Throughout his successful career, Austin Butler has always credited his parents, David and Lori Butler, for being supportive of his dreams of becoming an actor. In fact, Butler’s IMDb page was written by his parents back in 2007.

However, Butler has admitted that his mother played a crucial role in his career. She’s the one who would drive him to auditions and filming sets when he was just getting started. Moreover, Lori Butler was so supportive of her son that she packed up and moved to New Zealand when a 15-year-old Austin got cast in the movie Aliens in the Attic.

When Lori was diagnosed with cancer, Austin took a break from acting to take care of her. However, the decline of his mother’s health almost made him reconsider being an actor altogether.

Austin Butler's Parents Were Incredibly Supporting Of His Goal To Become An Actor

When he was only a teenager, Austin Butler began working as an extra on several children’s television series, including Emma Robert’s Unfabulous and the Nickelodeon hit series Drake and Josh. But he didn’t land his first regular gig until 2005 when he was cast as a regular background character on Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, appearing in over 40 episodes. According to the IMDb written by his parents, "from that point on, he considered himself to be a serious actor."

In 2006, he was cast to play a minor role in the Hannah Montana episode 'Oops, I Meddled Again' and a year later, he landed another guest role on this Disney Channel series playing Derek Hanson opposite Miley Cyrus. Around that same time, Butler portrayed Jake Krandle in one episode of the Nickelodeon series iCarly and later landed a regular role in Zoey 101.

As time went on, Butler began landing more roles in both film and television. In 2009, he starred in the 20th Century Fox family film Aliens in the Attic next to Ashley Tisdale, Carter Jenkins, Robert Hoffman, Kevin Nealon, and Doris Roberts.

He also appeared in the short-lived ABC Family series Ruby & the Rockits alongside Alexa Vega, as well as on the Disney Channel sitcoms Wizards of Waverly Place and Jonas. He also landed minor roles on TV shows such as CSI: Miami and The Defenders.

Austin Butler Almost Quit Acting After His Mother’s Death

Austin Butler’s mother, Lori Anne, was diagnosed with duodenal cancer when the actor was only 22 years old. Although he had an established acting career at the time, Butler decided to take a break to become his mother’s primary caregiver.

“I felt like I had to be a mountain,” he explained. “She would say, ‘Austin, on your way to the hospital today, go and pick up flowers for all of the nurses.’ What a beautiful lesson for me to have: How do you still think of others even when you’re hurting?”

Sadly, Lori Anne’s health deteriorated and ultimately passed away a year later, in 2014. During a recent Actor's Roundtable discussion hosted by The Hollywood Reporter, Butler revealed that he seriously considered quitting acting after his mother’s death.

"I'd never experienced pain like that before, and I started to question," he admitted. "Suddenly I was around doctors and people that were hurting a lot in hospitals, and I thought, 'Is acting a noble profession? Should I be doing this or should I give myself in some way that can help people who are dealing with cancer or something like that?'"

The only reason he didn’t stop acting immediately was because he already had booked an important role. "After my mom passed away, I went straight to New Zealand to start shooting a young-adult TV show," he explained, referencing the Shannara Chronicles.

"A lot of people enjoyed the show, and I had fun doing horseback riding and that sort of thing, but I'd go home and cry every night."

Butler recalled that he was incredibly depressed at the time, "I was dealing with grief, but it was also this feeling that I wasn't aligned with something that felt truly fulfilling. I got done with that show, once they canceled it after two seasons, and I said, 'I would rather not work as an actor than ever do something like that again.'"

Ultimately, he decided to take a break from acting.

"It was about six or eight months of that. Then my agent called and said, 'You've got to put yourself on tape for The Iceman Cometh. Denzel [Washington]'s doing it on Broadway,'" he said.

Although he thought "there's no way that they'll cast me, they'll rip me to shreds, I don't deserve to be here," Butler ended up getting the role. "And that's the moment that changed my career." Unbeknownst to him, Denzel Washington was so impressed by Butler’s talent and work ethic that he recommended him for the role of Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic.

His Mother Is The Reason He Auditioned For The Role Of Elvis

Ultimately, the death of Austin Butler’s mother completely changed the course of his career. After all, his audition tape for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis was greatly inspired by his late mother. "It felt so fresh and painful," he said of his mother’s passing.

"I'd been watching all these documentaries and learned a couple days prior that Elvis's mom had passed away when he was 23, the same as me. I thought he probably had nights where he woke up from nightmares like this. So what can I do with that?"

"I'd been practicing 'Unchained Melody' for a while, but I'd always been singing it to a lover. That night, I sang it to my mom," he said. "I wasn't trying to look and sound like Elvis. I wasn't trying to do anything but take that emotion and pour it into the song."

Butler’s audition tape completely shocked Luhrman, who’d originally considered other actors for the role. Ultimately, the emotion he showcased in his audition was what earned Butler the role.