Henry Cavill

Henry Cavill (birthname: Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill) is a British actor who has carved out an impressive career in a string of wide-audience entertainments ranging from the DC Extended Universe to the Mission: Impossible franchise, and portraying such iconic heroes as Superman, Highlander, Sherlock Holmes, and Theseus.

Cavill broke into movies with roles in Laguna (2001) and director Kevin Reynolds’s well-received version of Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo (2002). Cavill scored his first significant supporting role in the Tim Fywell-directed rom-com, I Capture the Castle (2003), with Romola Garai, Rose Byrne, Bill Nighy, and Henry Thomas, and then landed a role in his first of many genre movies with Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005), starring Lance Henriksen.

Henry Cavill reunited with director Reynolds in a fresh version of Tristan & Isolde (2006), starring James Franco and Sophia Myles, and produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, followed by a co-starring role in a musical version of Red Riding Hood (2006), with Lainie Kazan and Debi Mazar. Cavill’s first movie with director Matthew Vaughn was the romantic fantasy based on the Neil Gaiman book, Stardust (2007), starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfieffer, and Robert De Niro, and then Cavill was cast by Woody Allen for the ensemble of his Larry David-starring comedy, Whatever Works (2009).

Cavill’s first significant co-starring role was under Joel Schumacher’s direction in the Nazi-themed horror-thriller, Blood Creek (2009), with Dominic Purcell, Michael Fassbender, Emma Booth, and Shea Whigham, released by Lionsgate. Cavill starred as Theseus in Immortals (2011), directed by Tarsem Singh Dhandwar and co-starring Stephen Dorff, Luke Evans, Frieda Pinto, and Mickey Rourke, grossing a strong $226 million on a $75 million budget, and then Cavill followed this with another starring role in the American thriller, The Cold Light of Day (2012), directed by Mabrouk El Mechri and co-starring Sigourney Weaver and Bruce Willis.

Henry Cavill made his breakthrough as Superman/Clark Kent in Man of Steel (2013), directed by Zack Snyder (and based on a story by screenwriter David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan) and with Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, and Russell Crowe, earning a super $668 million globally for Warner Bros. Cavill took on another iconic pop figure, Napoleon Solo, in director/writer/producer Guy Ritchie’s big-screen version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), co-starring Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris, and Hugh Grant, but proving a money-loser for Warners.

Cavill’s run as Superman continued with the follow-up saga, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), in which he sparred with Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight under Snyder’s direction, and a supporting cast of Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, and Gal Gadot, but grossed “only” $873.6 million globally, deemed a commercial disappointment.

Henry Cavill did his third round as Superman with filmmaker Snyder in the controversial Justice League (2017), with a superstar superhero lineup (Affleck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller’s The Flash, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, among others), but denounced as a mangled version (and a box-office bomb), followed by Snyder’s director’s cut known as Zack Snyder’s Justice League being released on HBO Max in 2021.

Cavill landed the plum Bad Guy role in the enormously successful franchise entry ($791 million), Mission: Impossible—Fallout (2018), from director/writer/producer Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, and Alec Baldwin. Cavill starred opposite Ben Kingsley in director/writer/producer David Raymond’s Canadian-produced thriller, Night Hunter (2018), released by Saban Films. Cavill had the title role as a spy in Argylle (2024), from director-producer Matthew Vaughn and co-starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Catherine O’Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, Bryan Cranston, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson, released theatrically by Universal Pictures.

Henry Cavill reunited with director/writer/producer Guy Ritchie as star of the WWII-set spy movie, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024), with Eiza Gonzalez, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, and Cary Elwes, released by Lionsgate. Cavill continued with Ritchie on Untitled Guy Ritchie’s Project (date to be announced), co-starring Gonzalez, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Fisher Stevens. Cavill then starred in co-writer/director Steve Falk’s romantic drama, The Rosie Drama (date to be announced), and produced and released by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Cavill followed this by taking on another famed superhero as lead of Lionsgate’s big-screen reboot of Highlander (date to be announced), directed by Chad Stahelski.