Actor Gerard Butler: Unhappy childhood, past mistakes to become a screen hero
An unhappy childhood and a flawed past cannot prevent Gerard Butler from asserting himself with diverse roles, requiring careful investment in both the physical and psychological depth of the character.
Gerard Butler is in good form at the age of 51.
Unhappy childhood and past mistakes cannot stop the footsteps of a brave warrior. From The Phantom of the Opera, 300, Earth Storm, the Lost series to the latest film Greenland: Meteor Disaster, Gerard Butler continuously asserts himself with diverse roles that require investment. Carefully consider both the physical and psychological depth of the character.
A turbulent childhood with unexpected turns
Gerard Butler was born in 1969 in Renfrewshire, Scotland, the youngest child in a strict Catholic family. When he was just 6 months old, his family moved to Montreal, Canada. A year later, his mother carried him back to Scotland after his broken marriage. At the age of 16, Gerard met his father again after more than a decade of losing contact.
The warmth of fatherly love seemed to give Butler strength and hope for the future. After many efforts, he was recruited to Glasgow University, majoring in Law, and even became president of the law student club.
But then the sudden passing of his father caused him to lose his spiritual support. From a student full of dreams and aspirations, he plunged into never-ending games, not knowing what tomorrow would bring, whether he would live or die. In his final year of college, Gerard Butler was accepted as an intern at a law firm in Edinburgh, Scotland.
But his alcoholism and careless attitude ruined everything. At the age of 25, the path to becoming a lawyer closed, Gerard Butler packed his bags and headed to London to find a new direction for himself.
Gerard Butler did not pursue a career in law but became an actor.
From waiter to actor
In London, he made a living doing various jobs from waiter, telemarketer, and salesman at fairs. Also here, Gerard Butler met his old friend, now a casting director.
Listening to his friend’s advice, he auditioned and got a role in the play Coriolanus thanks to his talent and enthusiasm. At the age of 27, he entered the professional acting path. At the age of 30, Gerard Butler moved to Los Angeles (USA) and gradually took his first steps into the world silver screen with roles in Dracula 2000, Tomb Raider 2, Dear Frankie and Phantom of the Opera.
In 2006, Gerard Butler’s career turning point came when he played the main role of Leonidas, the mighty king of Sparta in the movie 300 directed by Zack Snyder.
The film grossed more than 456 million USD worldwide while the production cost was only 60 million USD, helping both Zack Snyder and Gerard Butler become sought-after names.
His quote “This is Sparta” in the movie ‘300’ entered the history of contemporary cinema.
In 2007, Gerard Butler renewed himself through the romantic film adaptation of literature P.S. I Love You revolves around letters left by husband Gerry for his wife after he died of a brain tumor. The romantic, sweet but also extremely human content and the excellent performance of the couple Gerard Butler – Hilary Swank have brought many tears from the audience.
The “king” falls and the world ends
Gerard Butler is a talented, versatile actor who can excel in many different genres from drama, comedy, romance, even animation, but the action and apocalyptic film genre has Perhaps this is the field in which he makes many audiences remember him the most.
The Fall series, also known as Fallen, includes The Fall of the White House (Olympus Has Fallen, 2013), The Fall of London (London Has Fallen, 2016), The Fall of the White House: Traitor (Angel Has Fallen, 2019), all causing resonates and is loved by many action movie fans.
Gerard Butler excellently portrayed the character of Mike Banning, a loyal secret agent of the US President with eye-catching close combat actions and extremely memorable breathtaking takedowns.
Gerard Butler is also one of the actors with a remarkable track record of “escaping disaster” in Hollywood. In 2017, he played scientist Jake Lawson to prevent annihilation in the movie Geostorm.
Gerard Butler in the latest movie ‘Greenland: Meteor Disaster’.
In 2020, the action star born in 1969 continued to play the main role in the movie called Greenland: Meteor Disaster (Greenland). The film is set in the context of people around the world eagerly welcoming comet Clarke passing by the earth.
But after the sudden impact, fragments of the giant meteorite continuously fell, destroying everything where it passed. And from then on, people had to race against time to escape this terrible disaster.
