Born in Paisley, Scotland, to Margaret and Edward Butler, Gerard Butler was raised along with his older brother and sister in his hometown of Paisley, Scotland. He also spent some of his youth in Canada. His parents divorced when he was a child, and he and his siblings were raised primarily by their mother, who later remarried.
film debut was as Billy Connolly's younger brother in "Mrs. Brown (1997)". His film career continued with small roles, first in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and then Russell Mulcahy's Tale of the Mummy (1998). In 2000, Butler was cast in two breakthrough roles, the first being Attila the Hun in the USA film Attila (2001/I) and Wes Craven's new take on the Dracula legacy - Dracula 2000 (2000).
The role that garnered him most attention from both moviegoers and movie makers alike was that of Andre Marek in the big-screen adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel Timeline (2003). He appeared in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera (2004), playing the title character in the successful adaptation of the stage musical. It was a role that brought him much international attention. Other projects include Dear Frankie (2004), The Game of Their Lives (2005) and Beowulf & Grendel (2005).
In 2007 he starred as Spartan King Leonidas in the Warner Bros. production 300 (2006), based on the Frank Miller graphic novel, which brought him into the A-list sphere.
