PROFILE: AUSTIN BUTLER

Elvis is in the Building

image above and cover image: austin butler

BY: Amanda Jane Stern

With the upcoming Elvis Presley movie on the horizon, let’s take a moment to get to know the man who will be gyrating onto the silver screen as the King of Rock himself: Austin Butler.

Born Austin Robert Butler on August 17, 1991 in Anaheim, California, Butler is no stranger to the screen. After years playing small and guest-star roles on different Nickelodeon and Disney Channel shows he landed the recurring role of James Garrett in the final season of Zoey 101 on Nickelodeon. He continued to work in TV, getting cast in season arcs on Life Unexpected and Switched At Birth. Eventually booking series regular roles on the short-lived The Carrie Diaries and The Shannara Chronicles. He made his Broadway debut in March, 2018 playing Don Parritt in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh. Most recently, he played Charles Manson-follower and murderer, Tex Watson, in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood.

Not much is known about the upcoming Elvis biopic, but Butler did beat out the likes of Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Harry Styles to play a young Elvis in the Baz Luhrmann film. Starring alongside Butler will be Tom Hanks as Elvis’ manager Colonel Tom Parker. The film will track the rise of a young Elvis from his days as a poor singer through to his massive success, all while following the relationship between him and his manager of two decades.

In his personal life, Butler plays both guitar and piano, so it seems he is already musically inclined which will certainly help as he takes on playing Elvis. He has been in a relationship with actress Vanessa Hudgens since 2011.

The real question is, has he been able to perfect Elvis’ patented pelvic thrust?