Austin Butler has been actively working in front of the camera since 2005, but his breakout role did not come until 2022. The early days of his acting career happened while he was still a teenager and he did a lot of background work in school scenes for Nickelodeon programming originally before becoming a staple in children’s sitcoms like Zoey 101, iCarly, Hannah Montana, and Wizards of Waverly Place. Getting to work on some of the most popular children’s programs of all time helped to build a foundation for the skills he continues to use as an adult.

Butler’s breakout role, despite his steady stream of work (including a 2018 Broadway debut) for nearly 20 years, happened in 2022’s Elvis. That is likely the role he will be known for in years to come other than a certain generation that will recognize him from family movies like Aliens in the Attic or teen dramas like The Carrie Diaries. Austin Butler’s best movie and TV shows have really shown his growth and versatility as an actor.

10 The Carrie Diaries (2013-2014)

As Sebastian Kydd

The Carrie Diaries only lasted two seasons on the CW, but the series was inspired by Sex And The City. Set when Carrie Bradshaw was just a high school student becoming interested in both fashion and writing, the story centers around Carrie (AnnaSophia Robb) as she gets an internship in Manhattan and gets the chance to explore the city for the first time. There’s a set of characters for her Manhattan life and a set of characters for her home life. Austin Butler’s Sebastian is part of her home life.

At the time, Butler was mostly known for family movies and children’s television, having grown up in front of the camera. Sebastian was very different than the “boy next door” types he had been playing until then. Sebastian was one of the most popular kids in school, the boy Carrie had long had a crush on, and was a little bit of a bad boy. It’s really a transitional role for Butler, since so few people had seen him in anything other than children’s programming, and it helped prove that he could take on more demanding roles.

9 The Dead Don’t Die (2019)

As Jack

Unlike a lot of young actors who came of age in the 2010s, Austin Butler does not have a ton of horror movies among his work. This is the rare one in his resume, and The Dead Don’t Die is actually a horror-comedy. The movie follows a group of people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse.

While there have been a lot of zombie apocalypse movies, there are not a lot of them that would have allowed Butler to be on the same set as Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and Adam Driver. The quirky horror-comedy is loaded with talent. It received mostly mixed reviews, but Butler showcases a good amount of talent here, since he gets to play with both dramatic moments and his comedic skills. His rebellious character stands out among the large ensemble.

8 The Bling Ring (2011)

As Zack

Not to be confused with the 2013 movie of the same name, The Bling Ring is a Lifetime network movie that featured a similar premise. Both movies were inspired by the teenagers who stole from the houses of the wealthy in California. While Emma Watson starred in the 2013 version of the movie, Austin Butler is one of the better-known stars of the made-for-TV movie.

The movie follows a group of teens who attempt to capture the lifestyle of the rich and famous by stealing from them. Butler stars as Zack, the teen who essentially becomes the leader of the group of teens. It’s actually one of his most charming roles as he is able to sell to the audience that his charm is responsible for holding this group together for all of their illegal activities. He is also, perhaps paradoxically, incredibly likable in the role despite being a thief who breaks into people’s homes.

The Bling Ring is also one of the first movies in which Butler played a character inspired by existing source material. He would go on to play characters from various literary adaptations and other roles inspired by real people. This role would have helped prepare him for a lot of the future parts that would require research and preparation for the characters.

7 Dude (2018)

As Thomas

Dude is a movie that came out on the heels of Butler’s last television series being canceled, and it’s definitely not as high-profile as some of his later projects. Butler plays a ing role in the movie as the movie itself centers on four high school girls instead. Those who went into the movie because they were fans of the young cast and did not know what it was about might have been in for a surprise. Though it has its comedic moments, the movie deals with a lot of hard subjects with grief being key among them.

Four young women in their final years of high school (Lucy Hale, Alexandra Shipp, Awkwafina, and Kathryn Prescott) spend their time smoking in each other's cars, hanging out by the pool, and trying to find the right guy. Looming in the background of everything they do, however, is the loss of Thomas, played by Butler.

While the movie is a coming-of-age story for the central young women, Thomas does not get to grow up or change or experience a character arc because he exists in the movie in the memories of the main characters. Butler’s portrayal of him is both charming and heartbreaking, bringing a weight to the movie that many might not have anticipated.

6 Masters Of The Air (2024)

As Major Gale ‘Buck’ Cleven

Masters of the Air is like Band of Brothers, except for the sky. The World War II miniseries focuses on a group of Airmen responsible for battling German forces from above. Butler plays one of those Airmen alongside several other up-and-comers in the industry.

What’s really impressive about Butler fully embodying the role here is that he had an incredibly difficult time heading into filming. He spent the days right before filming in the hospital with an illness, and that was right after spending so long taking the method approach to acting for his role in Elvis. Butler notably had a hard time shaking off his Elvis voice following his work on the movie after spending so long perfecting it, and he was ill. That makes for a tough way to start a job.

It is a shame then that this series was made for AppleTV+, which seems to be making a lot of impressive dramas that very few people have access to view without subscribing to the platform.

Masters Of The Air was nominated for three Emmys, winning one.

5 The Bikeriders (2024)

As Benny

Between 2022 and 2024, Austin Butler appeared in a variety of period movies and TV series. While Masters of the Air is set during World War II, The Bikeriders is set in the turbulent 1960s.

The story follows the rise of a fictional motorcycle club during a time of intense change in the US. At the center of the story is Benny (Butler), the newest member of the club who finds himself falling for someone just as the club begins to make a more gritty and even violent shift from its haven for outsiders.

Instead of an epic adventure or a genre-bending piece like so many of Butler’s most recent projects, The Bikeriders is every inch a character-driven story. While the rise of the motorcycle gang plays out and society changes around it, it is the of the club who really drive the story as the movie delves into their motivations and emotional states more than anything else. Butler proves himself more than capable of carrying a movie like that, though he does not have to here as he works alongside Jodi Comer and Tom Hardy.

4 The Shannara Chronicles (2016-2017)

As Wil Ohmsford

The series really helped audiences to see him as more than a child who appeared in Nickelodeon and Disney programs.

This series, which originally aired on MTV before being moved to Spike, is inspired by the Shannara trilogy of novels by Terry Brooks. Unfortunately, the entire story did not get the chance to play out because Shannara Chronicles was canceled after season 2, despite efforts to find a new home for it.

The series was an incredibly ambitious one for MTV, a fantasy epic that saw magic brought to life with the power struggle for territories, bloodlines, and more hinted at in different prophecies throughout the show. Butler is one of only a handful of actors whose characters appear through the entire run of the show. He stars as a young man who is descended from elves and is the keeper of the Elfstones. Each season sees him set a different task with a different ensemble around him.

This is one of the first chances that Butler had to star in a series instead of playing a ing role, and despite the lower viewership a late-night series on MTV would get, his screen presence was noted by critics and fans alike. The series really helped audiences to see him as more than a child who appeared in Nickelodeon and Disney programs.

3 Dune: Part Two (2024)

As Feyd-Rautha

This is the second chapter of the remake of the Dune saga for the big screen. It is a science fiction epic that has a large following, so it’s no surprise that there was huge interest in the movies - especially with their breathtaking scenery and star-studded cast. The second movie sees Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) embracing his role as the leader that was prophesied.

Butler stunned audiences in initial trailers for the movie as his scenes only occurred in black and white, and he was almost completely unrecognizable. Butler is playing a character wholly removed from anyone he has ever played before. Feyd-Rautha is someone born into a life of violence and fear. He uses intimidation and a cunning mind to get what he wants, and he appears in some impressive gladiatorial fight scenes in the movie.

This role helped to show audiences that Butler is an incredibly versatile actor since his highest-profile project before this one was very different. It’s also one of his highest-profile and most critically acclaimed roles to date.

Dune: Part Two was nominated for two Golden Globes.

2 Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

As Tex

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is one of Quentin Tarantino’s most interesting movies because it takes the idea of real events that the audience already knows the history of and completely changes them. It’s a fictional tale inspired by something that really happened, giving a “what if” approach to contemporary history.

Here, Butler plays a member of the “family” of Charles Manson. He is one of the most dangerous and loyal of the family. Tex is chilling, but he is also fulfilling the role of the cowboy who dispenses wisdom and helps lead the group. Whoever Tex was before he became involved with Charles Manson is effectively gone, but Butler plays the role as though there’s still something below the surface to say that Tex was his own person before he became a part of this cult.

Like many of the of the Manson family who appear in the movie, there is not a ton of screen time devoted to Tex. Many young actors on the cusp of breaking through appear in what are almost cameos (Sydney Sweeney, for example) in the family. Butler’s performance here, however, is one of the earliest instances of his completely transforming himself for a role, which is why it’s one of his best so far.

1 Elvis (2022)

As Elvis Presley

...the difficulty shaking the accent is one of the many signs that Butler committed wholeheartedly to the part.

At this point in Austin Butler’s career, it is hard to imagine that any role is going to outrank Elvis as his best. There will likely come a day (maybe even very soon) in which Butler blows audiences away even more than he did here, but his work as Elvis is simply stellar.

The movie chronicles only a portion of the singer’s life in this biopic, but Butler went mostly method for his role. He perfected Elvis’s voice, finding it hard to get rid of the affectations long after he wrapped filming. While some questioned why he still sounded like Elvis in later interviews, the difficulty shaking the accent is one of the many signs that Butler committed wholeheartedly to the part.

Elvis was named the American Film Institute’s Movie of the Year in 2023.

Elvis is easily Butler’s most lauded role. The movie received more than 200 nominations from elite award shows, critical organizations, and online forums. It won more than 90 of those awards. Austin Butler himself was nominated for an Oscar and a Critics Choice Award and won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for his work in the movie.