Austin Butler is an Academy Award nominated actor from Anaheim, California. He grew up in close proximity to both Disneyland and Knox Berry Farm, where he would go on a regular basis with his mother and sister. He was "discovered" at 13 years old and began acting on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel for a number of years before graduating to more serious roles. Butler has had roles on "Ruby and the Rockits", "The Carrie Diaries", and "The Shannara Chronicles". After his Broadway debut in 2018, his love of acting was reinvigorated from working alongside Denzel Washington and soon after the play closed, Butler would audition and inevitably prep for his largest role to date... click here to learn more about Mr. Butler.
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Plus a pivotal olfactory memory from the set of Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide
Orange trees, of all things, is what I find myself talking to Austin Butler about on a Thursday afternoon in June.You see, YSL has us on the phone to discuss the latest fragrance in its MYSLF line: MYSLF Le Parfum (‘Le’ being the point of differentiation from the original parfum, as well as the tweaked scent, of course; the Dune actor has been the face of the line since its 2023 genesis). One of the key notes is orange blossom. It’s an aroma that transports the 32-year-old back to his childhood.
“I was raised in Orange County,” he says in his signature drawl. “We had this one orange tree in my backyard, so the smell of the orange blossoms – of going outside in the summer and picking oranges off the tree with my mother then going inside and making orange juice – it really reminds me of my childhood.”
To the delight of the luxury maison – or more specifically, the beauty team who are eavesdropping on the call – their ambassador has done his homework. “Marrakech is one of the things the perfumers were inspired by,” he informs me. “There are all these orange trees around Yves Saint Laurent’s home.” He’s yet to visit the Moroccan residence – today, a major tourist attraction – but says it’s somewhere he’s long wanted to tour.
Especially since he learnt “more about Yves Saint Laurent, the man – what a rebel he was, and his philosophies on style, the world, and life”.
He’s speaking to me from New York City where the weather is aptly tropical. “It’s warm here right now. I love the nights, the summer nights in New York where you can go out in a T-shirt and it’s muggy and warm, and you can be out at two in the morning and it’s still warm. I love that experience.”
And he shot the new campaign in the ever-zesty Mexico City with French film director Julia Ducournau and Belgian cinematographer Benoit Debie. “That was my first time there and it was spectacular.”
But what he’s most eager to mention is that he was just recently in London, the city that I’m calling from.
Austin Butler is an Academy Award nominated actor from Anaheim, California. He grew up in close proximity to both Disneyland and Knox Berry Farm, where he would go on a regular basis with his mother and sister. He was "discovered" at 13 years old and began acting on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel for a number of years before graduating to more serious roles. Butler has had roles on "Ruby and the Rockits", "The Carrie Diaries", and "The Shannara Chronicles". After his Broadway debut in 2018, his love of acting was reinvigorated from working alongside Denzel Washington and soon after the play closed, Butler would audition and inevitably prep for his largest role to date... click here to learn more about Mr. Butler.