression show. A week before he was due to finish his traineeship, he went to the Edinburgh Film Festival and saw a stage production of Trainspotting, an experience that crystallized his disappointment with the law and his yearning to be an actor: "The guy playing the lead role was phenomenal. It was such an incredible atmosphere. And I'm dying inside. This is the life I wanted to live. I can do this. I know I can do this. But it's past now. It's gone. I'm 25. I missed that opportunity. A week later, they fire me."
Humiliated but determined to finally pursue his dream of acting, Butler moved to London, England, the next day and worked odd jobs while trying to get his career off the ground. While working as a casting assistant for the play Coriolanus, he ran into the play's director, Steven Berkoff, in a coffee shop and begged for a chance to read for the lead role. He says of the experience: "I gave it everything. Afterward, the casting director came up to me almost in tears. She said, 'You're the best he saw in two days!' Walking home was probably the happiest moment of my life when there's an energy in you that can't be put down. I'd gone from handing out pages to getting the lead role." After a successful run in Coriolanus, Butler landed the lead in the exact same stage rendition of Trainspotting that had inspired him to try acting again, and he was really on his way as an actor.
Making the transition from the stage to the screen, in 1997 Butler starred with Judi Dench and Billy Connolly in Mrs. Brown and also scored a small part in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. During the film's shooting, he was picnicking with his mother near a river and heard screaming from a boy who was in trouble. He immediately dove into the river and saved the youth from drowning, winning a Certificate of Bravery from the Royal Humane Society as an example of his courage and caring.
After acting in a series of largely forgettable films, in 2003, Butler finally got his break with the role of the Phantom in Joel Schumacher's on-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Phantom of the Opera. It was a demanding role that required the actor to sing most of his lines. Even though Butler had been the lead singer of a rock band during his time in law school, he was incredibly nervous about auditioning for the part: "I'd had maybe four singing lessons when I went to sing 'Music of the Night' for Andrew Lloyd Webber, which was perhaps the most nerve-wracking experience I ever went through. But I got the role. Some people thought I did a great job, but others thought it was sacrilegious."
Though Phantom did not hit blockbuster gold, it got Butler recognized in Hollywood, and four years later he landed the lead role, as King Leonidas, in 300, the testosterone-infused historical epic about a small legion of Spartan soldiers defeating the enormous Persian army. To look believable as a warrior king, Butler trained every day for four months in the most intense workout regimen of his life, giving him an incredible physique in time for the shoot: "You know that every bead of sweat falling off your head, every weight you've pumped - the history of that is all in your eyes," he said. "That was a great thing, to put on that cape and put on that helmet, and not have to think ... 'I should have trained more.' Instead, I was standing there feeling like a lion."
Butler's role in 300 was a huge boost to his career profile. Since appearing in 300, the actor has starred in several romantic comedies such as P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank and The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl, along with appearing on many "world's hottest men" lists.
Butler played the title character in The Bounty Hunter (2010), a comedy that featured Jennifer Aniston as his ex-wife. He voiced a Viking chieftain in the animated film How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and its sequels (2014 and 2019).
In Machine Gun Preacher (2011), which was based on a true story, Butler portrayed a former convict and drug addict who, after finding religion, travels to war-torn Sudan to build an orphanage. Returning to the drama that had sparked his acting career, he next took on the role of Tullus Aufidius in Ralph Fiennes’s 2011 film adaptation of Coriolanus. The following year he starred as a legendary surfer in the biographical Chasing Mavericks and a roguish one-time athlete in the romantic comedy Playing for Keeps. In the action-thriller Olympus Has Fallen (2013), Butler played a former U.S. Secret Service agent who acts to foil a terrorist attack on the White House. He reprised the role in London Has Fallen and then donned period regalia again for the action thriller Gods of Egypt (both 2016), in which he featured as the god of disorder and warfare. He later starred as a scientist in the disaster movie Geostorm (2017). Butler’s roles from 2018 included a cavalier cop in Den of Thieves, a submarine commander in Hunter Killer, and one of three lighthouse keepers who mysteriously vanish off a remote Scottish island in The Vanishing (original title Keepers).
Late in 2018, Butler appeared as the star submarine captain, Commander Joe Glass of the USS Arkansas, a Virginia class nuclear submarine, in the film Hunter Killer. He will appear as Mike Banning again in the upcoming 2019 film Angel Has Fallen.
(As the Roman Empire became weaker in the fifth century AD...)
2000
Religion
Butler was raised in a Roman Catholic household.
Views
Butler has always been involved in social work and is one of the actors to boycott the Saudi Arabian Hunter Killer premiere, due to the death of Jamal Khashoggi. Gerard supports Kids Kicking Cancer (US) and CLIC Sargent (UK), both are children's cancer charities. He also works on behalf of other various charities through friends and colleagues.
In 2011 Butler played in a charity match for Celtic F.C., a football club he has supported since childhood. Butler has been a supporter of the charity Mary's Meals since 2010. He visited the international development charity's program in Liberia in 2014. In 2018 Butler attended a fundraiser gala organized by Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), which raised $60 million for the Israel Defence Forces.
Quotations:
"During some of the most miserable periods of my life, people thought I was very happy. And now that I'm actually happier, I don't have to show it. I'm more comfortable with myself."
"I love to spend a lot of time on my own. I can seriously go into my own head and often love to let myself travel where I don't know where I'm going. I always felt that that was his kind of form of escape, in a way."
Personality
Butler has done a couple of heroic actions in his life. He was handed a certificate of bravery by the Royal Humane Society of Scotland in 1997, after putting his own life at risk to pull a drowning child from a river. Also, he once crawled under a burning car with a fire extinguisher.
He has quickly gained a reputation as one of the nicest actors around, as he always takes time to socialize with fans and hangs out with crew members as much as co-stars on film sets.
Before his final year of law school, Butler took a year off to live in California. He mostly lived in Venice Beach, working at different jobs, traveling often, and, according to him, drinking heavily, at one point being arrested for alcohol-related disorderly conduct. He stated in an interview, before finally quitting drinking at age 27, that his wild drinking antics would involve smashing bottles over his own head, running in front of cars, and he once woke up in Paris, miles from where he'd been at a party, covered in gashes and blood and, to this day, he has no idea what happened in that incident. Butler has stated in interviews that he does not drink alcohol now.
On December 18, 2011, Butler was in danger of dying due to an accident during the filming of Chasing Mavericks, in California. While shooting a scene at sea, a wave hit him and threw him onto the rocks. Fortunately, a jet ski pilot found him and took him to hospital. In February 2012, it was announced that he had completed a course of treatment for substance abuse of painkillers at a rehabilitation facility. This was after he was concerned he had become too reliant on prescribed pain medication, which escalated when he was involved in a surfing incident while filming Chasing Mavericks.
He is constantly trying to quit smoking employing the use of hypnotism, patches, lasers, and most general methods. He did quit for six months while filming 300 (2006) but started again towards the end of filming.
He was incredibly moved when he read the script for the big-screen version of the epic musical The Phantom of the Opera for the first time. "I was wiping the tears off," he said. "It really touched me in an incredible way." Gerard didn't have a musical background but received training and sung every song.
He doesn't like the way Americans pronounce Gerard. "It drives me crazy," he said. He often insists that they call him Gerry. His friends deliberately pronounce his name incorrectly to wind him up.
Physical Characteristics:
Gerard Butler has a height of 6 ft 2 in or 188 cm, and a weight of 102 kg or 225 pounds. Butler also has light brown hair and green eyes. He does not like to be clean shaved. But, whenever he shaves, he feels as if he has become 5 years younger.
Interests
traveling
Writers
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Sport & Clubs
Glasgow Celtic Football club, horseback riding, skiing
Music & Bands
jazz, rock
Connections
Gerard is not married. Butler has spoken about his turbulent love life, saying he hasn't found 'the one' yet. Since October 2011, Butler has divided his time between Los Angeles and Glasgow.