Asa Butterfield
Asa Butterfield
Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield /ˈeɪzə/ AY-zəis a British actor. He began his acting career at the age of 9 in the television drama After Thomasand the comedy film Son of Rambow. He became known for playing the main character Bruno in the Holocaust film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, for which he received nominations for the British Independent Film Award and the London Film Critics Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year at the age of...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth1 April 1997
CityIslington, England
I never wanted to be home-schooled. I didn't like the idea of being home-schooled. It would only separate myself even further from the real world, and that's never what I wanted.
I can clap really fast. I can beatbox. I can type the alphabet in under 2 seconds. That's probably the one I'm most proud of.
I don't really have any dream roles. It's just things, which come up.
I like to keep my options very open and try not to focus on trying to get something. That's just how I'm playing it and it's worked so far.
I don't like to look for anything in particular.
I like to keep a broad scope and read lots of different things with lots of different types of characters. Doing that is going to help develop me as an actor; you push yourself.
Doing something different, doing something original is always fun because there is a lot of creativity that comes with it.
I do photography and I studied film at school. So I've always really enjoyed that and I've got an eye for camera angles I guess. I've never taken that into filming wildlife.
I always think that trying to push yourself as an actor in a direction that you've never been before, developing characters which are more difficult to get into the head of, or are more interesting and further away from yourself, is always a challenge. But, you want to take up that challenge and try your best.
I've always played games. I've been brought up around gaming.
When you really want a role and you really want a character, you become quite close to the script and the project, and it is sad when it doesn't go your way. But I've found there's always another one, which will be as good if not better. You can't let your failures bring you down when you're an actor, because then you can't get up.
When you're working in the [film] industry and you're working with people who are well known and are so regarded, you do just pick up on things. Seeing the way that people hold themselves and compose themselves before a scene - it's inspirational.
I've had a lot of consoles as a kid so there has always been something that I've done as a pastime or with friends and for personal enjoyment. I don't play many sports so it gives me an opportunity to have that same competitive feeling and the same reward when you win but using different techniques. It's much more mental.
For me, with any character, there are different ways that you approach understanding him, and in this film in particular, because I had the novel to refer to. It's always really helpful to have all of that information and all of those hundreds more words which give you an idea into the background and your character and all.