Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill was born on the Bailiwick of Jersey, a British Crown dependency in the Channel Islands. His mother, Marianne (Dalgliesh), a housewife, was also born on Jersey, and is of Irish, Scottish and English ancestry. Henry\'s father, Colin Richard Cavill, a stockbroker, is of English origin (born in Chester, England). Henry is the second youngest son, with four brothers. He was privately educated at St. Michael\'s Preparatory School in Saint Saviour, Jersey before attending Stowe School in Buckinghamshire, England.
His interest in acting started at an early age with school play renditions of Shakespeare\'s \"A Midsummer Night\'s Dream\", and Sonny LaTierri in \"Grease\". He also starred and directed Shakespeare\'s \"Hamlet\" in the BBC documentary \"40 Minutes\". It was at age 17 when Henry was discovered by casting directors at school who were looking for a young boy to play Albert Mondego in
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002). He went on to star in
Vendetta (2001), appear in BBC\'s
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2001), the television film
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (2002), and the television series
Midsomer Murders (1997).
When Henry was 20 years old, he gained starring roles in
I Capture the Castle (2003),
Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005),
Red Riding Hood (2006) and
Tristan + Isolde (2006). He also had a minor role in the fantasy-adventure epic
Stardust (2007) alongside
Sienna Miller and
Ben Barnes. During 2007-2010, Henry had a leading role on the television series
The Tudors (2007) as Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. The series was a success and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and won an Emmy Award in 2008. Entertainment Weekly named him \"Most Dashing Duke\".
He also starred in
Blood Creek (2006) and Woody Allen\'s comedy film
Whatever Works (2009). On January 30, 2011, it was announced that Henry Cavill had been cast as the next Superman in
Man of Steel (2013), making him the first non-American actor to play Superman. The movie was directed by
Zach Snyder, produced by
Christopher Nolan, and scripted by
David S. Goyer. On November 7, 2011, Henry starred in
Tarsem Singh\'s fantasy-adventure epic
Immortals (2011) alongside
Mickey Rourke,
Freida Pinto and
Luke Evans. On September 7, 2012, Henry starred in the action-thriller
Cold Light of Day (2003) alongside
Bruce Willis and
Sigourney Weaver.
On June 10, 2013,
Man of Steel (2013) kicked off its world premiere in New York City followed by London, Bailiwick of Jersey, Sicily, Madrid, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. The movie became the highest-grossing Superman film to date, and the second-highest-grossing reboot of all time behind
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Glamour magazine ranked him the #1 \"Sexiest Man\". In August 2014, Henry became the Ambassador for Durrell Wildlife Park and created a website and social media called #CavillConservation to help raise funds and awareness for his love of animals and conservation. On November 3, 2014, it was announced that Cavill, his brother Charlie, and London-based producer Rex Glensy, have formed their own British production company, Promethean Productions.
On August 7, 2015,
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) began its premiere tour with a people\'s premiere at the famous Somerset House in London, followed by its world premiere in New York City, then Toronto, and Rio de Janeiro. Cavill reprised his role as Superman in
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and
Justice League (2017).
