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Asa Butterfield Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield is an
English actor. He is known for playing the main character, Bruno, in the Holocaust film
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas , portraying the young Mordred in the hit BBC TV Series
Merlin, playing Norman in the 2010 film Nanny McPhee and the Big ***, and taking the title
role in Martin Scorsese's 2011 fantasy Hugo. Butterfield most recently portrayed Ender
Wiggin in the film adaptation of the science fiction novel Ender's Game by Orson Scott
Card. Life and career
Asa Butterfield was born in Islington, London, and is the son of Jacqueline Farr and Sam
Butterfield. Butterfield first started acting at the age
of 7 on Friday afternoons after school at the Young Actors' Theatre, in his hometown.
Later, he secured minor roles in the 2006 television drama After Thomas and the 2007
film Son of Rambow. In 2008 he also had a guest role playing Donny in Ashes to Ashes.
In that same year, aged 10, he 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 he 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".
Producer David Heyman and director Mark Herman 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 ending of the film. He beat hundreds of boys to the role and also successfully
passed the auditions for a role in Mr. Nobody for which he auditioned at the same time.
He chose not to pursue the latter role. In 2008, Butterfield appeared in the Merlin
episode "The Beginning of the End"; he played a young druid boy sentenced to death by Uther
Pendragon because he feels threatened by the boy's magic. Despite the Great Dragon's advice
and the warning that Arthur cannot survive if the boy does, Merlin and Arthur, with the
help of Morgana, help the boy escape to rejoin the Druids. When they are about to disappear
into the forest, Arthur asks him for his name, which he says is Mordred, an important character
from the Arthurian legends who is supposed to kill King Arthur. Butterfield appeared
as Mordred in a number of subsequent episodes; however the role has now been recast, with
Alexander Vlahos playing Mordred as an adult character.
In 2010, he had a small part in The Wolfman. He starred as Norman Green at the age of 12
in Nanny McPhee and the Big *** (2010), working together with Emma Thompson. The film, and
his performance, both received positive reviews. At the age of 13 he played the main and title
character in Martin Scorsese's Hugo, adapted from the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
Hugo was filmed from June 2010 to January 2011, it was released on 23 November 2011,
and achieved critical and box-office success. Butterfield played the title role of Andrew
"Ender" Wiggin in the film adaptation of the Orson Scott Card novel Ender's Game, which
completed filming in the first half of 2012, and was released in 2013.
Later in 2013, Butterfield was reported to be in talks for a role in King of Kastle alongside
Clive Owen and in May, he was cast in The White Circus with his fellow cast member from
Hugo, Chloe Grace Moretz. In early 2014, Butterfield was cast in a film adaptation of Ten Thousand
Saints alongside Hailee Steinfeld and Ethan Hawke as Hawke's son who's addicted to drugs.
Shooting began on January 27, 2014 and the film is set to be released in 2015.
Other work Butterfield enjoys making and producing music,
and released a mashup of the songs “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus and “Making Plans
For Nigel” by XTC in 2004. In late 2012, Butterfield co-designed a turn-based
video game for iPad with his father and brother called Racing Blind. The game was released
to the App Store on 7 April 2013. Awards
Butterfield was nominated in the category "Most Promising Newcomer" of the 2008 British
Independent Film Awards, but he was beaten by Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire. He
was also nominated for the NSPCC Award (Young British Performer of the Year) in the London
Critics Circle Film Awards, which was ultimately won by Thomas Turgoose for his roles in Eden
Lake and Somers Town. MTV Networks' NextMovie.com named him one of the 'Breakout Stars to Watch
for in 2011'. He was nominated for "Best Young Actor/Actress" for the CCMAS, but the award
went to Thomas Horn. Awards