'The Boys' leading man, Antony Starr, and his life beyond Homelander

With Amazon's wonderfully shocking series, 'The Boys' exploding back on our screens last week (and we mean exploding in the literal sense), we look at the life of the actor who plays the most dangerous man on the planet, Homelander. Antony Starr certainly has an interesting story.

Handsome, versatile and a dog lover: who couldn’t love Antony Starr? He was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1975.

On top of his native English, Starr can speak 3 more languages: Indonesian, Norwegian and Spanish. Why? We are unsure - Starr has always stayed very secretive about his upbringing and his parents.

If you’re a fan of Australian police dramas, you may have seen him in 'Rush'. But his breakthrough role came in the wonderful HBO (Cinemax) series 'Banshee.'

Starr certainly draws attention as Lucas Hood in 'Banshee'. If you've never seen it, the plot goes something like this: After serving 15 years in prison for protecting his love, an expert thief ends up as sheriff of a small town with big problems.

Starr won critical praise as twins Van and Jethro West in the blockbuster New Zealand television series 'Outrageous Fortune.' He starred in 107 episodes in total over a 5-year period.

Starr has also participated in a few stage productions such as 'Closer' (2004) in Silo Theater, Auckland, in which he played the lead role of Dan.

But nothing has brought him international fame quite like the disturbing Amazon series, 'The Boys'. Unlike any other 'superhero' series you would be expecting, we suggest you strongly take note of the Parental Guide (18+) Certification this show is given.

'The Boys' is set in a world where superheroes are known, exploited, and owned by a corporation that manages them and sells their services. Starr’s character is that of the leader of the 'seven' superheroes but whose public persona is far from that of the golden boy he is made out to be.

Starr told Metro UK: "My reps sent me the script and said, this is one we should look at. I was busy, I was working pretty much every hour and they called me a week later and said, 'Have you read it?' I was like, 'No, leave me alone I'm busy.'"

"So I didn't look at it for a week and a half," Starr continued, "and then I saw it was a superhero thing and I thought, they're not going to pick me anyway, I'm not made for that. Henry Cavill's 12 feet tall, built like a 12-foot brick s*** house and he's wonderful, handsome, and charming - I'm not going to get that."

He told GQ Magazine, "I’ve been on some shows that were less than popular, and deservingly so, because they were terrible. They didn’t deserve to have any support, because they were executed poorly, and I would hate to be on a show that I didn’t think was very good and I’m stuck to it for five years…"

Starr likes to keep his private life just that, so very little is known about his personal life and relationship status. Many media outlets report he was in a relationship with costume designer Lucy Mclay, but it's uncertain whether that is still the case.

The actor did let one private moment slip, in the spring of 2022. Starr was arrested in the Spanish city of Alicante after an alleged altercation with another man.

Photo: Instagram, Antony Starr

He was reportedly in Alicante filming for Guy Ritchie's new film, the name of which is yet undisclosed. It may also be starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Deadline reports.

According to The Olive Press, the actor had allegedly cut a man's face with a glass at around 2 am one morning. Starr received a 12-month suspended prison sentence with a $5,464.97 fine.

During an interview with the New York Times, Starr acknowledged the Spanish incident. "I got myself into a situation that was negative and I reacted poorly, and the way forward from that was very clear," Starr continued. "It was quite simple to take ownership of it, which I do, and then really learn from it and move forward."

Starr would definitely be described as the 'sporty type'. He played a lot of sports in his youth, including swimming, tennis and soccer. He also did karate and martial arts for eight years when he was younger.

But that didn't stop him from being injured by something a little less dangerous...

According to IMDB, Starr told about one of his biggest scars in an interview. "I had a job when I was 15 working at a supermarket, and I knocked over a stack of plastic coffee cups. In my anger, I threw one at a concrete wall, and it rebounded back into my head and cut my head open. Stupidest way to get a scar, but it's one that I have."

Still, it is probably the sport and his love for the big outdoors that has seen him rated as New Zealand's Sexiest Man by TV Guide Best on Box Awards - three years in a row!

Although Starr is private, he does interact with his fans on social media. The actor is on both Instagram and Twitter and regularly posts on-screen photos giving fans a glimpse behind the scenes.

Something the actor also shares with the public is his pride of being a dog-dad. Maxine, his cute dog, makes frequent appearances on Instagram.

Photo: Twitter @antonystarr

Starr told GQ Magazine that he is actually able to live a relatively quiet private life because people don't recognise him with out the blond hair! He said, "I don’t get much [recognition for The Boys] at all because the blond hair [is gone]."

'The Boys' will continue to make a splash every Friday on Amazon Prime for the next few weeks. This season will have 8 episodes in total. Once this is wrapped up, we look forward to seeing Antony Starr in some big movie roles - such as the one in the Guy Ritchie film!