Austin Butler Says He'd 'Cry Every Night' After Mom's Death: 'Never Experienced Pain Like That Before'

Emma McIntyre/WireImage Austin Butler

Austin Butler is looking back at the difficult time he had grieving his mother while going back to work.

During The Hollywood Reporter's new Actor Roundtable discussion, the Elvis actor, 31, opened up about the death of his mom Lori, who died of cancer in 2014 when he was 23. Butler recalled questioning his acting career during that time period and the emotional experience he had making MTV's The Shannara Chronicles while missing his late mother.

Butler, who got his start as a child star on Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel, said his mom saw his potential as an actor: "I owe her for everything because she quit her job and drove me to auditions and took me to acting classes."

Eventually, he "started falling in love with the craft. But I was stuck in a lane of doing Nickelodeon and Disney. Then I moved on to young-adult TV shows. After my mom passed away, I'd never experienced pain like that before, and I started to question. Suddenly I was around doctors and people that were hurting a lot in hospitals, and I thought, 'Is acting a noble profession? Should I be doing this or should I give myself in some way that can help people who are dealing with cancer or something like that?' "

"After my mom passed away, I went straight to New Zealand to start shooting a young-adult TV show," he continued, referencing Shannara Chronicles. "A lot of people enjoyed the show, and I had fun doing horseback riding and that sort of thing, but I'd go home and cry every night."

RELATED: Austin Butler Remembers His Late Mom During Touching SNL Debut: 'I've Been Thinking About Her a Lot'

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Butler recalled, "I was dealing with grief, but it was also this feeling that I wasn't aligned with something that felt truly fulfilling. I got done with that show, once they canceled it after two seasons, and I said, 'I would rather not work as an actor than ever do something like that again.' "

At that point, Butler said he decided to take some time off, but he eventually "started sinking into a deeper and deeper depression."

"It was about six or eight months of that. Then my agent called and said, 'You've got to put yourself on tape for The Iceman Cometh. Denzel [Washington]'s doing it on Broadway,' " he added.

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Though he thought "there's no way that they'll cast me, they'll rip me to shreds, I don't deserve to be here," Butler landed the part. "And that's the moment that changed my career," he added.

Washington, 68, was instrumental in helping Butler land the role of Elvis Presley, making a call to director Baz Luhrmann to vouch for the young star and his work ethic. The performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination, among other awards attention, and put Butler in the conversation for the upcoming Oscar nominations.

Announcing the death of his mom back on Sept. 12, 2014, Butler tweeted at the time, "Lori Butler, my mom, my hero, & my best friend passed away this morning. Let's all celebrate her. I love you and will miss you every day Mom." He told The New York Times last year about the tattoo tribute he has of her and the number 27 on his wrist: "She was my best friend. She called 27 her God number. Whenever she saw it, she felt that God was looking out for her."