Who is Austin Butler? Meet Baz Luhrmann’s New Elvis

The world may not know the name Austin Butler just yet, but now that director Baz Luhrmann has cast the actor as Elvis Presley in his upcoming biopic, that will surely change.

According to a report from Deadline, the as-of-yet untitled drama from Warner Bros. will follow Presley’s rise as the king of rock and roll, and his relationship with his controlling manager Colonel Tom Parker, who will be played by Tom Hanks. The film will begin shooting next year in Queensland, Australia. Luhrmann—who is best known for his fantastical, theatrical film adaptations like The Great Gatsby, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge!—went through an exhaustive search to find the perfect Elvis, reportedly considered names like Harry Styles and Ansel Elgort, before finally settling on Butler, a relatively new face. It’s undoubtedly a big break for Butler, and you’ll likely be seeing a lot more of him soon—so here’s everything you need to know about the actor.

Who is Austin Butler?

Butler is a 27-year-old American actor, originally from Anaheim, California. He’s been acting since he was 13 years old, starting as a background actor. Eventually, he landed a small role on Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide as Lionel Scranton. You also might know Butler from his relationship with High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens, who he has been dating for seven years. If you’re interested in stalking him on social media, you can find him on Twitter and Instagram, where he maintains a very impressive and aesthetically-pleasing Instagram grid.

What else has Austin Butler been in?

Given that he’s been working since he was 13, Butler’s got a lot of titles under his belt. He is perhaps best known for his role in The Carrie Diaries, where he played Sebastian Kydd, or for his three-episode appearance in Arrow, where he played Chase. You may also remember his as Wilke in Switched at Birth, Jones Mager in Life Unexpected, or as James Garrett in Zoey 101.

Last year, he made his Broadway debut in the revival of The Iceman Cometh, where he played Don Parritt opposite Denzel Washington, which Luhrmann said in a statement was the role that made him reach out to Butler in the first place. You can also catch him Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Who else is in the cast of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic?

So far, all we know of are Butler as Elvis and Hanks as Elvis’s manager. Luhrmann wrote the script with Craig Pearce, and will also produce alongside his wife, Catherine Martin, and Gail Berman.