Gerard Butler Turns 57 on November 13, From 300 to How to Train Your Dragon

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Gerard Butler turns 57 on November 13. He was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1969, and he studied law before turning to acting. He has built a career in big, physical films and in romantic dramas.

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300 (2006), directed by Zack Snyder, made him a major star. He played King Leonidas of Sparta, a role that brought him into the mainstream of action cinema.

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He starred as Erik in The Phantom of the Opera (2004), a film version of the stage musical directed by Joel Schumacher, and he sang the role himself. P.S. I Love You (2007) gave him a more tender part opposite Hilary Swank.

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In How to Train Your Dragon (2010) he voiced Stoick the Vast, the Viking chief, in the animated film from DreamWorks.

Photo: Tony Shek, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Which of these films would you pick for a Friday night, the Spartan king, the Phantom or the Viking chief?