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Austin Robert Butler (born August 17, 1991) is an American actor. Butler began his career on television, first in roles on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, most notably on Zoey 101 (2007–2008), and later on teen dramas, including recurring parts on The CW's Life Unexpected (2010–2011) and Switched at Birth (2011–2012). He gained recognition for starring in The Carrie Diaries (2013–2014) and The Shannara Chronicles (2016–2017). Butler made his Broadway debut in the 2018 revival of The Iceman Cometh and portrayed Tex Watson in Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

Butler gained wider prominence for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis (2022), for which he won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award, and was also nominated for the Academy Award in that category. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.[1] He has since starred as Gale Cleven in the war drama miniseries Masters of the Air (2024) and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the science fiction film Dune: Part Two (2024).

In his early twenties, Butler continued to act in teen-oriented television series but gained greater recognition with his starring roles in The Carrie Diaries and later The Shannara Chronicles; he also branched into new stage and film projects.

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 after two seasons.

In April 2014, it was announced that Butler had joined the cast of the play Death of the Author at the 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.

Butler then joined the cast of Arrow in the recurring role of Chase. His character was a DJ and a love interest of Willa Holland's character Thea Queen. He co-starred with Miranda Cosgrove and Tom Sizemore in the 2015 thriller film The Intruders and appeared in Kevin Smith's 2016 horror-comedy film Yoga Hosers about 15-year-old yoga nuts Colleen Collette and Colleen McKenzie. The films also stars Johnny Depp, Lily-Rose Depp, Harley Quinn Smith and Haley Joel Osment.

In 2016, he began playing the role of Wil Ohmsford in The Shannara Chronicles, MTV's television adaptation of the Terry Brooks novel The Elfstones of Shannara. The series was cancelled after two seasons.

Butler made his Broadway debut playing Don Parritt, the "lost boy" in The Iceman Cometh, which starred Denzel Washington and David Morse. Previews for the limited run began on March 26, 2018, and the play closed on July 1, 2018. Per Hilton Als' review of the play in The New Yorker: "Although there are many performers in George C. Wolfe's staging of Eugene O'Neill's phenomenal [...] drama, The Iceman Cometh, [...] there is only one actor, and his name is Austin Butler."

In 2019, he appeared in the Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as a fictional version of Manson Family member Tex Watson. Though he had limited screen time, his performance has been described as "intense" and "brooding". In that same year, Butler was cast as Elvis Presley in Elvis, a biographical film about the singer directed by Baz Luhrmann. He has publicly expressed gratitude to Denzel Washington for vouching for his ability to take on the role. The film premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on May 26, where the film received a twelve-minute standing ovation from the audience, the longest at the year's festival; it also opened the Guadalajara International Film Festival on June 10, 2022. Butler's performance received critical acclaim, as well as praise from the Presley family. Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, he even opened up in a few interviews that he didn't sleep for the past two years, saying: "It was the most intimidating thing I've ever done. I honestly didn't sleep for about two years, and I didn't do anything else for that time. That was my life."

Butler was invited to join The Academy as an actor. The 50th Telluride Film Festival marked the premiere of Jeff Nichols's 1960s-set drama The Bikeriders, in which he played a member of a motorcycle club. The following year, he portrayed Gale Cleven in the war drama miniseries Masters of the Air. He next played the villainous Feyd-Rautha in Denis Villeneuve's science fiction epic film Dune: Part Two (2024). Butler was praised for his commitment to the role, physical transformation, and complex character work.

Butler will next star in Ari Aster's Western film Eddington.

Butler made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live on December 17, 2022, the ninth episode and the Christmas show of Season 48 of Saturday Night Live, as well as the final episode of 2022, with musical guest Lizzo; which coincidentally, was the final episode for longtime cast member Cecily Strong.

Austin Butler is also the 18th first-time host in SNL history to host the Christmas show during their debut.

He also even sings the classic hit Christmas' song "Blue Christmas" with the cast (Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker) to the departing longtime cast member Cecily Strong to celebrate her final SNL show, after 11 seasons.

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