50 facts about actor and model Alex Pettyfer

Alex Pettyfer's 50 facts. After Pettyfer completed filming Stormbreaker, he did not discuss the film with anyone at his school, citing the advice of his Stormbreaker star Ewan McGregor, who told him to keep his personal and professional lives separate.

1. Alex Pettyfer starred in Shana Feste's ENDLESS LOVE as David Elliot.

2. Previously, Pettyfer was featured in Lee Daniels' 2013 film THE BUTLER with Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey and Alan Rickman.

3. In June 2012, Alex appeared alongside Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey in Steven Soderbergh's hit comedic drama MAGIC MIKE.

4. He also starred in Disney/DreamWorks' sci-fi thriller I AM NUMBER FOUR, produced by Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay, as well as, BEASTLY, a modern retelling of the classic tale "Beauty & the Beast" opposite Vanessa Hudgens.

5. Pettyfer also starred as Tom Brown in the acclaimed ITV film TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS, and then as Alex Rider in ALEX RIDER: OPERATION STORMBREAKER.

6. Born in the United Kingdom, Alex now resides in Los Angeles.

7. His full name is Alexander Richard "Alex" Pettyfer.

8. He is an English actor and model.

9. He appeared in school plays and on television before being cast as Alex Rider, the main character in the 2006 film version of Stormbreaker.

10. Pettyfer was nominated for a Young Artist Award and an Empire Award for his role in film version of Stormbreaker.

11. He has been seen as a model in several advertising campaigns for Burberry.

12. His next two starring roles were in the 2011 films I Am Number Four, a science fiction action adventure, and Beastly, a modernised retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

13. Pettyfer was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

14. He is the son of Lee Ireland an interior decorator.

15. His father is Richard Pettyfer, an actor.

16. He has a younger half-brother, James Ireland.

17. His younger half-brother James is a junior tennis player, from his mother's remarriage to Michael Ireland, a property developer.

18. Pettyfer was brought up in Slough, Berkshire.

19. Began his career as a child fashion model at the age of seven, for Gap, after meeting Ralph Lauren in a toy store in New York.

20. He also did advertisements for some yogurt brands.

21. His first commercial was at age six.

22. As a schoolboy, he performed in plays, including in the role of Willy Wonka in a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jack in his school play "Jack and the Beanstalk" and Robin Hood in the adaptation of The Adventures of Robin Hood.

23. Pettyfer was educated at two junior independent schools: The Mall School, a small school in Twickenham, followed by the Lambrook Haileybury school in Berkshire.

24. He subsequently attended two other independent boarding schools: Millfield School in Street, Somerset and Shiplake College near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.

25. After his GCSEs, he left Shiplake College to attend the independent Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.

26. In 2005, after a modelling career, Pettyfer made his professional acting début in the British television production of Tom Brown's Schooldays, playing the lead character, Tom Brown; he received positive reviews for the role.

27. In June 2005, he was cast in his most prominent role so far, that of teenage MI6 spy Alex Rider in the film Stormbreaker, based on the novel by Anthony Horowitz.

28. He was one of 500 who auditioned for the role in Stormbreaker.

29. Pettyfer chose to appear in the film over a role in the film Eragon, noting that he preferred Stormbreaker because it would be filmed in Britain, in the Isle of Man, while Eragon would film in Hungary; Pettyfer is afraid of flying, and he liked the looks of the cast for Stormbreaker.

30. Media reports specified that the film Stormbreaker was expected to make Pettyfer a "teen idol".

31. He next appeared in Wild Child, a film set in California, Kent and Yorkshire part of which took place at Cobham Hall Girls' School in Kent. He played schoolboy Freddie Kingsley and he co-starred with Emma Roberts.

32. In 2009, he played the callous ringleader of a group of cool but cruel teenagers who are picked off one by one by the ghost of one of their former victims, in the horror-comedy, Tormented.

33. He starred in the film Beastly, based on the novel by Alex Flinn, alongside Mary-Kate Olsen, Vanessa Hudgens and Neil Patrick Harris.

34. Pettyfer portrayed the main character in I Am Number Four, released in February 2011. The film co-starred Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron and Teresa Palmer, and was directed by D.J. Caruso, produced by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

35. He was offered the part of Jace Wayland in the upcoming portrayal of Cassandra Clare's best selling book, City of Bones. Jamie Campbell Bower was later cast as Jace Wayland.

36. Pettyfer had also been offered a part in an upcoming film adaption of Joseph Delaney's The Wardstone Chronicles, and has declined the role.

37. He was in line to star in The Paperboy, based on the Pete Dexter novel of the same name, but turned down the role (later filled by Zac Efron).

38. In June 2009, Pettyfer was voted number 35 on British women's magazine Company's list of the top 50 most eligible bachelors.

39. In August 2009, the British magazine Glamour ranked him number 21 on their list of the sexiest men on the planet.

40. After Pettyfer completed filming Stormbreaker, he did not discuss the film with anyone at his school, citing the advice of his Stormbreaker star Ewan McGregor, who told him to keep his personal and professional lives separate.

41. Pettyfer has since decided to leave school and concentrate on his film career, while studying drama at college, saying that "When you have already experienced going out and working in the real world, and you come back to school, you just see it as a playground and you don't want to be there any more".

42. Pettyfer dated actress Emma Roberts.

43. He and Roberts met on set of Wild Child in 2007.

44. He then dated Dianna Agron from August 2010 to February 2011.

45. He was briefly engaged to the actress Riley Keough in 2012, Elvis Presley's granddaughter, whom he met on the set of their film, Magic Mike.

46. Pettyfer has seven tattoos.

47. One of his tatoos is a Celtic cross on his chest.

48. He also has Tibetan script on the inside of his right arm, the words "What Goes Around Comes Around" on his right shoulder, a Katakana script on his lower waist, and the letters "ER," the initials of ex-girlfriend Emma Roberts inside interlinking hearts on his right wrist.

49. When Contactmusic asked him about the "ER" tattoo he said "I don't know how to say it, she's a lovely, lovely girl, we had a spell of something that is over now, but we're on good terms. She's beautiful, she's great; we're really good friends."

50. The actor had Roberts' name tattooed on his wrist while the two were dating. "I'm going to get asked about this, aren't I? I thought it was just between me and her," he said when asked about the tattoo.