Austin Butler Biography

Austin Robert Butler (born August 17, 1991) is an American actor, singer, and model. He is known for his roles as James Garrett in Zoey 101, James "Wilke" Wilkerson in Switched at Birth, Jordan Gallagher on Ruby & The Rockits, Jones Mager on Life Unexpected, and Sebastian Kydd in The Carrie Diaries.

Early life

Austin Butler was born on August 17, 1991 in Anaheim, California, the son of Lori Anne (ne Howell), an aesthetician, and David Butler. He has an older sister Ashley (born in 1986), who worked as a background-actor alongside him on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.

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 really enjoyed it, and soon began taking acting classes to develop his talent.

Career

In 2005, after working as an extra on several television series, Butler landed his first regular job as a background actor playing the role of Lionel Scranton 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 immediately offered to represent him, and from that point on, Butler began taking acting seriously as a career.

Two years later in 2007, after performing in several commercials, Butler landed his first movie role in the short film The Faithful playing the role of a dog, Danny, who later turns into a human being. In May of that year, 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 recurring role on the Nickelodeon/Family show Zoey 101 playing James Garrett, the love interest of Jamie Lynn Spears's title character Zoey, and in March of that year, he appeared in an episode of 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 movie Aliens in the Attic (originally titled They Came From Upstairs), portraying Jake Pearson, alongside Ashley Tisdale, Carter Jenkins, Robert Hoffman, Kevin Nealon and Doris Roberts. In the movie, 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. Butler portrayed the cousin of Alexa's character Ruby, whom he has a crush on, reasoning that it was because he never grew up with her.

In February 2010, Butler landed a recurring role as Jones on the CW series Life Unexpected, and that same month, he appeared in an episode of Wizards Of Waverly Place titled "Positive Alex" where he played Alex's new crush, George. In March of that year, it was announced that Butler had been cast as "Cameron" in a pilot for another CW show called Betwixt, but the show was not picked up by the network. In June of that same year, Butler appeared in two consecutive Jonas episodes where he played Stone Stevens, and in December of that year, Butler's guest-starred on CSI: Miami and The Defenders.

In the spring of 2010, Butler's Aliens in the Attic co-star Ashley Tisdale invited him to audition for a lead role in the film Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure, a spin-off of Disney's High School Musical franchise that followed the adventures of Sharpay Evans after high school as she tries to get her big break on Broadway. In the film, Butler played Peyton Leverette, a handsome student filmmaker who finds Sharpay nearly as fascinating as she finds herself.

In December 2010, Butler told Week In Rewind about landing his role in Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure - "I had worked with Ashley once, and then I heard about the movie, because she called me and said, 'Austin, I want you to come and read for the director for this--I think you'd be perfect.' So, I went and met with the director, and it went really well, and I ended up doing the movie." The film wrapped production in July 2010 and was released direct-to-DVD on April 19, 2011.

In the year 2011, he booked the role of Wilke on the ABC Family series Switched at Birth, debuting on June 27, 2011. In the same year, he signed onto play a lead role of Zack Garvey in the Lifetime TV movie called The Bling Ring, made by Dick Clark Productions and directed by Michael Lembeck who previously directed Tooth Fairy and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, The Bling Ring, a Lifetime television movie, aired on September 26, 2011 and stars Austin Butler as Zack Garvey (based on Nick Prugo). It follows a group of young burglars as they target the homes of some of Hollywood's most prominent celebrities. Jennifer Grey of Dirty Dancing plays Iris Garvey, the mother of Butler's character Zack, one of the defendants. The movie also stars Yin Chang, Renee Olstead and Spencer Locke. The movie was released on September 26, 2011.

In October 2011, Butler, Danielle Panabaker and Chloe Bennet joined ABC Family's hour-long pilot Intercept, a technology- and action-driven drama about four college students who get roped into solving crimes when one of them (Butler) creates a high-tech communication device that intercepts conversations throughout the West Coast. The show was to be directed by Kevin Hooks, executive-produced and written by Ray Wright, who has also written hit movies like The Crazies, Case 39, and Pulse. On February 6, 2012, it was announced that the show will not be moving forward because it was not picked up.

In January 2012, Butler guest-starred on the NBC comedy Are You There, Chelsea? in the third episode "Believe", playing the role of Luke, a cute band lead singer who Laura Prepon's title character is attracted to.

In March 2012, Butler was cast in The CW's Sex and the City prequel series, The Carrie Diaries, to play Sebastian Kydd, a brooding heartthrob attending the same high school as Carrie Bradshaw, played by AnnaSophia Robb. The Carrie Diaries is based on Candace Bushnell's novel by the same name and follows Bradshaw's life in the 1980s as a teenager in New York City. The show was cancelled on May 8, 2014 after two seasons. In the same year starred along Miranda Cosgrove, Donal Logue, Tom Sizemore as Noah Henry, in the Thriller film The Intruder.

In April 2014, it was announced that Butler had joined the cast of the play Death of the Author at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. He played the role of Bradley, a pre-law student with a double major in political science and math, and is set to graduate from a wealthy university. The play is directed by Bart DeLorenzo and written by Steven Drukman. Following previews on May 20, 2014, the play ran from May 28 to June 29. In August 2014, The Hollywood Reporter, announced that Butler has been cast in a movie called Yoga Hosers. The film is about a 15-year-old yoga nuts, called Colleen Collette and Collete McKenzie who get themselves a job after school, at a store called Eh-2-zed. When an evil rises and threatens them, they join forces with man-hunter named Guy Lapointe. The films also stars Johnny Depp, Lily-Rose Depp, Harley Quinn Smith and Haley Joel Osment. In September 2014, it was announced that Butler had joined the cast of Arrow as the recurring role of Chase. His character will be playing the DJ and the love interest of Willa Holland's character Thea Queen. He also co-starred Miranda Cosgrove and Tom Sizemore in the thriller film The Intruders.

In 2015 he will play the role of Wil Ohmsford in The Shannara Chronicles, MTV's 10-episode television adaptation of the Terry Brooks' novel The Elfstones of Shannara.

Personal life

Butler attended public school until the seventh grade, when, at the age of thirteen, he left to be home-schooled in order to accommodate his work schedule. He continued his home-school education until the tenth grade when, at the age of fifteen, he took the CHSPE to finish his formal high school education, and hopes to attend college when the time is right.

Butler enjoys creating and recording music, and began playing the guitar at the age of thirteen and playing piano at the age of sixteen. He enjoys collecting guitars, and his other hobbies include outdoor activities that keep him in shape such as basketball, hiking, and cycling, as well as exercising in his home gym.

Butler has been in a relationship with actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens since 2011.

Discography

iCarly

Butler performed a song on iCarly when he guest starred titled "Whatever My Love".

Ruby and the Rockits

Butler appeared in singles from the Ruby and the Rockits series. These singles were released through iTunes.

1. "Possibilities" with Alexa Vega (Released on August 18, 2009)
2. "Life I Love You, Not" (Released on September 8, 2009)

Unreleased from Ruby and the Rockits

1. "Lost in Your Own Life" (duet version) with Alexa Vega. Included in the pilot episode aired on July 21, 2009.
2. "Humming Melody" with Alexa Vega, Patrick Cassidy, David Cassidy, Austin Butler, Kurt Doss and Katie A. Keane. Episode aired on September 8, 2009.

Filmography

Film roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	'	Danny	Short film
2009	Aliens in the Attic	Jake Pearson
2011	Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure	Peyton Leverett	Direct-to-video
2012	My Uncle Rafael	Cody Beck
2013	Life Life in in Space Space	Assistant Shnotzy	Short film
2015	'	Noah Henry
2016	Yoga Hosers	Hunter Calloway
2016	Dude		Filming

Television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005-07	Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide	Lionel Scranton	Uncredited; 41 episodes
2005	Unfabulous	Student	Uncredited; episode: "The Eye Randy"
2006	Drake & Josh	Extra	Uncredited; episode: "The Demonator"
2006	Hannah Montana	Toby	Uncredited; episode: "Oops! I Meddled Again"
2007	Zoey 101	Danny	Episode: "Quarantine"
2007	Hannah Montana	Derek	Episode: "My Best Friend's Boyfriend"
2007	iCarly	Jake Krandle	Episode: "iLike Jake"
2008	Zoey 101	James Garrett	Main role (season 4); 9 episodes
2008	Out of Jimmy's Head	Lance	Episode: "Princess"
2009	Ruby & The Rockits	Jordan Gallagher	Main role; 10 episodes
2009	Zeke and Luther	Rutger Murdock	Episode: "Adventure Boy"
2010-11	Life Unexpected	Jones Mager	Recurring role; 10 episodes
2010	Wizards of Waverly Place	George	Episode: "Positive Alex"
2010	Jonas	Stone Stevens	2 episodes
2010	CSI: Miami	Josh Chapman	Episode: "Happy Birthday"
2010	'	Cody Dennis	Episode: "Nevada v. Dennis"
2011	CSI: NY	Benjamin Gold	Episode: "Do or Die"
2011	'	Zack Garvey	Television film
2011-12	Switched at Birth	James "Wilke" Wilkerson	Recurring role; 14 episodes
2012	Are You There, Chelsea?	Luke	Episode: "Believe"
2013-14	'	Sebastian Kydd	Main role; 26 episodes
2014-15	Arrow	Chase	3 episodes
2016	'	Wil Ohmsford	Main role

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2010	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast (shared with Megan Parker, Henri Young, Regan Young, and Carter Jenkins)	Aliens in the Attic
2010	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actor	Ruby & The Rockits
2011	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actor 18-21	'