Routh, third of four children, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 9, 1979, the son of Katie, a teacher, and Ron Routh, a carpenter; both of his parents play music in their spare time and his sister, Sara Routh, is a singer. Routh's family, which is Methodist, has German, French, English, and Native American ancestry. Routh grew up in Norwalk, Iowa, which is located approximately 100 miles Read more...

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". 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 Read more...

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)[citation needed], Josh Hartnett, Brendan Fraser, Paul Walker, James Marsden, Ashton Kutcher, and Jim Caviezel and planned directors including Tim Burton, Wolfgang Petersen, McG, Read more...