35 Facts About Gerard Butler

1.

Gerard James Butler was born on 13 November 1969 and is a Scottish actor and film producer.

2.

Gerard Butler then was cast as Erik, The Phantom in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera, with Emmy Rossum; it earned him a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actor.

3.

Gerard Butler voiced Stoick the Vast in the critically and commercially successful How to Train Your Dragon franchise.

4.

Gerard Butler played military leader Tullus Aufidius in the 2011 film Coriolanus, a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, and Sam Childers in the 2011 action biopic Machine Gun Preacher.

5.

Gerard Butler was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, the youngest of three children of Margaret and Edward Gerard Butler, a bookmaker.

6.

Gerard Butler is from a Catholic family of Irish descent.

7.

Gerard Butler's family moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada when he was six months old.

8.

Gerard Butler did not see his father again until he was 16, when Edward Butler called to meet him at a Glasgow restaurant.

9.

When Gerard Butler was 22, his father was diagnosed with cancer and died.

10.

Gerard Butler had ear surgery as a child that left him with a mangled ear.

11.

Gerard Butler still suffers from tinnitus and has hearing loss in his right ear.

12.

Gerard Butler took him to an audition for Steven Berkoff's play of Coriolanus.

13.

In London, Gerard Butler had various odd jobs until being cast by actor and director Steven Berkoff in a stage production of Coriolanus.

14.

Gerard Butler was cast as Ewan McGregor's character Renton in the stage adaptation of Trainspotting, the same play that had inspired him to become an actor.

15.

In 2000, Gerard Butler was cast in two breakthrough roles, the first being Attila the Hun in the American TV miniseries Attila.

16.

Gerard Butler was cast as Dracula in Dracula 2000.

17.

Gerard Butler, who had had no musical experience other than singing in a rock band while he was studying to be a lawyer, was surprised at the interest, but immediately began taking singing lessons with a vocal coach.

18.

Gerard Butler then did an acting audition with Schumacher, and a singing audition with Lloyd Webber, both of whom were impressed by his performance.

19.

The film, and Gerard Butler's performance, received mixed reviews, though Gerard Butler was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Actor.

20.

Gerard Butler, who said he "wanted to look really strong" in the film, trained with a high-intensity workout for four months prior to the film's shooting.

21.

Gerard Butler disavowed gossip reports that Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp had advised him on the project.

22.

Gerard Butler starred as Secret Service agent Mike Banning in the action thriller Olympus Has Fallen, opposite co-stars Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman.

23.

Gerard Butler said he broke two bones in his neck while shooting the film, but did not realise this until he had an MRI scan.

24.

Gerard Butler reprised his voice role as Stoick in How to Train Your Dragon 2 in 2014.

25.

Late in 2018 Gerard Butler starred as submarine captain Commander Joe Glass of the USS Arkansas, a Virginia class nuclear submarine, in the film Hunter Killer.

26.

Gerard Butler starred as Mike Banning again in the 2019 film Angel Has Fallen.

27.

Gerard Butler has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actor's Branch since 2011.

28.

Since October 2011, Gerard Butler has divided his time between Los Angeles and Glasgow.

29.

Gerard Butler was stable and released from the hospital later that week.

30.

Gerard Butler has stated in interviews that he no longer drinks alcohol.

31.

Gerard Butler was concerned he had become too reliant on prescribed pain medication, which escalated after his surfing accident.

32.

In 2011 Gerard Butler played in a charity match for Celtic FC, a football club he has supported since childhood.

33.

Gerard Butler has supported the charity Mary's Meals since 2010.

34.

Gerard Butler visited the international development charity's programme in Liberia in 2014.

35.

In November 2018, Gerard Butler's home was destroyed in the Woolsey Fire in California.