{"id":25271,"date":"2013-11-12T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T15:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/?p=25271"},"modified":"2013-11-12T22:12:11","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T22:12:11","slug":"austin-butler-an-ex-disney-kid-fighting-his-demons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2013\/11\/12\/austin-butler-an-ex-disney-kid-fighting-his-demons\/","title":{"rendered":"AUSTIN BUTLER; AN EX-DISNEY KID FIGHTING HIS DEMONS"},"content":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s a certain image associated with young Hollywood actors -especially when you consider that this particular one got his start playing hunky love interests in Disney and Nickelodeon tween shows like Hannah Montana<\/i> and Zoey 101<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Even more if the said star has a widely publicised relationship with former High School Musical <\/i>star Vanessa Hudgens. But whatever that image might be, it doesn\u2019t seem to apply to Austin Butler, the 22-year-old actor playing the role of Sebastian Kydd, Carrie Bradshaw\u2019s brooding on-again-off-again boyfriend in the Sex and the City<\/i> prequel television series set in the \u201980s, The Carrie Diaries<\/i>.<\/p>\n I meet Austin Butler in one of those ubiquitous cafes in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with a chalkboard menu and bored, tattooed baristas. He\u2019s living there as he films the second season of The Carrie Diaries<\/i>. Six feet tall and thin, he wears well-fitted dark jeans and a slim black pea coat. Perfectly side swept blonde hair? Check. Piercing blue eyes? Absolutely. In looks, he is the quintessential Disney Channel commodity, carefully designed to get teenage hearts racing. But Butler doesn\u2019t seem motivated much by attention or fame.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to follow whatever I love to do,\u201d he answers when asked about his future career. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve thought about, what if I just move to Costa Rica and played [music] in tiny dive bars? And that sounds awesome. I think I could be happy doing that. I think I could find happiness no matter what I\u2019m doing.\u201d His happy-go-lucky outlook is the opposite of the bad boy character he plays on-screen, an angsty rich high-schooler with Porsche-sized family issues and a record of boarding school expulsions. It also lacks the jadedness that comes with growing up in Hollywood. At one point of the interview, he told me without a hint of irony that one of his favourite things to do was to watch magic shows–\u201cIt feels like believing in Santa Claus!\u201d<\/p>\n Raised in California, Butler first got screen time as a background actor at the age of 13 on shows like Ned\u2019s Declassified Survival Guide<\/i>, before landing brief story arcs in Hannah Montana<\/i> and Zoey 101. <\/i>He then went on to star in the children\u2019s adventure film Aliens in the Attic <\/i>and the High School Musical <\/i>spin-off television movie, Sharpay\u2019s Fabulous Adventure<\/i>. Now, as a lead on The CW\u2019s The Carrie Diaries<\/i> and boyfriend of oft-covergirl Vanessa Hudgens, he\u2019s getting more screen time and paparazzi shots than ever.<\/p>\n