You’ve likely seen Masters of the Air star Anthony Boyle before—whether in Netflix’s Derry Girls, Apple TV’s Tetris, or maybe you recall him as Scorpius Malfoy in the critically acclaimed Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, both in New York and London, for which Boyle received an Olivier Award, a Tony nomination, an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination, and several other well-deserved accolades.
Most recently, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s World War II-set Masters of the Air has dropped Boyle into a flurry of Hollywood It boys—among them: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, and Barry Keoghan—promptly setting the internet ablaze. (With thanks to the Apple TV+ press team, recent promotions have included the cast dreamily narrating real love letters from soldiers during the war.) Boyle’s performance as Major Harry Crosby, or “Cross”—whose book A Wing and a Prayer inspired much of the nine-episode limited series—follows his arc from trepidatious young soldier with a nasty bout of air sickness to verified war hero.
Viewers can look forward to seeing a lot more of the 29-year-old Belfast native in 2024, with shows like Manhunt, Shardlake, and Say Nothing on the horizon. On a recent Zoom call from London, Boyle spoke to Vogue about surviving Masters of the Air boot camp, the joys of growing a mustache, and what he’s up to next.
Vogue: I’m curious about your journey from finding out that you’d landed your role in Masters of the Air to arriving on set.
Anthony Boyle: I was filming a movie called Tetris in Glasgow during lockdown; there were no restaurants, no bars, no anything open. I was just in a hotel by myself and I’d got a call from my agents on the phone, and there were a couple of people on the call, and I thought, They’re not all calling me just to sort of check in. Then they told me, “Oh, by the way, you got the job.” I wanted to celebrate, but there was no one around me. So I just sort of, you know, jumped up and down on the bed, tried to do a front flip, and no one was around because it was lockdown and we were all isolating while doing this movie…so I just celebrated on my own with a bottle of red wine and I had a lovely time.