It was a near disaster for actor Gerard Butler.

The hunky star of 300 and The Ugly Truth was sucked under monster waves in Northern California at a notoriously dangerous surfing spot known as Mavericks where Butler is filming a new surfing movie.

The treacherous surf tossed Butler over jagged rocks before he was rescued by an officer on a Jet Ski.

42-year-old Butler, who has been linked to some of the most beautiful women in the world including Jennifer Aniston and Rosario Dawson, plays a famous surfer in the movie, Of Men and Mavericks. He had very little surfing experience surfing before arriving on set.

The huge, crashing waves at Mavericks have humbled even the world's best surfers. In 1994, veteran Hawaiian surfer Mark Foo died there.

Butler was said to be "shaken up" but not seriously injured. He was taken by ambulance to Stanford Medical Center and later released.