Asa Butterfield

Asa Butterfield was born on April 1, 1997 in Islington, London to Jacqueline Farr and Sam Butterfield. He has three siblings, one brother named Morgan and two sisters named Loxie and Marlie. While at birth, Butterfield was given the nickname "Maxwell Thornton", he later changed it to “Bopp” on his passport (after the Hale-Bopp comet).

He attended the secondary school Stoke Newington School & Sixth Form. After attending school on Friday afternoons, he would act at the Young Actors' Theatre Islington.

At the age of eight, Asa Butterfield was spotted at the Young Actors' Theatre Islington by a talent spotting casting director. He began his professional acting career in 2006 with the telefilm ‘After Thomas’. Butterfield played the small role of Andrew in the film.

In 2007, he worked in his debut feature, the comedy film ‘Son of Rambow’. In the following year, he guest-starred in BBC One’s crime-drama ‘Ashes to Ashes’.

In 2008, he played one of the two leading roles in Mark Herman’s ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, with the other role being portrayed by Jack Scanlon. Based on John Boyne’s novel of the same name, the film was a holocaust drama in which Butterfield played Bruno, the young son of a Nazi officer, who befriends Scanlon’s Shmuel, a Jewish boy who had been put in a concentration camp. Butterfield’s sombre, poignant, and powerful performance made the critics notice him for the first time.

He was cast in the recurring role of Mordred in the popular fantasy-adventure series ‘Merlin’ in 2008. His next important role came about in 2010 when he was cast opposite Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maggie Smith, and Ewan McGregor in the fantasy comedy family film ‘Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang’.

In 2013, Butterfield starred as Andrew "Ender" Wiggin in the film ‘Ender's Game.’ While the film received mixed to positive reviews, his performance as the hero earned him much critical praise.

Asa Butterfield is best known for his role in the 2011 epic historical adventure drama ‘Hugo.’ The film was based on Brian Selznick's book ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’ and narrates the story of a boy, Hugo (Butterfield), who lives by himself at the Gare Montparnasse railway station in Paris in the 1930s after the death of his father. Butterfield received critical acclaim for his performance and also won numerous awards.