Alex Pettyfer Biography
Born: April 10, 1990
Date of Birth: April 10, 1990
Born in England, Alex Pettyfer is the son of actor Richard Pettyfer and former model Lee Robinson. He began modeling when he was seven and after performing in school plays, including the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, landed his first professional acting role at 14, playing the title role in the British TV movie Tom Brown's Schooldays (2005).
Anthony Horowitz, the author of the popular Stormbreaker novels, saw the show. He was so impressed by Pettyfer's performance as Tom Brown that he e-mailed the producers of Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (2006), an up-coming film based on his books, and asked them to consider Alex for the role.
Pettyfer was one of 500 boys called in to audition and after numerous callbacks over a span of several months, he won the part. When filming began in July 2005 he had just turned 15, and found himself working with the likes of Ewan McGregor, Mickey Rourke and Alicia Silverstone. Since then he's gone on to star in the thriller I Am Number Four (2011) as a teen masking his alien identity by posing as an average high school student, and in the romance Beastly (2011), playing an arrogant teenager who's transformed into a hideous monster. His next role was alongside Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in the futuristic film In Time (2011) followed by the role of an amateur male stripper in Magic Mike (2012), which also starred Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey and Matt Bomer. His most recent film is Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) where he starred alongside Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey.
Pettyfer, who grew up in Windsor, Berkshire with his mother, stepfather, and younger half-brother, James, finished school in July 2006 at the age of 16 and currently lives in Los Angeles. He enjoys skiing in his spare time. He dated his I Am Number Four co-star, Dianna Agron, for a year but she left him after suggestive photos were released of him with models. In March 2012, Pettyfer reportedly became engaged to actress/model Riley Keough, who is Lisa Marie Presley's daughter and Elvis's eldest grandchild.