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7 Actors Who Played Elvis Before Austin Butler
by
amanda prahl
Everett Collection / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
When Austin Butler shimmies his way onto the screen in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” he’ll be joining an exclusive club of actors who have played the “King of Rock and Roll” over the past several decades. Elvis Presley’s life, his meteoric rise to fame in the 1950s, and his career spanning all the way to the late ’70s, have inspired dozens of fictional portrayals over the years, from full-fledged biographies to silly comedy cameos and everything in between. While many of these depictions of Elvis have been small projects, obscure movies, or long-forgotten made-for-TV movies, others have stuck around in our collective memory for much longer.
We’ve rounded up some of the most memorable portrayals of Elvis so far. Take a look through the gallery ahead and see how many of these versions of “the King” you recognise!
Everett Collection / Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Austin Butler as Elvis in "Elvis" (2022)
Butler is the most recent actor to take on the task of portraying a version of Elvis thanks to Baz Luhrmann’s biopic. The movie covers a wide swath of his life, while focusing on his relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (played by Tom Hanks). Butler sings some of the music on the movie’s soundtrack, alongside actual recordings of the real Elvis.
Everett Collection / CMT/Courtesy Everett Collection
Drake Milligan as Elvis in "Sun Records" (2017)
This CMT miniseries follows Elvis and his fellow Sun Records musicians as they rise to fame in the 1950s, dealing with the cost of stardom and their personal demons along the way. It’s loosely based on a Broadway musical, “Million Dollar Quartet,” in which Eddie Clendening originated the role of Elvis.
Everett Collection / Courtesy Everett Collection
Michael Shannon as Elvis in "Elvis & Nixon" (2016)
Based loosely on a true story and a famous photograph, this movie depicts a strange meeting between two very unexpected people: Elvis Presley and then-president Richard Nixon. Shannon plays Elvis in his mid-30s as the counterculture of the 1970s sets him adrift.
Everett Collection / Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Jack White as Elvis in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (2007)
A parody of mid-century rock-‘n’-roll biopics wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from the King! He has a cameo appearance as part of Dewey’s early career, with Dewey performing at the same concert as Elvis.
Everett Collection / Jaffe/Braunstein Films Ltd. / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis in "Elvis: The Early Years" (2005)
Meyers ditched his Irish accent to take on Elvis’s signature drawl for this CBS biographical miniseries. As the title says, it’s focused on the early days of Elvis’s fame, from his “discovery” as a teenager to his fast track to global fame. Meyers won the Golden Globe Award for best actor in a miniseries or television film for his performance.
Everett Collection / 20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
Tyler Hilton as Elvis in "Walk the Line" (2005)
Hilton has a supporting role as a young Elvis in this biopic of fellow Sun Records musician Johnny Cash. He’s mostly seen early on while touring with Cash and two other future legends: Carl Perkins and Johnny Lee Lewis.
Everett Collection / ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection
Michael St. Gerard as Elvis in "Elvis" (1990)
St. Gerard played Elvis not once, not twice, but three times! After appearing in cameo roles in two movies (“Heartbreak Hotel” and “Great Balls of Fire!”) in 1989, he went on to star as Elvis in a TV series about the musician’s life. The show followed Elvis’s early career and rise to stardom, but was cancelled and turned into an ABC miniseries instead.
Everett Collection / Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
David Scott as Elvis in "This Is Elvis" (1981)
This 1981 documentary relies both on archival footage of the real Elvis and on the performances of four different actors re-enacting moments from his life. Scott portrayed Elvis at age 18, and he also provided the vocals for those scenes. In the same film, Paul Boensch II played 10-year-old Elvis, Dana MacKay played him at age 35, and Johnny Harra portrayed Elvis at age 42, the year of his death.
