Brandon james Routh

the University of Iowa

actor

playing soccer and basketball, swimming, biking and reading.play trumpet and piano

Libra

Routh, the third of four children,[2] was born in Des Moines, Iowa to Katie, a teacher, and Ron Routh, a carpenter; both of his parents play music in their spare time[2] and his sister, Sara Routh, is a singer. Routh's family, which is Methodist,[3] has German, French, English and Native American ancestry.[4] Routh grew up in Norwalk, Iowa, which was located approximately 100 miles south of Woolstock, the hometown of George Reeves, the second actor to play Superman.[2] During his childhood, Routh thought that a full-time acting career was unrealistic, citing his small-town background.[2] In his spare time, he played the trumpet and the piano.[2] Routh attended Norwalk High School,[1] where he played sports and participated in music and theatre. He describes himself as a "momma's boy" and not "the most popular kid" during his school years.[5] Routh has also noted that during his younger years, he was fond of the Superman films and comic books.[6]

Routh attended the University of Iowa for a year, aspiring to be a writer.[2] During this time, he starred in several productions at the Norwalk Theater of Performing Arts, and modelled and acted in order to earn his tuition fee.[2] Routh has said that he was always told that he bore a physical resemblance to Christopher Reeve, who had previously portrayed Superman.[2] His former manager signed him on because of the resemblance, telling him that he thought Routh would be cast as Superman if there was another film in the series
In 1999, Routh left the University and moved to New York City and then Los Angeles, where he pursued a full-time acting career, first appearing as an extra in Christina Aguilera's music video for "What a Girl Wants".[1] He was cast in his first major role in 1999, in an episode of the short-lived ABC television series, Odd Man Out. In 2000, he had a four-episode role on the third season of MTV's nighttime soap opera, Undressed. Routh subsequently appeared on the WB's Gilmore Girls (in a February 20

Prior to Routh's casting as Superman, Warner Bros. had spent over a decade developing a plan to relaunch the franchise, with possible stars including name actors Nicolas Cage (who had at one point signed on to the role), Josh Hartnett, Brendan Fraser, Paul Walker, James Marsden, Ashton Kutcher[7] and Smallville star Tom Welling, and planned directors including Tim Burton, Wolfgang Petersen, McG, Brett Ratner and Shekhar Kapur. When director Bryan Singer came aboard the project, however, he insisted that an unknown actor be cast in the part, in the tradition of the casting of the best-known film Superman, Christopher Reeve.

Routh, then 25, had previously already auditioned for director McG[2] and was spotted by Singer after he viewed Routh's videotaped audition.[7] Singer, who since noted Routh as being the embodiment of "our collective memory of Superman",[8] was impressed by his resemblance to the comic book icon and found the actor's humble Mid-western roots perfect for the role,