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Gerard Butler‘s career almost took a much different path.
The 55-year-old Den of Thieves 2: Pantera actor disclosed in a recent interview that before his first professional acting role, he was trained as a lawyer.
Gerard told People the story behind how he landed his first professional role in a Shakespeare production.
Keep reading to find out more…
“I was the last person to go in after two days of auditioning, and at the end she walked up, the casting director said, ‘[The director] said you were the best he’s seen.’ And then he walked up and said, ‘So you want a job?,” Gerard explained, saying he was helping the casting director out with auditions.
The 300 star knew that acting was always his true passion.
“And I’ve got to tell you, it was the happiest day of my life. And I had just sobered up because I was a lawyer. I was pretty crazy training as a lawyer, and I’d just kind of gotten my s— together, and I walked home that night, didn’t go to the pub, and just walked home going, ‘My God, this is my dream,” he said.
He continued, “And it wasn’t even a big role. It was just in the ensemble. But it was the most high, and then you realize in a moment like that is that you’re living your purpose. This is for sure what you want to be doing. It just all felt so right. I’d never experienced an excitement like that and more guilt-free than creating an excitement for all the wrong reasons.”
The Scottish actor also revealed that he actually lost his job as lawyer in training, making history while doing so.
“I wanted to be an actor when I was like 10 years old and I did some theater. The bug kept striking me. It got me [at] 15 again for a bit, but I thought I would do the responsible thing. So I went into law school and I trained as a lawyer, and I became, I believe, the first trainee lawyer in the history of the Scottish legal system to be fired before qualifying,” he said.
“It opened the way. And an interesting life lesson is so often when you think the worst thing that’s happened turns out to be the best thing they could possibly have happened later in hindsight. And then I ended up getting into acting,” he added.
If you think it’s interesting that Gerard Butler has a law degree, you’ll never guess who has a Ph.D in Zoology!