David Corenswet
David Corenswet is an actor, born 1993.
Juilliard, then Ryan Murphy, then a cape. Corenswet, born in Philadelphia in 1993 and out of Juilliard in 2016, moved through the standard early-career sequence of television guest spots, including House of Cards, before Murphy cast him twice in quick succession: River Barkley in The Politician and Jack Castello in Hollywood.
Those two roles set the terms. He has an old-fashioned leading-man face, the kind that reads as a specific mid-century type before he says anything, and both parts were written to exploit the gap between that surface and whatever is behind it. He is more interesting when a director works against the look rather than with it, which is why We Own This City is the most convincing acting on this list, and why the amiable romantic leads in Look Both Ways and The Greatest Hits are the least. The horror film that broadened his 2022, Pearl, is not among the credits listed here.
Then Superman in 2025, which changes the shape of everything around it. The role demands sincerity without irony, an unfashionable register that his particular face makes easier to sell, and the schedule that follows, Supergirl and Man of Tomorrow, means the next stretch of his career is spoken for. Whether he becomes an actor or a franchise is the open question, and it will not be answered by this list.
Movies (9)
TV (7)
Where to start with David Corenswet
Most people arrive here because of Superman, and it works as an introduction: the whole performance rests on playing decency as an active choice rather than a default setting.
Watch We Own This City next, and specifically next, because it is the corrective. Stripped of charm and glamour, he is much harder to read, and the miniseries has no interest in making anyone likeable. Hollywood and The Politician are the Ryan Murphy pair, glossy and knowing, and the first is the better use of him. Twisters and Lady in the Lake are supporting turns in bigger machines, useful for seeing how he holds a frame he is not centred in. Look Both Ways is the lightest thing here and can be skipped without loss.