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[[caption-width-right:300:'''[[Film/ThreeHundred THIS! IS! MY! PORTRAIT!!!]]''']]

Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor.

He has lately gotten a thing for doing Woobie characters, not that [[MadeOfIron there's]] [[WalkingShirtlessScene anything]] [[FanService wrong]] [[IronWoobie with that]]. He's been in ''Film/TheUglyTruth'', ''Literature/PSILoveYou'', ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen'', ''Film/{{Gamer}}'', ''Film/ThreeHundred'', ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004'', ''Film/{{Timeline}}'', ''Film/{{Dracula 2000}}'', ''Film/ReignOfFire'' and many more. Butler is something of a "2000s action hero", in the vein of Creator/JasonStatham and the like. However, he has also proven himself as a romantic lead, and was the lead in a musical too.

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!! Notable roles in Butler's filmography:

* Burke in ''Film/TaleOfTheMummy''
* Attila the Hun in ''Series/{{Attila}}''
* Dracula in ''Creator/WesCraven Presents Film/{{Dracula 2000}}''
* Creedy in ''Film/ReignOfFire''
* Terry Sheridan in ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaiderTheCradleOfLife''
* The eponymous Phantom in ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004''
* Beowulf in ''Beowulf and Grendel''
* King Leonidas in ''Film/ThreeHundred''
* Gerry from ''Film/PSILoveYou''
* Mike Chadway in ''Film/TheUglyTruth''
* John Tillman/Kable in ''Film/{{Gamer}}''
* Clyde Shelton in ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen''
* One-Two is ''Film/RocknRolla''
* Stoick in ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' and ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2''
* Tullus Aufidius in Ralph Fiennes' film version of ''Film/{{Coriolanus}}''
* Mike Banning in ''Film/OlympusHasFallen'', and its sequels ''Film/LondonHasFallen'' and ''Film/AngelHasFallen''
* Set in ''Film/GodsOfEgypt''
* Jake Lawson in ''Film/{{Geostorm}}''
* 'Big Nick' O'Brien in ''Film/DenOfThieves''
* Commander Joe Glass in ''Film/HunterKiller''
* John Garrity in ''Film/{{Greenland}}''
* Robert "Bob" Viddick in ''Film/{{Copshop}}''
* Will Spann in ''Film/LastSeenAlive''
* Brodie Torrance in ''Film/{{Plane}}''
* Tom Harris in ''Film/{{Kandahar}}''
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!!Tropes associated with Gerard Butler:
* TheAlcoholic: He had a serious drinking problem in his twenties before getting sober to focus on his acting career.
* BaritoneOfStrength: His voice is ''very'' deep, commanding and gravelly and he plays a badass in many of his roles.
* DeadpanSnarker: His characters get a lot of snarky lines.
* DyeingForYourArt: He bulked up on his own for ''Film/ThreeHundred'', refuting claims that he was wearing a bodysuit or enhanced with CGI but developed a painkiller addiction due to how grueling the training regime was. He also trained to get in good shape for ''Law Abiding Citizen'' and ''Gamer'' - though he is in shape normally.
* FakeAmerican: In ''Film/TheBountyHunter'', and general consensus is that his Scottish accent slipped through a lot. His accent has gotten better due to years of repeated American roles though.
* FakeIrish: Despite ''Film/PSILoveYou'' changing the setting from Ireland to America, Gerard's character was still Irish. He issued a public apology to the people of Ireland for doing such a bad job at the accent. Ironically his family has Irish ancestry too.
* FakeNationality: In addition to the above, he's played French, Greek and Viking characters but kept his natural accent.
* MemeticBadass: Thanks to his role in ''Film/ThreeHundred'' and his iconic line [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "This. Is. Sparta!"]] [[https://www.camelotmagazine.com/camelot/2017/7/31/im-totally-open-to-being-king-of-the-sea-an-editorial-by-gerard-butler/ so much so people think he could be king of the sea]]
* MrFanservice: Other than his most famous role as King Leonidas, he's in very good shape and directors are more than happy to show that off.
* StarMakingRole: Despite the divisive reception, ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004'' brought him to international attention.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: He's 6'2, dark-haired and ruggedly handsome.
* TypeCasting: As some manner of ActionHero or JerkassWoobie.
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