Andrew Garfield
Who was Andrew Garfield?
British-American actor best known for playing Spider-Man in two film series and for his Tony Award-nominated performance in 'Angels in America' on Broadway.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Andrew Garfield (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Andrew Garfield was born on August 20, 1983, in Los Angeles, California, to a British mother and an American father. He grew up mostly in England and went to the City of London Freemen's School in Surrey. He later studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where he built his strong foundation in theater. With both British and American citizenship, Garfield has worked in both Hollywood films and prestigious stage productions in the US and UK.
Garfield started his career on the West End stage and in British TV, gaining his first major success in the TV film Boy A (2007), where he played a young man trying to adjust to life after prison. His performance won him the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 2008, marking him as a promising dramatic actor. He then played a key supporting role as Eduardo Saverin, Facebook's co-founder, in David Fincher's well-received film The Social Network (2010), which brought him international fame.
His fame grew when he took on the lead role in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and its sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). This role made him a major Hollywood star and gave him worldwide recognition. He later returned as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which delighted audiences. Outside the superhero franchise, Garfield showed his range by earning an Academy Award nomination for his role as conscientious objector Desmond Doss in Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge (2016). He received another Oscar nomination for playing playwright Jonathan Larson in Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021).
On stage, Garfield made his Broadway debut as Biff Loman in the 2012 revival of Death of a Salesman, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. His most acclaimed stage role was as Prior Walter in the West End and Broadway revivals of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. This performance earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play. In 2022, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his lasting impact in film and theater.
Garfield's TV work includes the lead role in the FX crime drama miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven (2022), based on Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book, for which he got a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. His film roles continue with projects like The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021) and We Live in Time (2024), showing his ongoing dedication to character-driven stories across a wide range of genres.
Before Fame
Andrew Garfield was born in Los Angeles but grew up in England after his family moved there when he was three. He went to the City of London Freemen's School in Ashtead, Surrey, where he got involved in school plays and discovered his passion for acting. This mix of structured schooling and exposure to British culture helped shape his disciplined approach to acting.
After high school, Garfield attended the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, one of the UK's top performing arts schools. He graduated in 2004 and soon began working in professional theater and British TV. His early stage work on the West End and small roles in British productions gave him valuable experience before he gained national attention with his role in Boy A in 2007.
Key Achievements
- Won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as Prior Walter in the Broadway revival of Angels in America (2018)
- Received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, for Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021)
- Won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Tick, Tick... Boom! (2022)
- Won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for Boy A (2008)
- Named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2022
Did You Know?
- 01.Garfield reprised his role as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) after years of publicly denying his involvement in the film, making his return one of the most closely guarded secrets in recent Hollywood history.
- 02.He trained extensively in physical therapy and medical history to prepare for his role as real-life World War II conscientious objector Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge (2016).
- 03.Garfield won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in 2022 for Tick, Tick... Boom!, a film in which he performed his own singing as playwright Jonathan Larson.
- 04.His performance as Prior Walter in Angels in America required him to portray a man living with AIDS during the 1980s epidemic, and he conducted extensive research into the period and the communities most affected by the disease.
- 05.Despite being born in Los Angeles, Garfield grew up entirely in England and speaks with a British accent, often requiring him to adopt an American accent for his Hollywood film roles.
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play | — | — |
| Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | 2021 | — |
| Time 100 | 2022 | — |
| British Academy Television Award for Best Actor | 2008 | — |