Who is Tom Rhys Harries, the rising 'Clayface' star?
Curious about the actor behind Clayface? Keep an eye on Tom Rhys Harries—his Hollywood ascent is accelerating.
The new and final trailer for Clayface puts Tom Rhys Harries front and center in a gnarly, R-rated origin story for Gotham’s shape-shifting villain. It frames Matt Hagen as a scrappy kid who claws his way from the streets to Hollywood leading-man status, only to be disfigured by a crime boss and pushed toward an experimental fix that turns his body — and mind — to clay.
What starts as a miracle treatment restores Hagen’s looks, then warps his biology and shatters his grip on reality. The footage leans hard into body horror as his flesh turns malleable and he discovers the power to morph, kicking off a revenge path aimed at everyone who left him broken.
From West End to Gotham
Harries has been building to a breakout like this. He made his West End debut in 2014’s Mojo alongside Rupert Grint and Ben Whishaw, popped up in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, and grabbed wider attention with Netflix ’s White Lines in May 2020. In June 2024, his guest spot in Doctor Who’s “Dot and Bubble” lit up X and TikTok, turning him into a trending name overnight.
His jump to the DCU became official in 2025, when he was introduced as Matt Hagen at San Diego Comic-Con with director James Watkins onstage. Since then, he’s been the question mark at the heart of one of DC ’s riskiest swings in years.
The movie ’s pitch-black take
DC is billing Clayface as its first R-rated body-horror thriller, pushing the character as a tragic figure whose cure curdles into a curse. The plot tracks Hagen’s fall from a rising Hollywood lead to a vengeful shapeshifter after an attack leaves him mangled — and desperate enough to try anything to get his face, and career, back.
- Tom Rhys Harries — Matt Hagen/Clayface
- Director — James Watkins
- Writer — Mike Flanagan
“After a long and incredibly exhaustive search, we finally have our DCU Clayface in Tom Rhys Harries. Both Matt Reeves and I were just blown away by this guy, and can't wait for you to see this film, directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan.” — James Gunn on X, June 17, 2025
Gunn’s shoutout underscores the creative pedigree here: Watkins (The Woman in Black) steering a psychological descent, and horror specialist Mike Flanagan scripting the spiral that turns Hagen into a walking, seething special effect.
The final trailer is out now, with Clayface set to hit U.S. theaters soon.