Andrew Garfield

Andrew Russell Garfield (born 20 August 1983) is an English and American actor.

He has received various accolades, including a Tony Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award and two Academy Awards.

Time included Garfield on its list of 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Epsom, England, Garfield trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and began his career on the UK stage and in television productions.

Andrew Russell Garfield was born on 20 August 1983, in Los Angeles, California.

His mother, Lynn (née Hillman), was from Essex, England, and his father, Richard Garfield, is from California.

Richard's parents were also from the United Kingdom.

Garfield's parents moved the family from the United States to the United Kingdom when he was three years old, and he was brought up in Epsom, Surrey.

Garfield had a secular upbringing.

He is Jewish on his father's side, and describes himself as a "Jewish artist."

His paternal grandparents were from Jewish immigrant families who moved to London from Poland, Russia and Romania, and the family surname was originally "Garfinkel."

Garfield's parents ran a small interior-design business.

His mother was also a teaching assistant at a nursery school, and his father became head coach of the Guildford City Swimming Club.

He has an older brother who is an NHS doctor at Royal Brompton Hospital.

Garfield was a gymnast and a swimmer during his early years.

He had originally intended to study business but became interested in acting at the age of 16 when a friend convinced him to take theatre studies at A-level, as they were one pupil short of being able to run the class.

Garfield attended Priory Preparatory School in Banstead and later City of London Freemen's School in Ashtead, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London.

His first job was at Starbucks, being moved between three separate establishments in Golders Green and Hendon.

Garfield began taking acting classes in Guildford, Surrey, when he was nine, and appeared in a youth theatre production of Bugsy Malone.

He also joined a small youth theatre workshop group in Epsom and took theatre studies at A-level before studying for a further three years at a UK conservatoire, the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Upon graduating in 2004, he began working primarily in stage acting.

In 2004, he won a Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Newcomer for his performance in Kes at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre (where he also played Romeo the year after), and won the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the 2006 Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Garfield made his British television debut in 2005 appearing in the Channel 4 teen drama Sugar Rush.

He made his feature film debut in the 2007 ensemble drama Lions for Lambs, and gained praise for his performance in the television film Boy A (2007).

In 2007, he garnered public attention when he appeared in the series three of the BBC's Doctor Who, in the episodes "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks".

Garfield commented that it was "an honour" to be a part of Doctor Who.

In October 2007, he was named one of Variety's "10 Actors to Watch".

He made his American film debut in November 2007, playing an American university student in the ensemble drama Lions for Lambs, with co-stars Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Robert Redford.

"I'm just lucky to be there working on the same project as them, although I don't really expect to be recognized later by audiences," Garfield told Variety in 2007.

In his review for The Boston Globe, Wesley Morris considered Garfield's work "a willing punching bag for the movie's jabs and low blows".

In the Channel 4 drama Boy A, released in November 2007, he portrayed a notorious killer trying to find new life after prison.

The role garnered him the 2008 BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle wrote, "there is no doubt about the intelligence and sensitivity" of Garfield's portrayal.

He came to international attention in 2010 with the supporting role of Eduardo Saverin in the drama The Social Network.

Garfield gained wider recognition for playing Spider-Man in the superhero films The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), and later in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

On stage, Garfield appeared in a 2012 Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman and played Prior Walter in a 2017 London production of Angels in America.

He reprised the latter role on Broadway the following year and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

He received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for starring as Desmond Doss in the war film Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and as Jonathan Larson in the musical Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021).

Garfield also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the latter.

He has since starred as a Mormon detective in the crime drama miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven (2022).