The Cast of Elvis vs. the Real-Life People They Played

Elvis fans, rejoice! This weekend, the long-awaited biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann finally hits cinemas around the world, offering a joyously maximalist vision of the legendary life of the King—from his humble beginnings in small-town Mississippi to his untimely death at the age of 42. Focusing largely on Presley’s relationship with his notoriously controlling manager, Colonel Tom Parker—as well as the contours of his relationship with his wife, Priscilla—the film serves as a kaleidoscopic tribute to the beloved musician and his legacy.

Given Presley’s starry milieu, many of the characters in the film are just as famous (if not more so) than the performers playing them. Here, find all of the stars of Elvis alongside the people they appear as in Luhrmann’s dazzling new musical epic.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley

The contest to play the film’s plum role was one of the most competitive in recent memory, yet Austin Butler eventually beat out his rivals with a little help from Denzel Washington, who reportedly rang Luhrmann directly to put in a good word for the former Disney star. It was a tip that paid off in spades—not only does Butler bear an uncanny resemblance to the King, but his performance has been widely acclaimed as the film’s highlight.

Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley

A relative unknown before being cast in the (equally contested) role of Priscilla Presley, the Australian actor Olivia DeJonge’s best-known roles were previously on TV and as the co-lead of M. Night Shymalan’s 2015 horror film The Visit. Playing Priscilla from her earliest meeting with Elvis, while he was stationed in Germany as a G.I., through to their whirlwind romance and the disintegration of their marriage due to the singer’s prescription drug addiction, DeJonge turns in a performance that marks her out as a star on the rise.

Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker

The first actor to be cast in the film was Tom Hanks as Presley’s long-time manager, the controversial Colonel Tom Parker. Having emigrated to the U.S. from the Netherlands in 1929, Parker was first a carnival worker before eventually moving into music management. After negotiating a lucrative new contract for Presley in 1955, he quickly began taking over every aspect of his life, becoming responsible both for his stratospheric rise as well as a downfall marked by career mismanagement and medical crises.

Richard Roxburgh as Vernon Presley

The Australian actor Richard Roxburgh is something of a Luhrmann veteran, having memorably appeared in 2001’s Moulin Rouge! as The Duke—and when it came to casting the key role of Presley’s father, Vernon, Luhrmann has noted that Roxburgh was his first choice. A religious family man who actively encouraged his son to pursue his dreams of music stardom, Vernon was inseparable from Elvis and closely involved in his career, later serving as executor of his son’s estate after his death in 1977.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. as B.B. King

Rising star Kelvin Harrison Jr. is on a seriously impressive streak right now. After notable roles in The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Cyrano, Harrison Jr. will play the young Scar in Barry Jenkins’s follow-up to The Lion King; and take the lead in a film about the 18th-century Creole musician Chevalier de Saint-Georges and a forthcoming Basquiat biopic. In Elvis, he plays the legendary blues musician B.B. King, who regularly crossed paths with a young Presley.

Kodi Smit-McPhee as Jimmie Rodgers

Coming off the back of his widely acclaimed, Oscar-nominated performance in Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, Kodi Smit-McPhee returns in another high-profile role this year: Jimmie Rodgers Snow. A close friend of Presley’s and the son of country music legend Hank Snow, whom Colonel Tom Parker also managed, Rodgers Snow regularly toured with Presley in the 1950s.

Yola Quartey as Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Yola Quartey—best known simply as Yola—is a British singer-songwriter with six Grammy nominations to her credit for her distinctive blend of country, soul, and pop. In Elvis, she steps into the shoes of Sister Rosetta Thorpe, the acclaimed gospel singer and guitarist who later became known as “the godmother of rock ‘n’ roll” for her fusion of spiritual lyrics with distorted electric guitar.

David Wenham as Hank Snow

Playing the country legend Hank Snow is David Wenham, the esteemed Australian actor whom you might recognize from his appearances in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 300, or the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Despite pursuing a more traditional country sound, Snow was also managed by Parker, and it was during a performance as Snow’s opening act that Presley first landed firmly on Parker’s radar.

Alton Mason as Little Richard

If Alton Mason seems familiar, it’s likely because of his illustrious career in fashion. While the 24-year-old first made his name as a backup dancer, he has gone on to front campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford, and Fendi, besides becoming the first Black male model to walk for Chanel in 2018. On the side, he’s also cultivated a career as a musician—so the inspired casting of Mason as the rock ‘n’ roll legend Little Richard is a case of substance as well as style.

Xavier Samuel as Scotty Moore

Australian actor Xavier Samuel has been a Hollywood fixture for a while, but he looks set to have a bumper year with both his appearance in Elvis and his performance as Charlie Chaplin in Andrew Dominik’s controversial Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde, out later this year. Here, he plays Presley’s guitarist Scotty Moore, who contributed to many of the King’s most iconic hits, including “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock.”