Asa Butterfield
Birthdate: Apr 1, 1997
Birthplace: Islington, London, England, UK
Asa Butterfield (birthname: Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield, now Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield) successfully transferred from a fine career as a child actor to more mature roles, launching his feature filmography with a supporting role in director/writer Garth Jennings’ British coming-of-age comedy, Son of Rambow (2007), starring Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jules Sitruk and Jessica Hynes, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and grossing over $10 million for distributors Paramount Vantage (U.S.)/Optimum Releasing (U.K.)/Senator Film (Germany)/Celluloid Dreams (International).
Butterfield landed his first lead in a movie in director/writer Mark Herman’s Holocaust drama, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), adapted from John Boyne’s 2006 novel, with Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Jack Scanlon, Amber Beattie, Rupert Friend and David Hayman, and grossing a solid $44 million for Miramax Films/Walt Disney Studios.
Butterfield joined the cast of the British/American/French co-production sequel from StudioCanal/Relativity Media/Working Title Films, Nanny McPhee Returns (2010), written and starring Emma Thompson under Susanna White’s direction, with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans, Lil Woods, Ewan McGregor, Ralph Fiennes and Maggie Smith, and grossing a fine $93.2 million worldwide for Universal Pictures/StudioCanal. Butterfield played a supporting role in Universal Pictures’ much-delayed remake of its 1941 horror movie, The Wolfman (2010), starring Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, and Geraldine Chaplin under Joe Johnston’s direction, earning a disappointing gross of $142.6 million.
Asa Butterfield landed his biggest role to date as the title character in director/producer Martin Scorsese’s and screenwriter John Logan’s movie adaptation of the 2007 Brian Selznick historical children’s book, Hugo (2011), starring Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer and Jude Law, winning five Oscars (out of eleven, including a Best Picture nomination) and grossing a weak $185.8 million theatrical return for Paramount Pictures. Butterfield starred in the title role of another anticipated big-screen adaptation, this one the sci-fi adventure, Ender’s Game (2013), adapted by director/writer Gavin Hood from Orson Scott Card’s 1985 novel, with Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, and Harrison Ford, returning a disappointing $125.5 million theatrical gross for distributor Lionsgate.
Butterfield portrayed a young math prodigy in the British film, A Brilliant Young Mind (2014, known outside the U.S. as X+Y), co-starring Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, and Jo Yang under Morgan Matthews’ direction, and released by Koch Media after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Butterfield was cast for the co-lead with Ethan Hawke by co-directors/co-writers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini for their indie drama, Ten Thousand Saints (2015), with Hailee Steinfeld, Emile Hirsch, and Emily Mortimer, and which was released by Screen Media Films after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
Asa Butterfield joined filmmaker Tim Burton for the big-screen version of Ransom Riggs’ 2011 novel, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016), starring Eva Green, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Judi Dench, and Samuel L. Jackson, distributed via 20th Century Fox after launching at Fantastic Fest. Butterfield landed another starring role in director/writer Peter Livolsi’s adaptation of Peter Bognanni’s 2010 novel, The House of Tomorrow (2017), co-starring Ellen Burstyn and Nick Offerman (both also executive producers), with Alex Wolff, Maude Apatow, and Michaela Watkins, and released by Shout! Studios.
Butterfield led the ensemble of director Saul Dibb’s and writer/producer Simon Reade’s British film version (the fifth) of R.C. Sherriff’s 1928 WWI play, Journey’s End (2017), with Sam Clafin, Paul Bettany, Tom Sturridge, Toby Jones and Stephen Graham, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and presented globally by Lionsgate to a $1 million return. Butterfield then played a Martian boy arriving on Earth in The Space Between Us (2017), co-starring Gary Oldman, Carla Gugino, Britt Robertson, and B.D. Wong under Peter Chelsom’s direction, followed by Butterfield switching to rom-com mode for Then Came You (2018), opposite co-lead Maisie Williams, with Nick Dobrev under Peter Hutchings’ direction, and released by Shout! Studios.
Asa Butterfield shifted back to sci-fi with a romantic tilt as co-star of director/writer Andrew Bowler’s Time Freak (2018), co-starring Sophie Turner and distributed in limited pattern by Lionsgate, and then Butterfield returned to his British roots as the ensemble lead in director/co-writer Crispian Mills’ horror comedy, Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018), co-starring Finn Cole, Hermoine Corfield, Michael Sheen, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, produced by Stolen Picture/Catalyst Global Media/Sony Pictures International Production and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.
Butterfield was cast by British director/writer Michael Winterbottom in the black satire, Greed (2019), starring Steve Coogan, David Mitchell, Dinita Gohil, Sophie Cookson, Jonny Sweet, Asim Chaudhry, Shirley Henderson and Isla Fisher, and with lead producer/distributor Sony Pictures as well as Sony Pictures Classics releasing in the U.S. Butterfield stepped aboard in a lead role for another black comedy by a British auteur, director/writer Peter Strickland, in Flux Gourmet (2022), with Gwendoline Christie, Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitrou and Richard Bremmer, and distributed by IFC Films (U.S. and Canada)/Curzon Films (U.K. and Ireland) after premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.
Asa Butterfield co-starred with Natalia Dyer in co-directors/co-writers Ari Costa’s and Eren Celeboglu’s horror movie, All Fun and Games (2023), with credited co-writing by JJ Braider, and co-starring Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Laurel Marsden and Annabeth Gish, and released in limited pattern by Vertical Entertainment, and then Butterfield joined Jaeden Martell to lead the ensemble of director/co-writer/producer Oscar Boyson’s indie comedy-drama, Our Hero, Balthazar (2025), with Chris Bauer and Jennifer Ehle, produced by Spacemaker Productions/Curious Gremlin/Roosevelt Film Lab/Hypothesis/Giant Leap Media and premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Butterfield voiced the title role in his first animated feature, director/writer Steve Hudson’s version of Guy Bass’ 2011 novel, Stitch Head (2025), with Joel Fry, Tia Bannon, Rob Brydon and Alison Steadman, premiering at the Annecy Animation Film Festival and released wide by Briarcliff Entertainment (U.S.)/Wild Bunch (Germany and France)/Kazoo Films (U.K.).
Butterfield followed with his second voice role in an animated movie, director/writer/producer Duncan Jones’ U.K./U.S. co-produced adult-oriented sci-fi movie, Rogue Trooper (2025), with the voices of Aneurin Barnard, Hayley Atwell, Sean Bean, Matt Berry, Jemaine Clement, Jack Lowden, and Alice Lowe. Butterfield continued his run of voice performances for animated movies with a supporting role in director Leon Joosen’s and co-writers Tony Nottage’s and Martin Casella’s British film version of Francesca Longrigg’s fantasy, The Land of Sometimes (date to be announced), starring Ewan McGregor, Mel Brooks, Helena Bonham Carter and Jessica Henwick, and which was produced by Cosmo-Giantwheel/Nottage Productions/Two Daughters Entertainment.
Asa Butterfield starred in the British movie-themed romance, Matinee Idol (date to be announced), co-directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, written by Richard Galazka, produced by Julia Godsinskaya for film production company, Meduza, and then Butterfield starred in director/writer/producer/co-composer and co-star Alex Wolff’s dark thriller, If She Burns (date to be announced), with Victoria Pedretti and Justice Smith, and produced by Andra Gordon and Jay Van Hoy. Butterfield co-starred with Logan Lerman and Kristine Froseth in the political biopic, College Republicans (date to be announced), directed and produced by James Schamus and written by Wes Jones, with producer Franklin Leonard and backed by Bratt Entertainment/Destro Films/StarStream Media.
Asa Butterfield Photos and Videos
Personal life
Asa Butterfield was born and raised in North London’s Islington area by his parents, Jacqueline (psychologist) and Sam (ad copywriter). Butterfield has one sibling, Morgan, and two half-siblings, Loxie and Marlie. Butterfield attended and graduated from Stoke Newington School. Butterfield’s height is 6’ 1¼ ”. Butterfield’s estimated net worth is $5 million.
Known For
Asa Butterfield Movies
actor
Previous (21)
- 2025 |
Stitch Head
asStitch Head
Follows Stitch Head, a small creature awoken by a Mad Professor in a castle to protect the professor's other creations from the townspeople of Grubbers Nubbin.
- 2023 | Your Christmas or Mine 2as James
- 2023 |
All Fun and Games
asMarcus Fletcher
A group of Salem teens discover a cursed knife that unleashes a demon that forces them to play gruesome, deadly versions of childhood games where there can be no winners, only survivors.
- 2022 | Choose or Dieas Isaac
- 2022 | Your Christmas or Mine?as James
- 2022 |
Flux Gourmet
asBilly Rubin
Set at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance, a collective finds themselves embroiled in power struggles, artistic vendettas, and gastrointestinal disorders.
- 2020 |
- 2019 |
Slaughterhouse Rulez
asWilloughby Blake
An illustrious British boarding school becomes a bloody battleground when a mysterious sinkhole appears at a nearby fracking site, unleashing unspeakable horror.
- 2018 | Then Came Youas Calvin
- 2018 | Time Freakas Stillman
- 2018 |
The House of Tomorrow
asSebastian Prendergast
The film tells futurist, architect, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller's incredible story through two teens hoping to get laid, become punk gods, and survive high school.
- 2018 |
Journey’s End
asSecond Lieutenant Raleigh
Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, it is the story of a group of British officers, led by mentally-disintegrating young Officer Stanhope, as they await their fate.
- 2017 |
The Space Between Us
asGardner Elliot
The first human born on Mars travels to Earth for the first time, experiencing the wonders of the planet through fresh eyes. He embarks on an adventure with a street-smart girl to discover how he came to be.
- 2016 |
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
asJake
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
When Jacob discovers clues to a mystery that stretches across time, he finds Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. But the danger deepens after he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers.
- 2015 | Ten Thousand Saintsas Jude
- 2014 | A Brilliant Young Mindas Nathan Ellis
- 2013 |
Ender’s Game
asEnder Wiggin
Young Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against the Formics, an insectoid alien race who had previously tried to invade Earth and had inflicted heavy losses on humankind.
- 2011 |
- 2010 | Nanny McPhee Returnsas Norman Green
- 2010 | The Wolfmanas Young Ben
- 2008 | The Boy in the Striped Pajamasas Bruno
Facts About Asa Butterfield
What’s in a Name?: Asa Butterfield’s full birthname was Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield, but changed it to Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield in honor of the Comet Hale-Bopp.
App Developer: Butterfield developed an app for the iPad called “Racing Blind” with his father and brother, and is the only app-based game designed to be played with eyes closed.
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