Brandon Routh

Routh, the third of four children, was born on October 9, 1979 in Norwalk, Iowa, the son of Catherine LaVonne (née Lear), a teacher, and Ronald Wayne Routh, a carpenter. Routh was raised in a Methodist family, and has English, Scottish, German, and distant Dutch ancestry. Routh grew up in Norwalk, approximately 100 miles (160 km) south of Woolstock, the birthplace of George Reeves, the first actor to play Superman on television. During his childhood, Routh thought a full-time acting career was unrealistic, citing his small-town background. In his spare time, he played the trumpet and the piano. Routh attended Norwalk High School, where he played sports and participated in music and theatre. He has described himself as a "momma\'s boy" and not "the most popular kid" during his school years. Routh has also noted that during his younger years, he was fond of the Superman films and comic books.\n', ' Routh attended the University of Iowa for a year, aspiring to be a writer. During this time, he modelled and acted in order to earn his tuition fee. Routh has said he was often told that he bore a physical resemblance to Christopher Reeve, who had previously portrayed Superman in a film series. 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.\n', ' In 1999, Routh left the University and moved to Manhattan 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". He was cast in his first acting 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 2001 episode, "Concert Interruptus", playing an attendee of a Bangles concert), and earned steady work on the soap opera One Life to Live, playing Seth Anderson from May 23, 2001 until April 17, 2002.\n', '