# Asa Butterfield
**Asa Butterfield** (born 1997) is an English actor who rose to fame as a child performer in *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* (2008) and went on to lead Martin Scorsese's *[Hugo](https://www.edgepedia.org/hugo-film)* (2011) and the Netflix comedy-drama *Sex Education*, in which he played Otis Milburn for four series. His full birth name is Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield; he now uses the middle name "Bopp" on his passport, after Comet Hale-Bopp.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1997, Islington, London, England, to Jacqueline Farr and Sam Butterfield[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535) • [2](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/dTAnlx40aDptRy2lQajCuSVIAuo/appointments) |
| Breakthrough role | Bruno, the lead in *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* (2008), cast at age 10[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535) • [3](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/asa-butterfield) |
| Signature film roles | Title role in *Hugo* (2011, dir. Martin Scorsese); Ender Wiggin in *Ender's Game* (2013)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535) |
| Breakthrough television | Otis Milburn in *Sex Education* (Eleven/Netflix, series 1–4)[4](https://time.com/5492639/sex-education-netflix-review/) |
| Stage debut | One-man play *Second Best* at Riverside Studios, London, directed by Michael Longhurst (2025)[5](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/feb/04/second-best-review-asa-butterfield-riverside-studios-london) |
| Recent television | Adam in the six-episode Netflix thriller *Unchosen* (2026); Brian Epstein in *Hamburg Days* (filming)[6](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/unchosen-plot-cast-news) • [7](https://au.variety.com/2026/tv/news/asa-butterfield-jonny-lee-miller-hamburg-days-37994/) |
| Business appointment | Director of Rain Check Films Limited, appointed 26 February 2025[2](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/dTAnlx40aDptRy2lQajCuSVIAuo/appointments) |
## Early life and start in acting
Butterfield was born in [Islington](https://www.edgepedia.org/islington), London, to Jacqueline Farr and Sam Butterfield.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535) His acting career started when he was 8 years old, after a casting director scouting for talent noticed him at the Young Actors Theatre in Islington, the after-school drama club he attended near his home.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535) His father, a keen musician, taught him piano, and his parents acted as chaperones at auditions and productions during his early career.[8](https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/asa-butterfield-has-learnt-his-lessons/) He attended a regular school throughout his youth, an arrangement he has credited with keeping him unperturbed by fame.[9](https://time.com/4023074/asa-butterfield-brilliant-young-mind/)
## Child and teen film career
**Breakthrough.** After small roles including the BBC television film *After Thomas* and *[Son of Rambow](https://www.edgepedia.org/son-of-rambow)*, Butterfield was cast at 10 as Bruno in *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* (2008), playing a German boy who befriends a youth inside a concentration camp.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535) • [3](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/asa-butterfield) During filming, the plot and many historical details of the Holocaust were kept from him, partly to preserve the innocence of his performance and partly because of the subject matter.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/25/asa-butterfield-sex-education-interview-stage-debut-second-best) The film's notice brought nominations including Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards and a [Young Artist Award](https://www.edgepedia.org/young-artist-award) shared with his co-star Jack Scanlon.[11](https://www.tribute.ca/people/biography/asa-butterfield/31424/)
He then played the young Mordred on the BBC's *Merlin*, appeared in *The Wolfman* (2010) with [Anthony Hopkins](https://www.edgepedia.org/anthony-hopkins), and played Norman in *[Nanny McPhee Returns](https://www.edgepedia.org/nanny-mcphee-and-the-big-bang)* (2010).[3](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/asa-butterfield) Martin Scorsese cast him in the title role of *Hugo* (2011), a 3-D film about a boy living in the walls of a 1930s train station. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, winning five, and Butterfield received the Young Hollywood Award for Breakthrough Performance.[12](https://www.caa.com/caaspeakers/asa-butterfield/) He has said that it was only after *Hugo* that he began to consider acting as a career.[13](https://rts.org.uk/index.php/article/asa-butterfield-and-netflix-effect)
**Teen roles.** He starred as Ender Wiggin in *Ender's Game* (2013), acting opposite [Harrison Ford](https://www.edgepedia.org/harrison-ford), and as Nathan, a mathematics prodigy on the autism spectrum, in *A Brilliant Young Mind* (2014; also released as *X + Y*). For the latter he prepared by meeting young men on the spectrum, including Daniel Lightwing, whom his character was loosely based on.[9](https://time.com/4023074/asa-butterfield-brilliant-young-mind/) He followed with Jude in *Ten Thousand Saints* (2015), Jake in [Tim Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-burton)'s *Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children* (2016), and Gardner Elliot in *The Space Between Us* (2017).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535) Around 2014–2015 his name circulated in press coverage of the [Spider-Man](https://www.edgepedia.org/spider-man) reboot casting; the part went to Tom Holland.[9](https://time.com/4023074/asa-butterfield-brilliant-young-mind/) Later film credits include *Journey's End*, *Time Freak*, *Flux Gourmet*, *Choose or Die*, and *Greed*, with Steve Coogan and Isla Fisher.[14](https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/asa-butterfield/)
## Sex Education
From 2019 Butterfield starred as Otis Milburn in *Sex Education*, a British dramedy on Netflix in which a 16-year-old outcast, the son of a sex therapist played by [Gillian Anderson](https://www.edgepedia.org/gillian-anderson), sets up an informal therapy practice at his secondary school with his classmate Maeve ([Emma Mackey](https://www.edgepedia.org/emma-mackey)).[4](https://time.com/5492639/sex-education-netflix-review/) The show returned in January 2020 to a viewership of over 40 million.[12](https://www.caa.com/caaspeakers/asa-butterfield/) Butterfield drew the character's bumbling physicality partly from Mr Bean, and has said the series reassured viewers that they were not alone in their questions about sex.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/25/asa-butterfield-sex-education-interview-stage-debut-second-best) • [15](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/dec/28/sex-education-asa-butterfield-feel-more-confident-talking-about-sex) He appeared in all four series (2019–2023) and has since said he was "done with playing a teenager" by his mid-twenties.[14](https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/asa-butterfield/) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/25/asa-butterfield-sex-education-interview-stage-debut-second-best)
## Stage and recent work
Butterfield made his stage debut in January 2025 in *Second Best*, a one-man play at Riverside Studios in London about Martin, a man who as a child reached the final two auditions to play [Harry Potter](https://www.edgepedia.org/harry-potter) and has carried the disappointment since. Directed by Michael Longhurst, the production ran until 22 February 2025. Reviewers singled out the performance: *The Guardian* praised his finesse in inhabiting a man in need without seeming needy, and *Time Out* called it a totally assured and searing stage debut.[5](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/feb/04/second-best-review-asa-butterfield-riverside-studios-london) • [16](https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/second-best-review)
His television work since *Sex Education* has turned toward darker material. In the Netflix psychological thriller *Unchosen* (2026), created and written by Julie Gearey, he plays Adam, a devout husband in a cloistered Christian community who puts the fellowship before his family and uses violence to punish his wife Rosie (Molly Windsor); privately he struggles with his sexuality, which becomes more complicated when he finds himself attracted to the escaped prisoner Sam ([Fra Fee](https://www.edgepedia.org/fra-fee)).[6](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/unchosen-plot-cast-news) He was also cast as [Brian Epstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-epstein) in *Hamburg Days*, a television series about the Beatles alongside [Jonny Lee Miller](https://www.edgepedia.org/jonny-lee-miller) and Christine Tremarco.[7](https://au.variety.com/2026/tv/news/asa-butterfield-jonny-lee-miller-hamburg-days-37994/) Upcoming film projects include *Our Hero, Balthazar*, in which he plays Solomon, a would-be school shooter; *Rogue Trooper*, directed by Duncan Jones; and the voice roles Stitch Head and Icarus in *Stitch Head* and the video game *Hades II*.[14](https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/asa-butterfield/) • [17](https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2026/07/10/film-our-hero-balthazar-asa-butterfield-oscar-boyson-interview/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535)
## Recognition and business interests
IMDb lists 6 wins and 24 nominations across his career.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535) In February 2025 he was appointed a director of Rain Check Films Limited, an active company registered in London.[2](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/dTAnlx40aDptRy2lQajCuSVIAuo/appointments) He is represented by Independent Talent and CAA.[14](https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/asa-butterfield/) • [12](https://www.caa.com/caaspeakers/asa-butterfield/)
## References
1. [Asa Butterfield, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2633535)
2. [Asa BUTTERFIELD personal appointments, Companies House](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/dTAnlx40aDptRy2lQajCuSVIAuo/appointments)
3. [Asa Butterfield, Rotten Tomatoes](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/asa-butterfield)
4. ['Sex Education' Is a Teen Sex Comedy with a Gen Z Twist, Time](https://time.com/5492639/sex-education-netflix-review/)
5. [Second Best review – Asa Butterfield is first-class as Harry Potter runner-up, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/feb/04/second-best-review-asa-butterfield-riverside-studios-london)
6. [Unchosen: Cast, Photos, Plot, Release Date, Trailer, Netflix Tudum](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/unchosen-plot-cast-news)
7. [Asa Butterfield, Jonny Lee Miller and More Join Beatles Series 'Hamburg Days', Variety](https://au.variety.com/2026/tv/news/asa-butterfield-jonny-lee-miller-hamburg-days-37994/)
8. [Interview: Asa Butterfield has learnt his lessons, Gentleman's Journal](https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/asa-butterfield-has-learnt-his-lessons/)
9. [Asa Butterfield Would Like a Career Like Leonardo DiCaprio's, Time](https://time.com/4023074/asa-butterfield-brilliant-young-mind/)
10. ['I was 25 and done with playing a teenager': Asa Butterfield on Sex Education, stage fright and his 'terrifying' one-man play, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/25/asa-butterfield-sex-education-interview-stage-debut-second-best)
11. [Asa Butterfield Biography, Tribute.ca](https://www.tribute.ca/people/biography/asa-butterfield/31424/)
12. [Asa Butterfield: Speaking Fee, Booking Agent & Contact Info, CAA Speakers](https://www.caa.com/caaspeakers/asa-butterfield/)
13. [Asa Butterfield and the Netflix effect, Royal Television Society](https://rts.org.uk/index.php/article/asa-butterfield-and-netflix-effect)
14. [Asa Butterfield, Independent Talent](https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/asa-butterfield/)
15. [Sex Education's Asa Butterfield: 'I feel more confident talking about sex', The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/dec/28/sex-education-asa-butterfield-feel-more-confident-talking-about-sex)
16. [Second Best, Riverside Studios review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/second-best-review)
17. [The Hardest Part of Playing a Would-Be School Shooter for Asa Butterfield?, Cultured](https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2026/07/10/film-our-hero-balthazar-asa-butterfield-oscar-boyson-interview/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 2000s onward › Surnames Be to B*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license