Who is David Corenswet? Everything you need to know about the Superman: Legacy star

After a lengthy casting process and lots of dead-end rumours, the cast of James Gunn’s new Superman movie has finally been revealed, with newcomer David Corenswet donning Kal-El’s iconic red and blue suit for 2025's Superman: Legacy.

Corenswet joins The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan as intrepid Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane and together, they’re the first two castmembers to be confirmed to star in Gunn’s currently-in-the-works reboot.

As the biggest project of Gunn’s newly-retooled DC cinematic universe — known officially as the DC Extended Universe or DCEU for short — all eyes will surely be on Corenswet as he inherits Clark Kent’s specs and Superman’s cape from Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, Henry Cavill.

Read more: Everything we know about Superman: Legacy

While Corenswet undoubtedly looks the part — with his chiselled jawline, blue eyes and dark hair — many may be wondering who this relative newcomer is and where they might have seen him before.

With that in mind, here’s everything we know about our all-new Supes.

Who is David Corenswet?

David Corenswet is a 29-year-old American actor who was born in Philadelphia in 1993. When he stars in Gunn’s Superman: Legacy in 2025, he will be 31 years old — just one year older than Cavill was when he appeared in Snyder’s Man of Steel in 2013.

Corenswet’s parents are both lawyers, with his mother’s father, Edward Packard, shooting to fame after creating the ‘Choose your own adventure’ book format.

Before appearing in front of the camera, Corenswet trained at the performing arts institution Julliard in New York City, graduating in 2016.

Where have you seen David Corenswet before?

Superman: Legacy will act as Corenswet’s leading man debut and his first time fronting a major movie production. No pressure then.

However, this lack of front-and-centre experience surely means his audition must have been particularly special if it wowed Gunn and his DCEU partner Peter Safran enough to win him such a highly coveted role.

Read more: Every upcoming DC movie and TV show

Corenswet has already appeared in a number of projects across television and film throughout his brief career so far.

A former child actor, he cut his teeth performing on stage before he was cast in a pilot directed by Rob Reiner in a TV series entitled The Tap which was to be set at Yale college in 1996.

Despite getting decent reviews, the pilot ultimately wasn’t picked up for a series order.

What films has David Corenswet been in?

Corenswet’s first feature film role came in 2018 when he starred in the political thriller Affairs of State alongside the likes of Thora Birch. He then went on to appear in a number of TV projects as a guest star, including Elementary, House of Cards and Instinct.

From there, his projects began to increase in frequency. An appearance in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series The Politician in 2019 was followed by a role in another limited series in 2020.

Hollywood was set in the retro world of movie-making during World War II and was also available to watch on the streamer.

In an interview for Netflix to promote The Politican, Corenswet was asked about what superpowers he would like to have, and — spookily, considering the composer's Superman credentials — he said he would like to have "John Williams music play wherever I went."

Next, Corenswet starred in the critically-acclaimed series We Own This City from the same creators of The Wire.

Here, he played a veteran police investigator and delivered a performance that might be his most familiar to keen-eyed viewers.

In 2022, he showcased his range by playing the projectionist in Ti West’s horror Pearl starring Mia Goth and starred in the Netflix romantic comedy Look Both Ways.

Next year, he’ll be seen on the big screen in Twisters, the upcoming reboot of 1996’s disaster thriller Twister.

Superman: Legacy is due to be released on 11 July 2025.