When "Man of Steel" comes to theaters Friday, he'll be played by British actor Henry Cavill.
Most people probably know Cavill from his time on Showtime's "The Tudors."
However, if you're not familiar with the British hunk, he actually fell short of a bunch of huge roles including two that Robert Pattinson landed.
When he flies onto the big screen, it also won't be the actor's first go around as Superman. He narrowly missed out on titular role in "Superman Returns."
Cavill narrowly missed out on so many potentially-huge roles that Empire magazine once named him the unluckiest man in Hollywood in their December 2005 issue.
He's from the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands.
Cavill is one of five children. His mother and father were a secretary and stockbroker respectively. Here he is with his girlfriend and father at the GREAT British Film Reception in February.
His one brother, Major Niki Cavill is a Royal Marine who has toured in Afghanistan twice.
(Source: The Tonight Show/Evening Standard/Mirror)
Cavill's first onstage presence was as a reporter in a high school play. From there, he performed in plays including "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Grease."
(Source: "The Tudors" Showtime inteview / IMDB / Google Art Project)
2002: His first role was at 17 in "The Count of Monte Cristo."
2006: You may also recognize him from "Tristan & Isolde" ...
... or a minor role in the following year's "Stardust."
What's most interesting are the roles Cavill narrowly missed out on.
Some die-hard fans peitioned for Cavill to play Cedric Diggory in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"; however, the role went to Robert Pattison.
That's not the only role he missed out on to Pattinson. Cavill was nearly a vampire! He was "Twilight" author Stephanie Meyer's first choice to play Edward Cullen.
Cavill was considered too old to play a 17-year-old teen.
Meyer has said the following about Cavill as the "perfect" Edward before deciding he was too old.
"The only actor I've ever seen who I think could come close to pulling off Edward Cullen is Henry Cavill. Henry was Albert, the young son in 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' Can you see it? I know I can!"
2004: Cavill was originally set to star as the "Man of Steel" in a J.J. Abrams' scripted treatment of the film titled "Flyboy."
Director McG ("Supernatural") dropped out of the Warner Bros. project. When Bryan Singer later joined he scrapped both J.J. Abrams script and Cavill along with it.
Cavill explains what happened in an interview for "Man of Steel."
"It was a very long process: lots of auditions, a screen test, lots of walking around concept art, just discussing things," said Cavill. "And then the movie just didn't happen. And, so, I didn't happen with that movie."
(Source: "Tales from Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made")
2005: Cavill was hurt again by his age. This time, he was considered too young to play the role of James Bond in "Casino Royale." Daniel Craig landed the role of MI6's British spy.
"Casino Royale" director Martin Campbell told The Express that Daniel Craig's role in "Layer Cake" convinced them he was the man for the job.
"None of us making the casting decision were 100% sure. I needed a couple of days to think about it. Over that weekend I saw Daniel's film Layer Cake and he showed such terrific charm in that that it convinced me he should get the part."
Cavill recently expressed interest to IGN about playing Bond in the future if the role ever opened up again.
2007: That didn't get him down though. His breakout role on Showtime's "The Tudors" came soon after.
He played the role of Charles Brandon from 2007-2010.
2011: Cavill was cast for the "Man of Steel."
Previous Superman Brandon Routh also expressed interest in reprising his role as the "man of steel."
(Source: Deadline)
He told the British GQ that he almost missed out on this role because he was playing "World of Warcraft."
Via Digital Spy:
"I saw it was [Snyder calling] but the thing is, you can't save World of Warcraft, you can't pause it. It's live."
He's kind of perfect for the role of Superman (or even Captain America). Cavill has said he would have joined the army if he wasn't an actor.
Cavill revealed in a Showtime interview he would have joined the armed forces since he has older brothers who were in the army.
"I've got brothers in the forces," said Cavill. "My father enlisted into the Navy as well. It was always a kind of thing of mine. I grew up with lots of ... that kind of a patriotic pride."
If not, he would have gone to school to study ancient history or Egyptology.
He's also a big Superman fan, taking inspiration from comics for his portrayal of the man of steel in the latest reboot.
Cavill told Entertainment Weekly he looked at four issues in particular: The Death of Superman, The Return of Superman, Superman: Red Son, and Superman/Batman: The Search for Kryptonite (This one is a very interesting choice because of The Dark Knight's appearance).
“I read as much as I could, purely because I wanted to get a great reservoir of knowledge from the source material,” said Cavill. “There are so many different representations of the character that it was easy to draw a baseline and pick and choose some flavors."
Sorry ladies, he's taken. Cavill is currently dating actress Gina Carano who's featured in "Fast & Furious 6."
(Source: Daily Mail)
Previously, he was engaged to equestrian showjumper Ellen Whitaker.
The two split last August.
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