Austin Butler Movies and TV Shows: Full Filmography

That moment you realized the kid from Zoey 101 is now holding his own alongside Timothée Chalamet in a Denis Villeneuve blockbuster marks a career arc worth tracing. Austin Butler spent over a decade building a filmography that took him from Disney Channel guest spots to the kind of roles that land Oscar nominations — all while critics have kept their scores consistently in his corner for the past six years. The data on his filmography tells a story of deliberate choices and increasingly confident bets.

Breakout Role: Elvis (IMDb 7.3) ·
Recent Release: Dune: Part Two (2024) ·
Highest Rated: Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (IMDb 7.6) ·
TV Series: Masters of the Air (2024) ·
Early Role: Zoey 101

This table shows Butler’s highest-rated filmography entries, sorted by Tomatometer score.

What is Austin Butler famous for?

Butler’s rise from Nickelodeon teen star to Oscar-nominated leading man traces a path through steadily ambitious projects. The milestone moment came when Baz Luhrmann cast him as Elvis Presley in 2022 — a role that required not just vocal mimicry but a physical and psychological transformation that critics largely rewarded.

Breakthrough Role in Elvis

That gamble paid off: Butler earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for the role. Elvis itself received eight Academy Award nominations total, with Butler’s performance anchoring the biopic’s emotional core. Rotten Tomatoes shows a 77% Tomatometer score for the film, alongside a strong 94% audience score specifically for Butler’s work.

Dune: Part Two Appearance

Three years later, Butler took on the villainous Feyd-Rautha in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024). The film became his highest-rated project at 92% on the Tomatometer — though critics noted he plays a supporting role in an ensemble rather than the lead. As SlashFilm observed, “It’s not fair to think of Dune: Part Two as Butler’s best film, even if Rotten Tomatoes says otherwise,” given the ensemble nature of the project.

What are Austin Butler’s best movies?

Six of Butler’s films score above 75% on the Tomatometer, with a clear clustering in his post-2019 work. The pattern reveals how his critical fortunes shifted once he started landing roles in auteur-driven projects.

Ranked by Tomatometer

The highest-rated entries in Butler’s filmography read like a who’s-who of prestige directors:

• Dune: Part Two (2024) — 92% (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) — 86% (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Caught Stealing (2025) — 85% (Rotten Tomatoes)
• The Bikeriders (2023) — 79% (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Elvis (2022) — 77% (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Eddington (2025) — 69% (Rotten Tomatoes)

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Butler plays Tex Watson, the Manson Family cult member, in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film — and this is where his Rotten Tomatoes streak officially begins. The 86% score marked his strongest critical reception to that point and positioned him for the breakthrough Elvis role that followed.

The Dead Don’t Die

Jim Jarmusch’s zombie comedy holds 55% on the Tomatometer, placing it among Butler’s lower-rated work. The ensemble piece featured Bill Murray and Adam Driver, with Butler playing a minor role as Jack. The film’s meta-commentary on genre conventions divided critics more than it divided Butler’s own reception.

What TV shows has Austin Butler appeared in?

Before Butler became a film star, he logged years building his craft on television — and his TV credits show a surprisingly strong critical track record. Collider ranks Arrow (87%) as Butler’s top-rated television appearance, with The Carrie Diaries (83%) close behind.

Zoey 101

Butler’s entry point into professional acting came via this Nickelodeon series, where he played Chase Rush from 2005 to 2008. The role established him as a recognizable teen actor in the network’s orbit, setting up subsequent appearances on iCarly and other Nickelodeon productions.

iCarly

Butler’s guest spots on iCarly connected him with the Nickelodeon audience that already knew him from Zoey 101. These early roles built the foundation for his eventual transition to more serious dramatic work.

The Carrie Diaries

Playing Sebastian Kydd in this pre-Sex and the City spin-off marked a step up in dramatic ambition. The show’s 83% Tomatometer score reflects solid critical reception, and the period setting allowed Butler to develop period-appropriate mannerisms that would later serve him in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Masters of the Air

Butler’s appearance in the Apple TV+ World War II miniseries (2024) represented his return to television after several years focused entirely on film. The Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks-produced project placed Butler alongside an ensemble cast in a prestige war production.

How much did Austin Butler make from Elvis?

Specific salary figures for the Elvis role remain unverified across major sources. What is clear: Butler was not yet an established leading man when he landed the role, which typically means compensation reflects career stage rather than ultimate box office potential.

Salary Details

Multiple industry reports suggest Butler earned approximately $450,000 for the Elvis role — a figure consistent with mid-tier actors transitioning into leading roles. The film’s $287 million worldwide gross and awards traction have almost certainly changed Butler’s negotiating position for subsequent projects.

What are Austin Butler’s recent and upcoming projects?

Butler’s 2024 and 2025 slate shows a deliberate strategy of working with auteur directors on varied material — prestige sci-fi, indie crime drama, and Westerns occupy his near future.

Dune: Part Two

The 2024 release represents Butler’s highest-profile collaboration to date, pairing him with Denis Villeneuve in a project that grossed over $700 million worldwide. Butler’s role required significant physical transformation, including shaved eyebrows and a deliberately altered speaking voice.

Caught Stealing

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Caught Stealing features Butler as Hank Thompson, a bartender who gets drawn into gangster complications after cat-sitting. The Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus calls it “a freewheeling throwback that splendidly showcases Austin Butler’s movie star charisma” — the kind of endorsement that translates directly to casting leverage.

Eddington

Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2025 Western casts Butler as Vernon opposite a ensemble including Josh Brolin and Pedro Pascal. At 69% on the Tomatometer, the film represents Butler’s lowest-rated project in years — though Anderson’s work tends to polarize critics more than it damages careers.

Career Timeline

The pattern shows a clear acceleration: early projects clustered in the 34–74% range, then everything since 2019 stays above 77%.

Confirmed vs. Uncertain

Most of Butler’s filmography is well-documented, but gaps remain in specific salary data and early minor roles.

Confirmed facts

• Austin Butler was born August 17, 1991 in Anaheim, California (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Six-year Rotten Tomatoes streak since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) (ScreenRant)
• Oscar nomination for Best Actor in Elvis (2022) (ScreenRant)
• Dune: Part Two at 92% represents career-high Tomatometer score (Rotten Tomatoes)

What’s unclear

• Exact compensation figures for the Elvis role remain unverified
• Precise release dates for some international film festival debuts
• Full catalog of minor pre-2010 television appearances

What Critics Say

A freewheeling throwback, Caught Stealing splendidly showcases Austin Butler’s movie star charisma.

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus (Rotten Tomatoes)

Butler earned rave reviews for his uncanny portrayal of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.

ScreenRant (ScreenRant)

It’s not fair to think of Dune: Part Two as Butler’s best film, even if Rotten Tomatoes says otherwise.

SlashFilm (SlashFilm)

Butler’s implication is clear: each project since 2019 has been a deliberate bet on material that attracts auteur directors and awards attention. His upcoming slate suggests he’s not interested in coasting on critical goodwill but actively seeking the kind of challenging material that defines lasting careers.

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Austin Butler’s career from Zoey 101 and iCarly to Elvis and Dune builds on his star film appearances chronicled in global guides.

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