Meet the new Superman: David Corenswet dreamed of one day playing the Man of Steel, and will be the first Jewish actor in the role … but what is his kryptonite?

Jun 29 , 2024

David Corenswet dreamed of one day playing Superman, and will be the first Jewish actor in the role ... but what is his kryptonite? Photos: Getty Images, @jamesgunn/Instagram

After beating out Nicholas Hoult and Tom Brittney for the part, Corenswet is replacing Henry Cavill as Superman, with Rachel Brosnahan in the role of Lois Lane in James Gunn’s reboot

Corenswet said in 2019 that the role was his ‘pie-in-the-sky ambition’ – new pics show a complete transformation under celebrity trainer Paolo Mascitti, who stipulated a 6,000-calorie-a-day diet

There’s a new Superman in town, and it’s none other than David Corenswet, the first Jewish actor to star in the role. Replacing Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel, Corenswet will play a young Clark Kent in the upcoming Superman reboot by James Gunn.

Euphoria star Jacob Elordi was asked to read for Superman but turned down the chance, as he told GQ. Corenswet landed the role after beating out Nicholas Hoult and Tom Brittney. Gunn has since expressed his excitement for the new Superman, calling Corenswet’s screen test with Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Lois Lane, “magic”

So, who is the hunky new Superman, and does he have a kryptonite?

David Corenswet was cast in The Politician after a nightmarish audition

David Corenswet at Netflix’s The Politician LA Tastemaker in July 2019, in West Hollywood, California. Photo: Getty Images

Corenswet, 30, appeared in numerous professional theatre productions as a child, and in 2016 graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in drama from New York’s renowned Juilliard School. Despite this seeming head start, Corenswet initially had trouble breaking into the mainstream.

The actor revealed to Variety that his worst audition experience was for The Deuce, which saw him repeatedly messing up his lines in front of casting director Alexa Fogel. However, it was Fogel who eventually tapped him for Netflix’s The Politician. On the strength of that show, Ryan Murphy then offered him the lead part in Hollywood without an audition, which turned out to be Corenswet’s breakout role.

He thought his role in the show Hollywood was too sex-heavy

David Corenswet at the premiere of Netflix’s Look Both Ways in August 2022, in Hollywood, California. Photo: Getty Images

The Look Both Ways star told Variety that the original script for Hollywood “was, like, soft- to medium-core porn”. He reflected, “There were some things that you just knew, reading it, were not going to show up on the screen.” He wasn’t sure he’d be able to pull off his first sex scene – with Patti LuPone, who plays Avis Amberg in the show. Ultimately though, Corenswet says, the scene is less about sex and more “about the two characters and these lonely people who happened to find each other”.

David Corenswet’s dream was to one day play Superman

James Gunn’s (right) reboot of Superman will star David Corenswet in the titular role, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. Photo: @jamesgunn/Instagram

The new Superman seems to have long been aware of his resemblance to the old Superman, even before the media picked up on it. He told Entertainment Weekly in November 2019 that his “pie-in-the-sky ambition” was to one day play Superman.