Henry Cavill

Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill (born 5 May 1983) is a British actor.

Cavill was born on 5 May 1983, fourth of five boys in a Roman Catholic family in Saint Helier, Jersey, in the Channel Islands.

His Jersey-born mother, Marianne Dalgliesh, is of Scottish, English and Irish heritage and worked as a secretary in a bank.

His father, Colin Cavill, was born in Chester, England and is a former stockbroker.

He was educated at St Michael's Preparatory School in Saint Saviour, Jersey, before attending Stowe School in Stowe, Buckinghamshire.

At Stowe, Cavill was active in both sport and drama.

He portrayed a member of the T-Birds in a 1999 school production of Grease and took the lead role in a performance of Dogg's Hamlet, which was made by his own Grafton house as their submission for an intra-school drama festival.

He played field hockey for the 1st XI and rugby for the 3rd XV.

In 2000, while playing rugby, 16-year-old Cavill met actor Russell Crowe, who was shooting on location at Stowe for the film Proof of Life.

The actor shared some acting tips and later sent a package to Cavill.

The two actors later worked together on Man of Steel.

Cavill began his film career with a role in Laguna (2001) and Kevin Reynolds' adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo (2002).

Cavill began his career with roles in the film adaptations The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and I Capture the Castle (2003).

He played supporting roles in several television series, including BBC's The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2002) and ITV's Midsomer Murders (2003), and later appeared in other films, such as Tristan & Isolde (2006), Stardust (2007), and Immortals (2011).

He continued with appearances in BBC's The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2002), the television film Goodbye, Mr. Chips (2002), and the television series Midsomer Murders (2003).

In 2003, he had a supporting role in I Capture the Castle, followed by Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005), Red Riding Hood (2006) and Tristan & Isolde (2006).

Cavill had been set to play Superman in McG's 2004 film, Superman: Flyby.

McG pulled out of the project and direction was taken over by director Bryan Singer, who recast Brandon Routh as the lead in Superman Returns.

Cavill was also the cause of a write-in effort from fans to see him cast as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).

The role eventually went to Robert Pattinson.

Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series, was outspoken in favour of Cavill playing the character of Edward Cullen in the Twilight film, calling him her "perfect Edward".

However, by the time production of the film began, Cavill was too old to play the character, and again the role went to Pattinson.

Despite reports that he was a contender for Batman in Batman Begins, Cavill confirmed that he never auditioned for, nor was offered, the role.

In 2005, Cavill was a final choice for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale.

The producers and director Martin Campbell were torn between him and Daniel Craig; reportedly Campbell supported Cavill but the producers preferred an older Bond, and Craig ultimately landed the role.

He is known for his portrayal of Charles Brandon in Showtime's The Tudors (2007–2010), DC Comics character Superman in the DC Extended Universe (2013–2023), Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix fantasy series The Witcher (2019–2023), and Sherlock Holmes in the Netflix film Enola Holmes (2020) and its 2022 sequel.

He had a minor role in Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Stardust (2007).

From 2007 to 2010, Cavill had a leading role in Showtime's television series The Tudors, as Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.

The series was commercially well-received and it went on to be nominated for a Golden Globe in 2007 and won an Emmy in 2008.

Cavill gave the show credit for bolstering his career: "It's done the most for me to date. [...] Now that there's an audience somewhere in America that's aware of who I am, I have more sell-ability, because of The Tudors."

Entertainment Weekly named him the "Most Dashing Duke" and praised his work on The Tudors for displaying "charm, depth and a killer bod".

While appearing in The Tudors, Cavill starred in director Joel Schumacher's horror film, Blood Creek (2008), and had a supporting role in Woody Allen's comedy film Whatever Works (2009).

He went on to play the lead role of Theseus in Tarsem Singh's mythological film, Immortals, released 11 November 2011, and starred, alongside Bruce Willis, in The Cold Light of Day released in 2012.

On 30 January 2011, it was announced that Cavill had been cast in the role of Clark Kent / Superman in director Zack Snyder's Man of Steel.

Snyder called Cavill "the perfect choice to don the cape and S shield."

Entertainment media applauded Henry Cavill on his road to success.

On being chosen for the role, Cavill commented, "In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honoured to be a part of his return to the big screen."

Following his international breakthrough as Superman, he starred in the spy films The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018).

Cavill reprised the role of Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a 2016 sequel which featured a crossover with Batman and Wonder Woman.

He attended the San Diego Comic-Con in disguise to surprise the cast of Suicide Squad.