Highlights
- Austin Butler questioned his career as an actor after his mother passed away, wondering if it was a noble profession.
- The loss of his mother helped Butler connect to the role of Elvis Presley, as both had lost their mothers at the same age.
- Austin Butler's mother played a significant role in his acting journey, and he continues to strive to make her proud.
Oscar-nominated actor Austin Butler has revealed that he questioned his career after his mother died. The Elvis star was in his early 20s when his mother passed, leading him to wonder if acting was a “noble profession."
“I started to question,” he explained. “Suddenly I was around doctors and people that were hurting a lot in hospitals, and I thought, ‘Is acting a noble profession? Should I be doing this or should I give myself in some way that can help people who are dealing with cancer or something like that?'”
The former child star explained that when his mother, Lori, died in 2014 from duodenal cancer, just months after she was diagnosed he “never experienced pain like that before.”
"Lori Butler, my mom, my hero, & my best friend passed away this morning. Let's all celebrate her. I love you and will miss you every day Mom," he tweeted after announcing the death of his mother in September 2014.
How Austin Butler Dealt With Grief After Mother's Death
After his mother passed away, Austin Butler went to New Zealand to film The Shannara Chronicles, but admit he would “go home and cry every night.”
“I was dealing with grief, but it was also this feeling that I wasn’t aligned with something that felt truly fulfilling,” he explained about making the fantasy show. “I got done with that show, once they canceled it after two seasons, and I said, ‘I would rather not work as an actor than ever do something like that again.’”
How Tragedy Helped Austin Butler's Performance As Elvis
Austin Butler earned international acclaim and an Oscar nomination for his role as the late singer Elvis Presley. Butler and Presley both lost their mothers early into their careers, and it's this familiarity with grief that helped the actor tap into the icon.
Austin Butler actually didn’t think he had anything in common with Elvis when first signing up for the job, but upon researching the Rock 'n' Roll icon's personal life, he found a connection.
He appeared on Today with Hoda & Jenna and explained the struggle to get into the character. “When you first look at Elvis, he feels so much larger than life, and you look at him like a god-like figure or a caricature of Elvis, and I fell into that the first month when I was trying to work on it,” Butler explained.
It wasn’t until he learned that he and the singer both lost their mothers when they were 23 that he was able to fully connect and understand the crooner’s mindset. "I'd been watching all these documentaries and learned a couple days prior that Elvis's mom had passed away when he was 23, the same as me," he told Vogue.
“When I learned about his mom — and then knowing that we were the exact same age — that just hit me,” he explained. “It was just one of those things where you know the stars are aligning and that just became the most personal thing.”
While working on the biopic Butler often thought of his mother. "I had this nightmare that my mother was alive again, but dying. And it felt so fresh and painful."
Was Austin Butler Close With His Mother?
Austin Butler may have started his career as a child star on Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel, but it was his mother who first saw his potential in the industry.
In an interview on the Today Show, he explained how his mother would feel about his awards success. “I think she’d be very proud,” Butler told Willie Geist, visibly teary-eyed. “She sacrificed so much. She quit her job to drive me to auditions and drive me to acting classes. She’d wait outside and drive all the way back down to Orange County.”
He also explained that his mother, Lori, wanted to be an actress in high school. “I think I’m sort of getting to live this life for both of us, in that way,” he added. “She was my best friend and I think she’d be happy.”
He has the number 27 tattooed on his wrist as a tribute to his later mother. "She called 27 her God number. Whenever she saw it, she felt that God was looking out for her."
Butler praised Lori’s benevolent personality and how it inspired his own acting journey. “She was also just the most kind person,” he told the Today Show. “She lit up every room and she was so vibrant. She was just nice to everyone. There’s so many things that — I just want to make her proud. I want her to live through me and the lessons that she taught me and the way that she was.”
When Austin Butler Almost Quit Acting
When the actor was in his mid-20s, Austin Butler took time off from acting but found himself “sinking into a deeper and deeper depression” which lasted for around six or eight months.
During the Actors Roundtable, Austin Butler revealed that it was the Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh with Denzel Washington that helped him improve his depression. "They gave me the job in the room. And that's the moment that changed my career," he explained.
This role helped The Dune: Part II star change his approach to acting and his focus. "Something Denzel told me is: There is no stage acting or film acting; there is the truth," he told Backstage earlier this year.
Washington became a mentor for the young actor, coaching him through the rough period of his life. "He really took me under his wing. He'd start telling me thoughts about the scene, and suddenly I've got Denzel almost as an acting coach," Butler told GQ.
Washington was also hugely instrumental in helping Butler land the role of Elvis Presley. The Training Day actor made the call to director Baz Luhrmann, vouching for Butler's work ethic.
