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
The most exciting thing in England is a pigeon or foxes, which isn't very interesting to watch because everyone knows what they do. But I've taken pictures of them. Just for practice.
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 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'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.
I think I can speak for a lot of people in that they would be pretty nervous about meeting Harrison Ford, and I was definitely one of those people.
I play a lot of strategy games and team and reactionary games. So it's a different sort of skill that you're practicing.
I think a lot of that is what helped me develop my character. I wouldn't say it was Method, but it was definitely a little more in depth than I've done before in terms of acting. With the other kids, we all were such good friends by the time we started shooting. Because of that, it allowed us to trust each other more to push the dynamics of the relationship to places which you might not be able to had you not trusted that person.
Don't do piracy. Piracy is a crime.
I think it's always difficult no matter how similar your characters are to yourself to get into that mindset, because however much they are similar to you, they're not you.
I managed to stay grounded and when I wasn't working, I was hanging out with my friends so I was still able to be a kid and have that part of my life. I didn't let acting take over completely.