Brandon Routh

Actor

Brandon Routh was a young actor with only a few television credits when he was cast as Superman for the big-budget 2006 feature Superman Returns. Routh grew up in Iowa and attended the University of Iowa before leaving to make it as an actor. In Los Angeles he found work in television, and between 1999 and 2002 he appeared in Odd Man Out, Gilmore Girls and MTV's Undressed, and was a regular cast member of the daytime soap opera One Life to Live. Routh's only other feature film credit was the 2005 thriller Karla (sometimes titled Deadly), but Superman Returns director Bryan Singer pushed for an "unknown" actor and Routh won the role as the Man of Steel.

Extra credit: Christopher Reeve was also an unknown actor before starring in 1978's Superman... Another actor who played Superman, George Reeves, also was born in Iowa... Routh was reportedly an extra in the Christina Aguilera video for her song, "What A Girl Wants"... Even though he died in 2004, Marlon Brando appeared in Superman Returns via footage from earlier Superman films... Routh's name rhymes with "south."

Blog posts mentioning Brandon Routh:
Superman and Grayson