Asa Butterfield

Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield was born on 1 April 1997 in Islington, London, and is the son of Jacqueline "Jake" Farr, a psychologist, and Sam Butterfield, an advertising copywriter.^[4][5][6] He is named after the comet Hale-Bopp. He was educated at Stoke Newington School in Stoke Newington, London.^{[citation needed]}

Butterfield started acting at age seven at the Young Actors Theatre Islington in Islington. Later, he secured minor roles in After Thomas, a 2006 television drama, and the 2007 film Son of Rambow.^[4][7]

In 2008, he had a guest role playing Donny in the television series Ashes to Ashes.^[8] Also in 2008, at 10, Butterfield played the lead role in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Director Mark Herman said that they came across Butterfield early on in the audition process. He was on the first audition tape Herman received and he was the third hopeful he met in person. Herman thought Butterfield's performance was outstanding, but only decided to cast him after auditioning hundreds of other boys, "so no stone was left unturned".^[9] Herman and producer David Heyman were looking for someone who was able to portray the main character's innocence, so they asked each of the children what they knew about the Holocaust. Butterfield's knowledge was slim and it was purposely kept that way throughout filming so it would be easier for him to convey his character's innocence. The final scenes of the film were shot at the end of the production period to prepare both him and Jack Scanlon for the dramatic conclusion of the film.^[10]

Butterfield beat out hundreds of boys and also successfully passed the auditions for a role in Mr. Nobody, for which he auditioned at the same time. He elected not to pursue the latter role.^[7] In 2008, he portrayed Mordred in the Merlin episode "The Beginning of the End"; he appeared as Mordred in a number of subsequent episodes. In 2010, he had a small part in The Wolfman.^[11] He starred as Norman Green in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010). The film and his performance received positive reviews. At age 13, Butterfield played the main and titular character in Martin Scorsese's Hugo, adapted from the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Hugo was released on 23 November 2011 and achieved critical success. He portrayed the title role of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin in the film adaptation of the Orson Scott Card novel Ender's Game. The film was released in 2013.

After the shooting of Ender's Game, Butterfield was cast in coming of age British drama X+Y^[12] as Nathan Ellis, a mathematical savant on the autism spectrum selected to compete in an internationally renowned mathematics competition. The film premiered on 5 September 2014 at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto.^[13][14] His performance received widespread critical acclaim^[15] and he was nominated for the BIFA for Best Actor.

In 2015, Butterfield appeared in a film adaptation of Ten Thousand Saints.^[16] In 2016, he portrayed Jacob Portman in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.^[17] He starred as Gardner Elliot in the film The Space Between Us and as Sebastian in The House of Tomorrow^[18] in 2017. In 2018, he was cast in the main role of Otis Milburn on the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education.^[19] The series was released on 11 January 2019 to critical acclaim.^[20] The second season was released on 17 January 2020, the third on 17 September 2021, and the fourth and final season on 21 September 2023.

In July 2024, he was cast as Adam in Carnival: At the End of Days, an unreleased film.^[21] He portrays Solomon in the film Our Hero, Balthazar, which received acclaim in early reviews ahead of a wide release.^[22] He was specifically lauded for his performance by The Austin Chronicle^[23] and The Hollywood Reporter.^[24]

Butterfield enjoys making and producing music; he released a mashup of the songs "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus and "Making Plans for Nigel" by XTC.^[25] Along with his brother, he is part of a music group called Mambo Fresh. In late 2012, Butterfield co-designed a turn-based video game for iPad with his father and brother called Racing Blind.^[26] The game was released to App Store on 7 April 2013.

Butterfield is involved in competitive Nintendo gaming. In 2017, he competed in the Nintendo World Championships, where he was eliminated early in the invitational.^[27] He is an enthusiastic player of competitive Super Smash Bros. and signed with esports team Panda Global, under the tag "Stimpy". His first appearance with the organisation was at Genesis 6.^[28] In October 2020, he was signed by Team Liquid.^[29]

Since 2017, Butterfield has taught an annual acting masterclass at The Reel Scene acting school in London. The three-day "Asa Butterfield Masterclass" course covers improvisation techniques and students work on scenes from Butterfield's films, which are then filmed on the last day.^[30] In 2018, students appeared as extras in the film Greed in which Butterfield appeared.^[31][32]

In 2023, Butterfield played in the annual Soccer Aid charity football match, raising money for UNdICEF. Butterfield, a lifelong Arsenal fan, scored England's opening goal assisted by former Arsenal player Jack Wilshere.^[33]