Henry Cavill

Henry Cavill hasn’t always been a totally ripped Man of Steel.

 

Just look at his teenage nickname.

“They called me Fat Cavill,” the British actor told Men’s Fitness of his years in boarding school. “I actually had rolls of fat on me. One guy told me I had tits. I was a big eater, and I still love food. I’m still an indulger, in alcohol, in food, in all this things I enjoy in life. I’ve never been able to do things in half measure. That’s probably why I was a fat kid.”

Fat no more, The Man From U.N.C.L.E star is in peak physical shape (as if we hadn’t noticed from those sex scenes in The Tudors). Cavill described one such, er, uncomfortable situation while filming the mid-2000s Showtime drama.

 

Asked if he ever got aroused during those racy scenes, Cavill said: “It’s happened to me once…and it was very embarrassing. A girl had to be on top of me, she had spectacular breasts, and I hadn’t rearranged my…stuff into a harmless position. She’s basically rubbing herself all over me, um, it got a bit hard. I had to apologize profusely afterward. It’s not great when you’re in a professional acting environment and somebody gets a boner, is it? No, not acceptable.”

 

But for the most part, Cavill is a man who is in control of his body. He talked about getting in such great shape — with just the perfect amount of body fat — for Man of Steel. “The mass build part was the fun part,” he said. “You get to eat a lot, and you’re lifting heavy weights. You feel really good because you’ve got big numbers going on the plates. But you’re always aware that you’ll have to eat less and start breathing more in order to show the muscles and the striations. It creeps up on you. That’s the less-fun part.”

When he’s not playing an action hero, though, Cavill’s routine is less regimented. “When I need to do it, I’ll do it,” he said. “But otherwise I’m going to enjoy my life.”