Alex Pettyfer

Pettyfer was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, the son of Lee Robinson and Richard Pettyfer, both actors. His parents met while performing in London's West End in West Side Story, Cats and Miss Saigon. He has a younger half-brother, James Ireland from his mother's remarriage to Michael J. Ireland, a retired builder and property developer. Pettyfer was brought up in Esher and then Windsor, Berkshire and began his career initially being managed by his mother as a young fashion model at the age of seven, for Gap, after meeting Ralph Lauren in a toy store in New York. He subsequently attended two other independent boarding schools: Millfield School in Street, Somerset and Shiplake College near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. ==Career==

In 2005, Pettyfer made his professional acting début in the British television production of ''Tom Brown's Schooldays, playing the lead character, Tom Brown; he received positive reviews for the role. In June 2005, he was cast in his most prominent role so far, that of teenage MI6 spy Alex Rider in the film Stormbreaker'', based on the novel by Anthony Horowitz. He was one of 500 who auditioned for the role. although another noted that he "isn't quite at ease as an actor". Media reports specified that the film was expected to make Pettyfer a "teen idol". At around age 17, due to his earlier acting success and to supplement his income, Pettyfer started modelling, notably in some advertising campaigns for Burberry. He next appeared in Wild Child, a film set in California, Kent and Yorkshire part of which took place at Cobham Hall Girls' School in Kent. He played schoolboy Freddie Kingsley. In 2009, he played the callous ringleader of a group of cool but cruel teenagers who are picked off one by one by the ghost of one of their former victims, in the horror-comedy Tormented. He starred in the film Beastly, based on the novel by Alex Flinn. He finished filming on 13 August 2009, and the film was released on 4 March 2011. Pettyfer portrayed the main character in I Am Number Four, released in February 2011 and directed by D.J. Caruso. He was offered the part of Jace Wayland in the film adaptation of Cassandra Clare's best selling book, City of Bones. Jamie Campbell Bower was later cast as Jace Wayland. Pettyfer had also been offered a part in a film adaptation of Joseph Delaney's ''The Spook's Apprentice, but he declined the role. He was in line to star in The Paperboy, based on the Pete Dexter novel of the same name, but was dropped for the role. In 2012, he played Adam, a 19-year-old who enters the world of male stripping in Magic Mike''. In 2013, Pettyfer had a small role as Thomas Westfall in The Butler. In 2014, he starred in the romantic drama Endless Love. In 2016, Pettyfer played the role of Jerry Schilling in the biography film Elvis & Nixon. In 2017, he starred as Nick in the indie thriller The Strange Ones directed by Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein. 2018 saw Pettyfer making his directorial debut in Back Roads where he also played the lead role of Harley Altmyer. In 2018, Pettyfer starred as Stephen Underwood, a journalist who uncovers the horrific murder of 22,000 Poles under Stalin's instructions, in the post–World War II thriller The Last Witness. In the same year, it was announced that Pettyfer had been cast in the main role of Brody on the Netflix science fiction miniseries The I-Land. The miniseries was released on 12 September 2019. ==Personal life==

In June 2009, Pettyfer was voted number 35 on British women's magazine ''Company's list of the top 50 most eligible bachelors. In August 2009, the British magazine Glamour'' ranked him number 21 on their list of the sexiest men on the planet. Pettyfer completed filming Stormbreaker, but he did not discuss the film with anyone at his school, citing the advice of his costar Ewan McGregor, who told him to keep his personal and professional lives separate. Pettyfer subsequently decided to leave school without any qualifications and concentrate on his film career, In a 2011 interview, he stated "I felt like the industry was just a factory. You hear a lot of people say they want to make art in this industry, but so few people actually fucking do it. I was disillusioned by Hollywood at the time, but now I've come to accept that's just the way things are: it's called show business, not show art." In the same interview, when asked about how he liked living in Los Angeles, he stated, "LA is growing on me a little bit, but it's still a shit-hole. I think it's this insidious pool where nearly everyone lives in fear. Geographically it's fantastic: in a half hour, you can be on the beach in one direction, go snowboarding in another, or go out into the desert. But socially it's disgusting. I wish they'd just run all the cunts out." On 24 December 2019, he became engaged to German model Toni Garrn after ten months of dating. They were married in Hamburg, Germany, on 2 October 2020. They have a daughter, born in 2021. On 22 April 2023, Garrn announced through her Instagram account that the couple were divorcing. Allegations of domestic violence In July 2010, Pettyfer began dating actress Dianna Agron, his I Am Number Four co-star. They began sharing a Los Angeles home until their breakup. He was reportedly controlling and paranoid throughout their relationship, but in 2011 rumors of their engagement were published by People. The couple broke up in February 2011, the day after the film was released, with reports that Pettyfer threatened Agron over the phone and had a "heated confrontation" with actor Sebastian Stan, someone with whom Agron was close in early 2011. She temporarily moved to a hotel under a false name so that Pettyfer would not be able to find her, and he was instructed by his agents not to attend an event where she would be present. ==Filmography==

Film Television Directorial ==Modelling==

• 2008: Burberry – Spring/Summer • 2008: Burberry – The Beat For Men eau de cologne • 2009: Burberry – Spring/Summer ==Awards and nominations==