Anthony Carrigan is opening up about the deeply personal connection he has to Superman.
The actor plays Metamorpho/Rex Mason in the upcoming James Gunn-directed Superman film and told Good Morning America that Christopher Reeve, who starred as the DC Comics superhero in the 1978 Superman film and its sequels, helped him embrace his alopecia, with which he was diagnosed as a child.
“When I was a kid, my mom told me about all of these actors and people who had alopecia, and she told me about Christopher Reeve,” Carrigan said at the film’s premiere in LA on Monday night.
Carrigan continued, “That was really special, because I really figured, well, if Superman could have alopecia, then I can have alopecia.”
Reeve, who portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films, was diagnosed with alopecia areata as a teen. He opened up about the disease in an interview with The New Yorker in 2003 and also spoke about the condition in his 1998 autobiography, Still Me.
Reeve died in October 2004 at the age of 52.
Alopecia is a blanket term for hair loss. According to the National Institutes of Health, there are different types of alopecia, and experts believe some types occur when a person’s immune system inappropriately targets their own hair follicles, which stifles hair growth.
There is no cure for alopecia but there are treatments, including steroid injections and oral steroids or various immunotherapies. Red light therapy may have benefits for some patients with certain types of hair loss, but not all, according to research published in the journal Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, available on the National Library of Medicine’s website.
Carrigan said knowing about Reeve’s struggle with alopecia was “a big deal for me” growing up.
“So knowing that I’m now part of Superman, I’m now part of this legacy,” he added.
In Gunn’s Superman, Metamorpho, also known as The Element Man, has the power of manipulation. In production notes for the film, Carrigan said his character can “turn himself into whatever he wants” because of this power.
“So, it’s a blessing and a curse. He, I think, sees it more as a curse,” he said. “He does not like the way that he looks, which I can certainly relate to. You know, growing up with alopecia, that was something that I wished that I could change about myself back then, and it really affected my self-esteem. It affected the way that I moved through the world. And so, that’s certainly a kind of aspect of this character that I feel like I can really relate to. But since then, since accepting that, it really has become a kind of superpower of mine, this different, unique look of mine.”
Superman flies into theaters July 11.
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