Antony Starr

Antony Starr (born October 25, 1975) is a New Zealand actor best known for his roles in television. He gained recognition for playing twins Jethro and Van West in Outrageous Fortune (2005–2010), Lucas Hood in the Cinemax series Banshee (2013–2016), and Homelander in Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys and its spin-offs (2019–present), earning widespread acclaim.

In film, Starr won the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 2012 Australian movie Wish You Were Here and received a New Zealand Film Award nomination for After the Waterfall (2010).

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Starr had a passion for surfing and trained in karate. He speaks multiple languages, including English, Indonesian, Norwegian, and Spanish. He attended Rangitoto College, graduating in 1993, though he frequently skipped classes. While in school, he took drama lessons and worked as an extra in various productions before pursuing acting full-time. During this time, he also worked at a petrol station.

Starr’s acting career began in the early 1990s with a minor role in Shortland Street and guest appearances in Xena: Warrior Princess. In 2001, he joined Mercy Peak as Todd Van der Velter, a recurring role throughout the show’s three seasons. He also appeared in Shortland Street as the brother of Waverley Wilson but disliked the show’s fast pace, feeling it affected his performance.

His television credits include core roles in Hard Out, guest appearances in P.E.T. Detectives and Street Legal, and a brief role in Serial Killers. Playing the twins Van and Jethro West in Outrageous Fortune earned him multiple acting awards in 2007, including the Air New Zealand Screen Award, Qantas Television Award, and Asian TV Award for Best Actor. He was also named Best Actor at the 2005 inaugural Qantas Television Awards.

During Outrageous Fortune, Starr also worked on films, including No. 2 (2006), The World’s Fastest Indian, Without a Paddle, and In My Father’s Den. Between seasons two and three of Outrageous Fortune, he collaborated on a short film with friends. His stage performances include Closer at Auckland’s Silo Theatre and Sex with Strangers (2004, 2005).

Between seasons five and six of Outrageous Fortune, he starred in After the Waterfall and the telefeature Spies and Lies. In 2011, he played Senior Sergeant Charlie Lewis in the Australian police drama Rush and had a role in the second season of Lowdown.

From 2013 to 2016, Starr starred in Banshee, his first U.S. television role, playing an ex-con assuming the identity of Lucas Hood, the new sheriff of Banshee. The series concluded in April 2016. That year, he also played Garrett Hawthorne in CBS’s American Gothic.

In 2018, he was cast as Homelander in Amazon Studios’ adaptation of The Boys, alongside fellow New Zealander Karl Urban. The show premiered in July 2019 and quickly became a success. Subsequent seasons, released in 2020 and 2022, were met with critical acclaim. Initially skeptical about the role, Starr later became one of the show’s standout performers. Critics praised his chilling performance, with Screen Rant calling him the best part of the show and Hollywood Insider ranking Homelander among television’s greatest villains. Fans and critics have campaigned for him to receive an Emmy, and Variety ranked his portrayal among the top 100 TV performances of the 21st century.

Starr reprised his role as Homelander in spin-offs like The Boys Presents: Diabolical (2022) and Gen V (2023). His character was also featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022) and Mortal Kombat 1 (2024). In 2023, he appeared in The Covenant alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and played a domineering father in the horror film Cobweb, earning praise for his ability to portray disturbed characters.

The fourth season of The Boys, released in June 2024, became the most-watched season yet, with Starr’s performance receiving further acclaim. He also presented an award at the 2024 Emmys and won two Critics’ Choice Super Awards in 2023 for Best Actor and Best Villain in a Superhero Series, along with a Saturn Award in 2025 for Best Supporting Actor on Television.

Starr is set to return as Homelander in the upcoming fifth season of The Boys and will appear in the action thriller G20.

On March 4, 2022, he was arrested in Alicante, Spain, for assaulting a 21-year-old man at a pub. He received a 12-month suspended prison sentence and paid $5,530 in restitution to avoid jail time.