Shotwell was born in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2015, Shotwell made his acting debut with the war-drama Man Down, playing the son of Shia Lebeouf and Kate Mara’s character; Ditto Montiel directed the film. He then starred as the youngest member of a survivalist left-wing philosophers’ family in the Matt Ross directed comedy-drama Captain Fantastic. In 2017, Shotwell played the young Brian Walls in the Destin Daniel Cretton drama The Glass Castle. Later, he appeared in the Tali Shalom Ezer romance-drama My Days of Mercy. Soon after, Shotwell guest-starred in the episode “Lily’s Law” of the tv-series Chicago Justice. Shotwell soon gained further recognition as a young John Paul Getty III in the 2017 Ridley Scott thriller All the Money in the World. Then in 2018, he performed as an English convict in the drama-thriller The Nightingale.

In 2019, Shotwell starred in the title role of the Netflix horror film Eli, directed by Ciarán Foy. Also that year, he played Joseph in the comedy film Troop Zero, about 1970s girl scouts. In 2020 appears in family-thriller The Nest, playing Benjamin O’Hara, directed by Sean Durkin. Shotwell is set to appear in the Max Martini horror film, The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre. He will also play the young Michael Morbius in the upcoming superhero film Morbius and John, in John and the Hole, directed by Pascual Sisto.