Alex Pettyfer

Alexander Richard Pettyfer, born 10 April 1990, is a British actor and model. He began his acting career in school plays and television productions before achieving his breakthrough portraying teenage MI6 spy Alex Rider in the 2006 film Stormbreaker. He subsequently established himself with roles in films such as Wild Child, I Am Number Four, Beastly, Magic Mike, The Butler, and Elvis & Nixon, as well as the science fiction miniseries The I-Land.

Pettyfer was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, to actors Lee Robinson and Richard Pettyfer, who met while performing in West End musical productions. He was raised in Esher and Windsor, Berkshire, and has a younger half-brother. Pettyfer began modeling at age seven for Gap after meeting Ralph Lauren in New York, managed initially by his mother. As a student, he acted in school plays, playing characters such as Willy Wonka, Jack, and Robin Hood. He attended several independent schools, including the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, before choosing to leave school without formal qualifications to pursue his film career.

In 2005, Pettyfer made his professional acting debut playing the lead role of Tom Brown in the British television drama Tom Brown's Schooldays. Later that year, he was selected from 500 auditionees to play Alex Rider in Stormbreaker. His performance earned him nominations for both a Young Artist Award and an Empire Award. Around the age of 17, Pettyfer returned to modeling to supplement his acting income, appearing in notable advertising campaigns for Burberry.

Pettyfer expanded his film filmography with starring roles in the 2008 comedy Wild Child as Freddie Kingsley and the 2009 horror-comedy Tormented. In 2011, he starred as the title character in I Am Number Four and appeared in the romantic drama Beastly. He achieved further commercial success in 2012 portraying Adam in the comedy-drama Magic Mike, followed by a role as Thomas Westfall in the 2013 historical drama The Butler.

In 2014, Pettyfer starred in the romantic drama Endless Love, followed by his role as Jerry Schilling in the 2016 biographical film Elvis & Nixon and a starring role in the 2017 indie thriller The Strange Ones. Pettyfer made his directorial debut in 2018 with Back Roads, in which he also starred as Harley Altmyer. That same year, he appeared in the post–World War II thriller The Last Witness and was cast as Brody in the Netflix science fiction miniseries The I-Land, which premiered in September 2019.

Pettyfer's personal life includes high-profile relationships within the entertainment industry. He previously dated actress Dianna Agron and was briefly engaged to actress Riley Keough in 2012. In December 2019, he became engaged to German model Toni Garrn, whom he married in Hamburg, Germany, in October 2020. The couple had a daughter in 2021 before Garrn announced their divorce in April 2023.