Date of Birth

10 December 1990, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Birth Name

Alexander Richard Pettyfer

Height

5' 11¼" (1.81 m)

Mini Biography

Alexander Richard Pettyfer was born in Hertfordshire and raised in Windsor. His mother, Lee (Robinson), is an interior designer. His father, Richard Pettyfer, is a fellow actor. His parents divorced and Alex now has a younger half-brother, James, from his mother's re-marriage to a property developer, Michael Ireland. James is a junior tennis player.

At age 7, Alex started modeling for Gap's children range. He also appeared in TV commercials for other brands. When he was older, he modeled for Burberry to fund his traveling adventures.

Alex attended various private schools. During this time, he enjoyed performing in school plays. At age 13, he auditioned and won a role in the TV movie Tom Brown's Schooldays (2005). At age 15, he went to Los Angeles and was cast as "Alex Rider", the main character in Stormbreaker (2006) (aka "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker"). This was his breakthrough role and he was nominated for a Young Artist Award and an Empire Award for this role.

Trivia

• He finished school in July 2006, at the age of sixteen.
• Played Willy Wonka in a school production of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory when he was younger.
• Anthony Horowitz, the author of Stormbreaker (2006), practically handpicked Alex out of hundreds of other young actors, for the role of Alex Rider in the film version of the book after seeing his impressive performance in Tom Brown's Schooldays (2005).
• Has a younger half-brother, James Ireland.
• Was offered the title role of Eragon in the film Eragon (2006), based on the same titled, best-selling novel by Christopher Paolini, prior to the casting of Ed Speleers. He turned down the part because of his fear of flying.
• Has seven known tattoos: a Celtic cross on his chest, Arabic script on the inside of his right arm, the words, "What Goes Around Comes Around" on his right shoulder, the initials "ER" inside interlinking hearts on his right wrist, a Kanji script on his lower waist, the word "emma" (dedicated to his ex-girlfriend Emma Roberts) on his ring finger and "little lamb" (dedicated to Dianna Agron) outside his left arm.
• He supports Arsenal, an English soccer/football team.
• Started modeling at the age of 7. He has modeled for such brands as Burberry and GAP.
• Went to a private school in Twickenham, England.
• Some of his hobbies include skiing, dancing and playing hockey.
• Was in a relationship with actress Dianna Agron from 2010 to 2011. The two met while filming I Am Number Four (2011).
• He was once engaged to actress Riley Keough, the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and granddaughter of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, but the relationship ended in 2013. In 2017, he became engaged to model Marloes Horst.
• Was offered the lead in The Paperboy (2012), Seventh Son (2014) and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) but turned them all down.
• His paternal grandfather, Arthur Alexander Pettyfer, was born in Australia, to English parents.
• Admitted in an interview on Chelsea Lately (2007) that he does not drink alcohol.
• Alumnus of the AADA (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Class of 2004.
• [5 March 2021] Announced he is expecting first child with wife Toni Garrn.
• Has one child: daughter Luca Malaika Pettyfer (b. July 2021) with wife Toni Garrn.

Quotes

• I think you have to be very secure as an actor to escape yourself - to revisit someone's past, whether you're portraying another person or creating someone, and then to come back to who you are and not bring those emotions with you.
• Parties don't thrill me. I like sitting at home with a tub of Chunky Monkey ice cream watching Big Brother (2000) or Friends (1994).
• I want to have lots of bodyguards around me and be surrounded by beautiful women while watching my brother play at Wimbledon.
• (2011) Being an actor in L.A. is like being in prison: you go, you serve your time, you try to replicate Johnny Depp's career-and then you move to Paris.
• (2011) L.A. 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.
• (2011) 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.
• (2011) I don't go out, I don't drink, and I don't do drugs.
• (2011) I think my Wikipedia (page) is full of bullshit because I actually don't have anything cool or interesting to be said about me. I've heard I'm called a bad boy, or difficult-maybe that's because I don't take any bullshit.