At 6’2″ with a broad physique, British actor Henry Cavill has had the makings of a Hollywood star for years. His career as a star maker goes back to 2002 with a feature film adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. After a series of supporting turns on various TV shows, including Showtime’s The TudorsCavill went on to appear in a handful of major studio films, such as Tristan & Isolde (2006), stardust (2007) and immortals (2011).
When Cavill donned the red cape, he received serious international recognition. His portrayal of Clark Kent in DC Extended Universe superhero movies Man of Steel (2013), Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017) certainly opened doors for starring roles in other action films, such as Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). Amid the recent release of The witcher season two and Enola Holmes2, let’s take a look back at the best roles of the British actor to date.
9 Enola Holmes2
After the unwavering success of Netflix Enola Holmes, Mille Bobby Brown returned alongside her on-screen big brother Henry Cavill as Enola and Sherlock Holmes before Enola Holmes2. After a girl mysteriously disappears, Enola is enlisted to solve the case. Of course, she also relies heavily on her brother, Sherlock, whose meticulous methods and unparalleled logic aid her in the investigation.
8 immortals
Impressively, Henry Cavill reportedly eschewed any work from the makeup and visual effects team and instead achieved the eight-pack he sports in the movie without any cosmetic help. immortals is based on elements of Greek mythology and tells the story of the crazed king Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), who wants to bring terror down on mankind. Step forward Theseus (Cavill), a peasant…with a huge figure. As humanity’s only hope against this insidious evil, Theseus must face the tyrannical Hyperion.
7 The Tudors (2007-2010)
The popular TV show that aired on the BBC and Showtime ran for four seasons before wrapping up. As the title suggests, the show was about the endless escapades of Britain’s most infamous king, Henry VIII. The show follows everything from his first to last marriage and his infamous battle with the Catholic Church, with the Church of England being formed as a result of the fallout. Henry Cavill plays the nobleman Charles Brandon, Henry VIII’s closest confidant.
6 stardust
Now that the couple has reunited for the Apple TV+ movie, argyllhad pair Matthew Vaughn and Henry Cavill sown the seeds in the family-friendly fantasy adventure, 2007’s stardusta film that followed Matthew Vaughn on his scintillating feature debut, Cake with layers of. Tristan Thorn promises his lover, Victoria (Sienna Miller), that he will leave their farm in the countryside and enter the magical kingdom of Stormhold to bring her back a star, unbeknownst to him, this decision will change his life forever .
5 Enola Holmes (2020)
Enola Holmes was a hit last year and spawned the aforementioned sequel. Set in 1884 England, the story is set in a world that is about to change. It follows 16-year-old Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) as she comes into the care of her brothers Sherlock (Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) following the disappearance of Enola’s mother (Helena Bonham Carter). Enola refuses to abide by her brothers’ rules and escapes to find her mother in London. But when she gets caught up in a mystery along her journey, Enola becomes a sleuth herself, outsmarting her famous brother as she unravels the conspiracy.
In its debut weekend Enola Holmes was the second most watched item on Netflix and received generally critical acclaim. Brown excels in her starring role as young Enola, and Cavill is charming in his own right as the legendary detective – despite not doing much during the film. It’ll be interesting to see if his character gets more active in the upcoming sequel.
“He’s going to be the Sherlock we know, in the sense that he can be distant and cold to the rest of the world, but with Enola he had to have an emotional connection,” Cavill said. GQ UK upon the release of the first film. “That was key – and something different than we’ve had in previous Sherlocks.”
4 The Man from OOM (2015)
You could say it was inevitable that Cavill would appear in a Guy Ritchie movie. OOM’s man is set in the Cold War era, with Cavill playing CIA agent Napoleon Solo, who eventually finds himself on a joint mission to stop a private criminal organization from building a nuclear bomb. Starring Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant and Armie Hammer, the spy flick received mixed reviews, but Cavill effectively carries the film off – despite an unusually understated twist for a Guy Ritchie project – following his recent debut as Superman two years earlier .
“I think the hardest thing for me was the accent,” said Cavill Flavormag. “When we started, Guy said, ‘Okay, I want something like Clark Gable, but not Clark Gable.’ And I said, ‘Okay, cool.’ So I sat down with Andrew Jack, our dialect coach, and he took me through some Clark Gable stuff. We worked on it. We kind of got it, and then we started shooting.”
3 The Witcher (2019-)
The witcher is back, after a pandemic-stricken hiatus between seasons 1 and 2. The Netflix fantasy drama series follows the story of Geralt of Rivia (Cavill), a lone monster hunter struggling to find his place in the world. But when fate sends him in the direction of a powerful sorceress and a young princess with a special gift, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile continent.
The show has received generally positive feedback from critics and viewers, with a third season already confirmed by Netflix. Cavill is charismatic and humorous in the lead role, and his dedication to the role is beyond question. He even tore his hamstring while filming a scene for Season 2!
“The difficulty was working while I was injured”, he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Because I wanted to do more for the production – I know how important it was for them to get things done. So I had to find that balance between “Yeah, let’s push, push, push” and “Whoa, wait a minute, if I rip this any further, it’s the end of my action career.” That was my worst moment of the last year – professionally.
2 Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Add some facial hair to Cavill’s towering stance and he’s a great villain for the Mission Impossible franchise. Mission: Impossible – Fallout takes place two years after Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) successfully conquers Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). The remnants of the syndicate reformed into another organization called the Apostles. Led by a mysterious fundamentalist, the organization plans to acquire three plutonium cores. Ethan and his team are sent to Berlin to intercept them with the help of a shady CIA operative (Cavill), who is later revealed to be an ally of the Apostles.
Cavill’s layered performance is laced with a certain ferocity that has its moment of glory in an epic fistfight surrounded by toilets and sinks. “All in all, the fight in the bathroom took four weeks to film, which for a scene this intense, certainly felt uncomfortably long,” Cavill said Collider. “The best memory was when Tom and I finally confessed to each other how much pain we were in. I’m pretty sure that was the very last day of shooting the fight!”
1 Man of Steel (2013)
Cavill’s performance as Clark Kent was polarizing Man of Steel‘s release, but in hindsight it’s his best performance to date. Zack Snyder’s 2013 film follows the superhero through his upbringing, with Cavill winning our hearts in the adult version. As a young man in the film, Clark travels to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must eventually emerge if he is to save the world from destruction and become the symbol of hope for all humanity.
“I was 100% engrossed in watching the movie,” Cavill said in an interview in 2013. “Yes, I was familiar with the movie magic and yes, I had that personal experience from being there, but I got emotional during the movie. I wanted to stand up and cheer, support different characters and ask all the different questions the movie makes you ask. It was a great experience. I was speechless after seeing it. I’ve since watched it twice more and felt the same way after each time, and can’t wait to see it again.