Biography

David Corenswet

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Overview

Born
July 8, 1993 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Birth name
David Packard Corenswet
Height
6′ 2¾″ (1.90 m)

Biography

Perhaps best known for playing Superman in the DCU, David Packard Corenswet is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents, Caroline Packard and John Corenswet, were lawyers, and his father also worked as a stage actor in New York for many years. His grandfather, Edward Packard, is an author and the creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure book series. His father was from a Jewish family long-settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, and his mother was from a Quaker household. David graduated from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, before attending the University of Pennsylvania for a year, and then transferring to the Juilliard School in New York; there, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama in 2016.

He started acting at an early age, and he appeared in numerous theater plays, such as Arden Theatre's 2002 production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival's 2003 production of Macbeth, the Walnut Street Theatre's 2003 production of La Vie En Bleu, and the People's Light and Theatre Company's 2004 production of The Forgiving Harvest, among others. David wrote the screenplay for Following Chase (2011) and starred in the said short film directed by Greg Koorhan. After that he co-wrote and co-produced a web series called Moe & Jerryweather (2014) with his friend at Julliard, Adam Langdon, from 2014 to 2016. In 2016, Rob Reiner cast Corenswet as a co-lead in his planned TV show, The Tap (2017), alongside Jack Quaid, and others, which was set at Yale College in 1969. David played a student in the pilot episode, but the show was never ordered by USA Network.

As his first film leading role after graduating from Julliard, he starred as Michael Lawson in Eric Bross's Affairs of State (2018). Corenswet then appeared in several guest roles in shows such as House of Cards (2013), Elementary (2012), and Instinct (2018). In 2019, he portrayed River Barkley in Ryan Murphy's The Politician (2019), and in 2020 he starred in Ryan Murphy's Hollywood (2020) in the lead role of Jack Castello. In 2022 he co-starred on HBO's We Own This City (2022) as the veteran police investigator David McDougall. Also in 2022, Corenswet co-starred as Jake in Netflix's Look Both Ways (2022), and then as The Projectionist in Ti West's Pearl (2022). In 2024, he co-starred in The Greatest Hits (2024) for Searchlight Pictures. Corenswet appeared in Twisters (2024) as Scott alongside Glen Powell , and then had a recurring role in the Apple TV+ series Lady in the Lake (2024), alongside Natalie Portman and Noah Jupe.

On June 27, 2023, it was announced that David had been cast as the next Superman, in a film written and directed by James Gunn and produced by Peter Safran alongside Rachel Brosnahan. Superman (2025) marked the start of the new cinematic DC universe by the names of DCU under the leadership of Gunn and Safran at DC Studios. The movie started shooting on February 29, 2024, and concluded filming on July 30, 2024. Superman (2025) was released theatrically in the United States on July 11, 2025.
- IMDb mini biography by: Farzad Yaghooti

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Trivia

Maternal grandfather is Edward Packard, creator of the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' book concept and author of more than 50 titles in the series.
He did an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2019 saying that his dream role would be Superman. 4 years later, he was cast as Superman for Superman (2025).
Graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama from the Juilliard School, a private performing arts conservatory in New York City, in 2016.
Both parents are lawyers. His father, John Corenswet, had also been a stage actor.
He revealed that his favorite movie is the Hot Fuzz (2007) from the Cornetto Trilogy by Edgar Wright.

Quotes

[On his resemblance to Henry Cavill ] It came to my attention before the internet got a hold of me. But my pie-in-the-sky ambition is definitely to play Superman. I would love to see somebody do an upbeat, throwback [take on Superman]. I love the Henry Cavill dark and gritty take, but I would love to see the next one be very bright and optimistic.
[Entertainment Weekly, 2019] I think it's important for actors to be able to do a lot of different things. I don't want to be pigeonholed into one type of role.
I've also got a lot of physical comparisons to Tom Welling [who played Clark Ken/Superman on Smallville (2001). When I was growing up, he was the Superman who was on TV every week. I think, to one extent or another, all of the Superman actors...There's some Venn diagram of our physical characteristics, which makes sense for a superhero who is classically the one who doesn't wear a mask.
I had the pleasure of exchanging letters with two previous Supermans, Henry Cavill and Tyler Hoechlin. Both of them, interestingly, sort of said in their own words, 'I'm not gonna try to give you any tips.' And I think that's a very Superman thing. Superman's not so much for giving advice or dictating how other people should be. They really just conveyed to me an encouragement and a sense of 'have fun with it,' which I think is Supermans way of doing it too.
We just discovered over Passover that [my aunt's] special recipe for matzo balls, which are the greatest matzo balls you've ever had in your life, is actually just the recipe on the back of the Manischewitz matzo ball mix box... So she's been revealed as a fraud. I don't know which back of what box she got this amazing pesto recipe from.