Biography
Not unlike the character that would catapult his acting career, Brandon Routh was born in a rural state, far from the bright lights of Hollywood. Raised in the Des Moines suburb of Norwalk, IA, Routh discovered his love of acting in high school when he began participating in community theater at the Norwalk Theater of the Performing Arts. After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Iowa intending to study English. His desire to begin his career was too much to resist, however, and he left after a year to see what opportunities might await him on the West Coast.
Routh began paying his dues with appearances on
Odd Man Out,
Undressed, and
Gilmore Girls. In 2002, he completed a year-long stint on the soap opera
One Life to Live, continuing to make single-episode appearances over the next few years on popular shows like
Cold Case, Will & Grace, and
Oliver Beene.
Then, around 2004, Routh auditioned for the one of the most sought-after roles of the decade: Superman. The upcoming relaunch of the
Superman franchise had been through copious adjustments and would still see more, and Routh originally auditioned for director
McG, who was signed to the film at the time. Numerous directors had, in fact, been tied to the film over a period of development that would take over ten years to come to fruition. By the time
Superman Returns would go into production, the names
Tim Burton,
Wolfgang Petersen,
Brett Ratner,
Shekhar Kapur, and more had been officially or unofficially linked to the film. Just as many actors were considered for the leading role, both legitimately and in rumor, from
Nicolas Cage in the early stages to actors like
Jake Gyllenhaal,
Ashton Kutcher, and
Josh Hartnett more recently.
When director
Bryan Singer was secured as director, however, he wanted the Man of Steel to be a fresh face. Impressed by the performance Routh had given in his audition for
McG, as well as the young actor's uncanny resemblance to both the classic depictions of Superman and the late
Christopher Reeve, who'd immortalized the hero in earlier films, Routh was eventually offered the part. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide