Andrew Russell Garfield (born on August 20, 1983) is an Anglo-American actor. Born in Los Angeles, he moved to Epsom, Uk, when he was three years old. After completing the drama course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2004, he began his career in theatrical and television productions, as in the play Kes, for which he won the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Newcomer, and in the sitcom Sugar Rush (2005).
He made his film appearance with Lions for Lambs (2007) and, later that year, his performance in Boy A earned him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Television. He gained public and critical attention in 2010 for supporting roles in the film The Social Network, in which he played Brazilian Eduardo Saverin and for which he received nominations for Bafta, golden globe, satellite and screen actors guild, and never let me go, which earned him nominations for the British Independent Film Awards, London Film Critics Circle, among others, and victories at the Hollywood Film Festival and the Saturn Award.
| Birth date | August 20, 1983 |
|---|---|
| Birthplace | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Nationality | British American |
| Education | Royal Central School of Speech and Drama |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Activity | 2004–present |
| Tonys | |
| Best Actor in a Play 2018 – Angels in America |
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| Golden Globes | |
| Best Actor in a Film – Comedy or Musical 2022 – tick tick… BOOM! |
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| BAFTA Awards | |
| Best Actor in a Television 2008 – Boy A |
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| Critics Choice Awards | |
| Best Actor in an Action Movie 2016 – Hacksaw Ridge Best Actor in a Superhero Movie 2022 – Spider-Man: No Way Home |
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Garfield achieved international recognition in 2012 for playing Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as its sequel, released in 2014. After a break in his career, which lasted one year, the actor starred in two films of the critically acclaimed historical drama genre: Hacksaw Ridge and Silence. For his performance as Desmond T. Doss, in the first, received nominations for the Academy Awards, BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor and won the AACTA, Critics Choice for Best Actor in an Action Picture and Satellite for Best Actor in a Cinema. His next work was on Breathe (2017), Under the Silver Lake (2018) and Tick, Tick… Boom!, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical and was again nominated for the Critics Choice, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award for Best Actor.
As far as theater is concerned, Garfield played Biff in a revival of Arthur Miller’s Broadway play Death of a Salesman, which earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. In 2017, she starred as Prior Walter in a production of Angels in America at the Royal National Theatre in London. The following year, having reprised this role on Broadway, his performance received acclaim from critics, which caused him to be nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor and win the Drama Desk and Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Play.
Garfield supports a number of institutions and causes, such as aids and cancer prevention and cure, child protection, human rights, and actively acts for LGBTQ rights. As a public figure, he is cited as one of the most influential and powerful people in the American entertainment industry, having appeared in several publications as such. He is one of the highest-grossing people of all time in North America, having raised more than two billion dollars around the world.
Early years and adolescence
Andrew Russell Garfield was born in Los Angeles, California. From a middle-class family, he is the son of Lynn (maiden name: Hillman), a native of Essex, England, and Richard Garfield, born in California, and has an older brother, Ben Garfield, whose profession is a doctor. His paternal grandparents, Samuel Garfield and Doris May Savage, whose surname was originally “Garfinkel”, came from Jewish immigrant families who moved from London to Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia, and Romania). On the maternal side, her grandparents were named Peter Hillman and Florence A. Luckens, native of London. His parents moved from Los Angeles to Epsom, England, when he was three. Garfield had a secular upbringing and referred to himself as an “agnostic pantheist”, though Jewish.
His parents had a small interior design company, but later Richard became the first coach of the Guildford City Swimming Club and his mother, an assistant teacher at a daycare center.
During his childhood, Garfield practiced gymnastics and swimming. Originally, his claim was to study administration; however, he became interested in acting at the age of sixteen, when a friend convinced him to attend a drama school, as they often ran away from classes. He initially attended Priory Preparatory School in Banstead, and then the City of London Freemen’s School, located in Ashtead. Finally, he studied acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where he graduated in 2004.
Andrew Garfield career
2004–2011: First work and recognition
Garfield began taking drama lessons at the age of nine in the town of Guildford, Surrey, where he appeared in a theatrical production of the musical Bugsy Malone (1976). He later joined a small theatre group from Epsom and took A-level acting classes before studying for another three years at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in the United Kingdom. After graduating in 2004, he began working primarily in stage acting. That same year, he won the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Newcomer in recognition of his performance in the play Kes, performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester (where he also played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet), and in 2006 received the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Newcomer.
Garfield made his British television debut in 2005. Two years later, he received public attention when he appeared in the episodes “Daleks in Manhattan” and “Evolution of the Daleks” from the third season of Doctor Who, about what he commented was “an honor” to have been part of the series. In October 2007, variety was named one of the “10 actors to be seen”. The following month, he made his first appearance in a Hollywood film Lions for Lambs, in which he played a college student and starred alongside Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. “I was lucky enough to be there working with them, although I didn’t really expect to be recognized by the audience,” the actor told Variety in 2007. In his review of the Boston Globe, Wesley Morris praised his performance.
His next work was in the drama Boy A (2007), in which he played a notorious killer who seeks a better life after getting out of prison. The role earned him the Award for Best Actor by British Academy Television. Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle published that “there is no doubt about the intelligence and sensitivity of Garfield’s interpretation”. In her review of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Christy DeSmith agreed with Biancolli, citing his “detailed expressions” as a highlight. Writing for the Seattle Times, journalist John Hartl noted that the artist demonstrated the breadth needed for the role and concluded that “Garfield always manages to capture his passion”.
Joe Morgenstern, a critic for The Wall Street Journal, called his performance “phenomenal”. In 2008, the actor had a small role in the film The Other Boleyn Girl, and was named one of the rising stars by the Berlin International Film Festival. The following year, he had supporting roles in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and the television show Red Riding, in which Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called his performance “excellent”.
In 2010, Garfield co-starred alongside Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley in the dystopian science fiction drama Never Let Me Go as Tommy D., about which he said, “There’s a sense of anxiety that these young people feel, especially Tommy, because he’s so sensory and sensitive and animalistic, that’s my perspective of him”. The actor liked the film for the existential issues that his story expressed and stated that the experience of having been part of the production was “just a dream come true”; he also noted that the scenes in which his character — unable to contain his frustration — broke out with bramidos were “intense” for him. “I think these screams are inside all of us, I just had a chance to externalize mine”.
For his performance, he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the British Independent Film and the London Film Critics Circle in the same category, as well as the Detroit Film Critics Society for Breakthrough Performance, while winning the category at the Hollywood Film Festival. Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman praised the main cast’s performances, noting that “all three act with a frightening innocence”. Compared to Mulligan and Knightley, Scott Bowles, in his USA today publication, considered it “the true revelation” of the film.
Later that year, Garfield gained recognition and acclaim from film critics and the public after starring, alongside Jesse Eisenberg, as the Brazilian Eduardo Saverin in the film The Social Network, whose plot revolves around the foundation of the social network Facebook and its developments. Of his character, he commented: “Nobody knows who Eduardo Saverin is, and so do I. Of course, the fact that he is a real human being, breathing somewhere on this Earth, creates a new dimension to my approach because you feel a greater sense of responsibility”.
Initially, when director David Fincher met him under the auspices of Mark Romanek, who directed Garfield in Never Let Me Go, he auditioned to play Mark Zuckerberg. However, although the filmmaker considered it “great, […] obviously a very skilled actor with an incredible presence”, did not think he was ideal for the role, because he thought that the actor “has such incredible emotional access to his kind of humanity that it would be a waste to escalate him to a role in which the character appears to have Asperger; better assign it to the role of Saverin”.
Garfield’s performance was well received, which gave him more recognition and numerous nominations for various awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor in the Ascendant, the Golden Globe and Satellite for Best Supporting Actor and the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards, in which he was nominated, with his colleagues, the Best Cast in Film. The BBC’s Mark Kermode was surprised that Garfield was ignored by the Oscars and did not receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, opining that “everyone knows he’s one of the best things in the film”. Subsequently, other film critics ruled on the snub.
To Flavorwire magazine, Jason Bailey was amazed at the nominations of Jeremy Renner for The Town and John Hawkes, for Winter’s Bone, to the category and inserted it into his list of those despised for that year’s award, commenting, “From the film’s talented supporting cast, the real ignored was Andrew Garfield, who lent the production his fleeting sense of consciousness”. Chris Lee, of the Los Angeles Times, agreed and added: “After having presented a restrained performance, […] Garfield was announced by many Oscar thermometers as the guy to excel in the race for the supporting category. However, he left without acclaim from the Academy, while John Hawkes came out as a surprise”. Whitney Friedlander of the same newspaper justified the actor’s exclusion because he had played victims in many of his works so far.
Gabe Toro, in his assessment of IndieWire, considered that “Academy voters did not realize one of the most compelling elements of David Fincher’s film. No, we’re not talking about Jesse Eisenberg, […] we’re talking about Andrew Garfield, [who] is undoubtedly the heart of the film and that frankly outside of that doesn’t have an emotional core.
The fragile and then broken friendship between Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin would not have worked so well had it not been for Garfield’s sensitivity and vulnerability —both weaknesses—. Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgenstern found the role to be portrayed with “great subtlety”. Critic Peter Travers published on Rolling Stone that the actor represented Eduardo with “a vulnerability that elevates emotional interest in a movie”, and proclaimed, “Keep an eye on Garfield — he’s exceptionally good”.
2012–2016: Spider-Man and coming to stardom
Despite being highly praised for his acting skills, Garfield had not found films that appealed to a broad audience; however, he achieved international recognition by winning the role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the film The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), the reboot of the Spider-Man film series, in which he starred with Emma Stone, who played Gwen Stacy.
The actor saw his lineup as a “huge challenge in many ways”, as he had to represent an “authentic” character and “live in a new way”, and described Peter as someone he could relate to and stated that the character had been an important influence on him since he was a child. For the role, the artist studied the movements of athletes and spiders so that he could incorporate them, in addition to practicing yoga and pilates. His commitment impressed the director, Marc Webb, who stated, “He was so committed to the physical dimension of the character, as if he was really focused on feeling that a spider was taking care of him and keeping that DNA alive, and every time I saw him, he was incorporating it: it felt like he was really being possessed by a spider”.
As far as his lineup is concerned, Avi Arad, one of the film’s producers, explained: “In spider-man tradition, we were looking for a new, intelligent, sensitive and cool Peter Parker who could inspire us and make us laugh, cry and applaud him. We believe that we have found the perfect choice to assume this role and take us into the future”. After Stone was cast, the director noticed that chemistry among the actors was the right choice.
“God, I’m so sorry. That’s excellent, terrifying and amazing. I was given the responsibility to take the character off the big screen and put it on [the boys’ shoulders]. That’s a gift for me and a great burden to bear. And I’m so willing to do that.”
Garfield talks about his lineup as Spider-Man.
The film raised more than $752 million worldwide and Garfield’s performance was well-received. Critic Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian labeled his interpretation as “Definitive Spider-Man” and CNN’s Tom Charity praised his “combination of pure innocence, nervous agitation and sarcastic humor”. In criticism of the Brazilian site Plano Crítico, Rafael W. Oliveira wrote: “Replacing actor Tobey Maguire as the arachnid, Andrew Garfield introduces us to a Peter Parker of more explosive, explosive and fiery personality, something more than welcome, especially when we remember Maguire’s somewhat inert and silly Parker (who leaves no nostalgia for him). Garfield incorporates this new personality naturally, allowing young audiences to create an even stronger identification with the character, who, like much of the youth today, holds within him a great sense of anger at the injustices that life has brought him”.
In March 2012, the actor made his Broadway theater debut as Biff Loman in the revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. According to David Rooney of The New York Times, he successfully exposed “the raw pain of Biff’s loneliness”. For the role, the artist was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role. Two years later, Garfield hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live and made a guest appearance on the music video for Arcade Fire’s song “We Exist”, in which she played a transsexual woman.
Also in 2014, he co-produced and starred in the independent drama 99 Homes and reprised the role of Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The actor even had negotiations with Marvel to continue as the superhero; however, despite being profitable in terms of box office and being praised by critics, Garfield was forced to step down from the role, which was later taken over by Tom Holland, who, in an interview at BAFTA 2017, stated that he was looking forward to meeting with the actor to take some advice”.
After a one-year hiatus in his career, Garfield starred in two films in 2016: Martin Scorsese’s drama Silence and Mel Gibson’s war film Hacksaw Ridge. In the first, based on the novel of the same name by Shuzaku Endo, the actor played Sebastião Rodrigues, a 17th-century Jesuit priest Portuguese who travels to Japan to spread his faith. For the role, he spent a year with Father James Martin studying how to behave like a Jesuit priest and had to lose twenty pounds to achieve the necessary physicality. To The Globe and Mail, Kate Taylor wrote that Garfield “is sweetly resolute and kindly distressed as the missionary Rodrigues, but any hope that the actor can elucidate the psychology of philosophical certainty or the pain of religious doubt proves to be vanity”, while Mark Hughes of Forbes noted his performance as “emotionally stimulating and a nominee for the best actor”.
Brazilian Lucas Salgado, from AdoroCinema, agreed, publishing: “[The film] is an impactful work, with stunning visuals and excellent performances, especially by Andrew Garfield, who could have been remembered for awards for the performance. In fact, this just didn’t happen because the actor was already being nominated for another film in the same year, in the Hacksaw Ridge case”. Compatriot Marcelo Hessel, in his evaluation of the Omelette, recorded: “Actor who gives himself to his roles but often anchors himself in more theatrical signs and expressions, Garfield achieves under Scorsese a more measured and authentic performance, and the whole film depends on him to work”.
The same positive rating came from Ritter Fan, of the Critical Plan website, which noted: “The director makes an enormous effort in passing […] doubts and questions in his film and, largely thanks to Garfield’s work, he is successful. The actor insits to the role, significantly more subtle and complex than his Desmond Doss in Mel Gibson’s film, and perhaps has the acting of his life, convincing the viewer of his belief, his devotion, and, most importantly, his atrocious doubts”.
At Hacksaw Ridge, Garfield portrayed Desmond Doss, a combat physician who served in World War II and became the first and only consonant objector to receive the Medal of Honor. Mel Gibson’s choice for him came after the filmmaker watched him on The Social Network and loved his performance. The actor wept the first time he read the script and found the idea of playing a real superhero, compared to his role as Spider-Man, much more inspiring. Later, the artist claimed to have great respect for Doss and praised him for his act of bravery, hailing him as a “wonderful symbol of embracing the idea of living and letting live no matter what his ideology is, no matter what his value system, just to allow others to be who they are and allow themselves to be who you are”.
He also stated that when he learned that the direction would be Gibson’s, he felt excited and needed to sit down with him to meet him as a person, “because no one can avoid the news and gossip of celebrities. When we first met, I met the real Mel, the sober Mel of six years, and experienced a good soul, a man who worked himself”. The film was a box office success and received critical acclaim, grossing $175 million over its forty million budget.
Writing for USA Today, Brian Truitt labeled him “brutally intense and elegantly crafted” and noted that the lead role allowed Garfield to give depth to his career and praised him for impersonating Doss with “simple sweetness” and “constant courage”.
For his performance, he won an AACTA Award for Best Actor, a Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Actor in an Action Film, the Outstanding Award of the Year at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, for Best British Actor of the Year at the London Film Critics Circle and the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Film; in addition, he received his first Academy Award nomination, being for Best Actor, as well as bafta nominations, Critics Choice, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association in the same category. For film critic Mario Abbade of O Globo, he was the actor who should have won the 2017 Academy Award.
2017–present: Success of Andrew Garfield in theater and future projects
In the space of April to August 2017, Garfield played the role of Prior Walter in the two-part play Angels in America at the Royal National Theatre in London, which was broadcast live to theaters around the world in the summer of that year through National Theatre Live. The direction of the production was on account of Marianne Elliott, while Nathan Lane, James McArdle, Russell Tovey and Denise Gough starred as supporting characters.
The actor’s performance was very well received. In his review, Paul T Davis of The British Theatre Guide wrote that Garfield is “transformative and unrecognizable at times, perfectly embodying the laconic, frightened and utterly lovable Prior Walter”. Time Out magazine described him as “exceptional” and concluded, “the actor enters the role with wild wit, fiery intensity and total commitment — it’s a strange, demanding and hilarious function, and he’s the owner, the best thing in the play, [and gives] one of the performances of the year”. Theatre critic Dominic Cavendish, of The Daily Telegraph, agreed and added: “the talented Andrew Garfield gives one of the [best] interpretations of his career”. The role earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor.
Breathe was the only film released by the actor that year, in which he played Robin Cavendish, a young man who became paralytic after contracting polio. In order to prepare for the role, Garfield interacted with victims of the disease and worked with Cavendish’s wife and son. Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter published that despite an exceptional story, the film had covered up the complexities of Cavendish’s life, and believed that the actor was “hampered by a role that restricts him to little more than shaking his head and smiling”.
Camila Sousa of the Omelete called him “talented”. In March 2018, Garfield reprised the role of Prior Walter when the play Angels in America was transferred to Broadway for a limited time of eighteen weeks. Evaluating the production for The Washington Post, Peter Marks considered his performance as the “main point […] of the play”, to the proportion that Ben Brantley of The New York Times called the high-profile cast “led by Andrew Garfield […] in [a] interpretation of excellence”. The actor’s performance received critical acclaim, and therefore he was nominated for numerous awards, such as the Featured Performance Drama League, and won the Drama Desk and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
His next work was in Under the Silver Lake, directed by David Robert Mitchell and released at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. In the film, Garfield plays Sam, an unemployed and rebellious young man who goes out in search of his neighbor who mysteriously disappeared. To Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson thought the actor was “amazing in the role, doing agile and subtle things, teasing Sam’s menacing and scary side”. In October, it was announced that the artist had been cast in Gia Coppola’s Mainstream alongside Jason Schwartzman and Maya Hawke. He will also star in The Eyes of Tammy Faye alongside Jessica Chastain, a drama about televangelists Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye; in addition, it will be in the biographical film Instrumental, whose plot depicts the life of pianist James Rhodes. The actor was cast to appear in Tick, Tick… Boom!
Acting style and recognition
Garfield is widely considered one of the most talented actors of his generation and one of the most famous and successful Britons in Hollywood. In addition , he is known for his preparation for his roles, and even used The Method during the composition of his homosexual character Prior Walter from the play Angels in America (2017-18). Such was the intensity of his commitment that, in the process, he stated, “I am a gay man at this time without the physical act — that’s all.”, the quote that generated some negative comments. Another role that required much of the actor was that of the Jesuit Sebastião Rodrigues, in the film Silence (2016), for which he had to lose 20 kilos and spend many months in Asia, where the story takes place, which caused the artist to stay distant and lose contact with his then girlfriend, Emma Stone.
Faced with his commitment to work and the distance between them, the actress decided to end the relationship. Marc Webb, who directed him in The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel, praised his effortless performance and extraordinary talents. “He has a rare combination of intelligence, wit and humanity. Mark my words, you will love him as Peter Parker”. The actor stated that he had not used The Method for the role in these films, but that he had definitely dedicated himself to it and wanted to make sure that he had done the job in the best possible way “and made sure that the character is presented the way it should be”. Subsequently, the artist stated that he does not sleep very well after the completion of the filming of his films, since, in his words, he dedicates his life to playing his characters.
Commenting on her performance in The Amazing Spider-Man, Jane Graham of The Guardian noted her ability to make such a compelling analysis of Spider-Man, adding: “it won’t surprise anyone who has pursued his rapidly rising career so far. It’s not just your nervous energy. He has a history of making interesting choices and an ability to use his angry look to steal scenes from some of the best actors in the business”. As far as the theater is concerned, Tony Kushner, about the artist’s performance, stated, “I consider it one of the most excellent performances I’ve ever seen about a contemporary gay character played by a straight guy”, while Nathan Lane, his co-star of Angels in America, described him as “immensely talented”.
Throughout his career, Garfield has played several types of characters in different genres of films, such as comedy, drama and action. At the beginning of his occupation, however, many of his roles were of vulnerable, unlucky and socially excluded people, which led the writer Whitney Friedlander to analyze that this damaged the actor’s image and certain points of his profession, such as being left out of nominations and victories at major awards. The actor cited Daniel Day-Lewis and Tom Hanks as inspirations and assured that he would like to be “a fusion of all great artists”; credited the films Back to the Future, the Indiana Jones franchise and The Princess Bride as the ones that influenced him to be an actor.
In the media and public image
Garfield’s public image is linked to his charisma; it is described by the press as a sex symbol. On this classification, he stated, “I was a skinny kid. However, I’m here to tell all the other guys that it’s okay. You can still become a good rugby player; and may still be Spider-Man”. In 2016, the actor recounted that he had tried the lead role of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in 2008, but was eventually turned down because of his appearance: “I really wanted the role. This is so silly. It was a Narnia movie. Caspian’s film… But Ben Barnes ended up with him. The feedback they gave me was, ‘he’s not pretty enough.’ What could I do? I’m not pretty enough to be Prince Caspian”.
In her review of Vanity Fair, Joanna Robinson wrote that Garfield’s non-cast was a positive point for her career, given that the second Narnia Chronicles film, starring Barnes, grossed about half of what the original film had garnered and had less favorable reviews. And with just one more sequel that was even less favorable, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, also with Barnes, the Narnia franchise was fully shelved. The writer added that the actor being left out of the franchise did not harm him in any way, as he achieved critically acclaimed roles and award nominations such as the Oscars, BAFTA, Critic’s Choice, Golden Globe and SAG.
As far as his image is made, Holly Coletta of Speakeasy magazine noted that he “is not the flamboyant sexy British man like Daniel Craig, or the indecent and attractive British [group favorite] of pre-teens like Robert Pattinson, but Andrew is so clumsy and humble and adorable that he is extravagantly sexy”. An Empire described it as “Witty, deeply self-deprecating, genuinely funny and a bit geeky — what not to love in Andrew Garfield?”. The media cites his large brown eyes and long hair as his trademarks.
As his Hollywood career developed, Garfield became a popular and successful actor. In 2010, he was included in Trespass’s list of the 20 Most Talented Actors on The Rise ( Top 20 Rising Stars Under 30) by Trespass and received a BAFTA nomination for “Best Actor on the Rise”. Subsequently, The Guardian called him “Britain’s most sensual and talented young actor”. Some media elected him one of the Sexiest Men in the World. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him among the “Sexiest People of 2010” and Entertainment Weekly ranked him 6th on the “15 Artists of the Year” list, reprising his presence two years later. The actor ranked 73rd on the LGBT AfterElton.com’s Hot 100 list in 2011.
He repeated his appearance in the following years, being voted the 64th of the 2012 publication and the 17th in the following year. In Glamour’s “100 Sexiest Men in the World” catalog, made by Glamour in 2012, it ranked 56th; then the 63rd in the following year, the 61st in 2014 and the 85th in 2016. Also in 2012, the magazine elected him the 11th of the “20 Most Attractive British”, while GQ ranked him as the 8th of Hollywood’s 8th Most Stylish Young Under 30.
MTV named him one of the Sexiest Living Men, while in 2011 People added him to its publication of the same title. In other publications of the same magazine, he was chosen the eighth sexiest man of any age and one of the Most Attractive Single Britons of 2014. Empire placed it 36th on the list of the “100 Most Sexy Movie Stars”, held in 2013, and The Cult involved him in their research nicknamed “40 Men Considered Beautiful by Other Men”.
It was reported that the actor earned $500,000 for the film The Amazing Spider-Man, while for his sequel, he possibly received twice the amount. In 2013, he entered the “Most Valuable Stars” list, compiled by Vulture; repeated his appearance the following year and in 2015. He is one of the highest-grossing people of all time in North America. Celebrity Net Worth magazine valued his net worth at ten million dollars.
He has stated that he doesn’t like using social media sites very much because he believes they hardly contribute to personal development and revealed that he has found “different experiences” of popularity. “The best thing is when you leave the dressing room and someone gives you a letter in which they [the fans] thank me for saving your life. This is the best part of fame”. In an interview with New York magazine, the actor criticized the standard imposed on celebrities and said he feels it is “not accepted” in today’s culture. He also stated that while it may seem cheesy, he wants to make a difference in the world and concluded by saying that: “Celebrity is a new religion”.
Garfield served as an influence for Alex Hibbert, who has him for his favorite actor and revealed to have a lot of desire to work with him. In 2015, arachnologistyuri M. Marusik and Alireza Zamani honored him by naming a new species of spider in the Filistatidae family, Pritha Garfieldi, with his last name.
Humanitarian causes and philanthropy
Garfield has collaborated with various causes and charities throughout his career. In 2011, he became the Sports Ambassador of the Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO), whose purpose is to transform the lives of orphaned children. His choice came after he became an uncle, and seeing the love and opportunities his brother’s twin sons had, he wanted to give children around the world the same chance.
He made his first trip as the organization’s representative to Ethiopia and declared his desire to be able to give much time to the institution’s founder, Jane Aronson, and to his wonderful work. Jane noted that the actor playing his childhood icon, Spider-Man (and one of pop culture’s most famous orphans), helped him understand the feeling of being for sawed: “Andrew’s partnership with WWO is about [the existence] of this superhero within every child”. In November of the following year, he participated in a game of the Ellen program whose design was to perform different types of dances to raise money for the institution: the actor got ten thousand dollars.
Although they had previously performed the action, as in September 2012, it was in June 2014 that the actor and his then-girlfriend, Emma Stone, attracted media attention by using their fame to promote some charities and non-governmental organizations. As they went out for lunch at a restaurant in Manhattan, New York, they saw a group of paparazzi approaching and decided to seize the opportunity and taparam their faces with papers that contained the addresses of each place.
“Good morning! We were eating and we saw a bunch of guys with cameras outside, so let’s try it again. We don’t need attention, but these wonderful organizations do,” said the first part of the note Stone held, which had an arrow pointed at Garfield, which added, “Here are the things that matter. Have a great day.” The charities listed on the card were Youth Mentoring Connection, Autism Speaks, Worldwide Orphans and Gilda’s Club New York City. The concept turned to fever among the famous, and couples like Anne Hathaway and her husband Adam Shulman joined him.
Other institutions the artist supports are: Small Steps Project, Stand Up to Cancer and Starlight Children’s Foundation. On October 17, 2017, he returned to Ellen, this time with an attempt to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation —which aims to support translational research conducted by breast cancer clinics—in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The actor was challenged to perform the stunt “Flip” so they were given thirty thousand dollars to the organization.
Advocacy of LGBT rights
Garfield actively supports LGBT rights around the world. In April 2013, he publicly expressed his support for the legalization of same-sex marriage and expressed his opposition to the injustice of how homosexuals are treated, the imbalance that still exists in terms of rights and judgments. “Of course, I am in favor of marriage equality. Same-sex couples should have the same rights as anyone else. There is no argument against equality. How can anyone argue against compassion and understanding?” He also spoke out against the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that gave reason to a confectioner who refused to prepare a wedding cake for a gay couple. “Let’s make a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be made,” said the artist. He was nominated for the Dorian Prize in 2011.
He opposed Donald Trump’s human rights policy, stating that “this system is failing humanity. Not just in the LGBTQ community —[but] anyone who isn’t a straight white man.” In September 2015, he told american website Mic that he always cheered for a “pansexual” or “bisexual” version of the Spider-Man character. According to the actor, the idea of a Peter Parker who is not white and heterosexual should not be a big question. “I’m looking forward to getting to the point where we won’t even need to have this conversation and we can have a pansexual Spider-Man.
Love is love and skin is skin, I myself have no sexual preference.” Garfield explained why he thinks Spider-Man is the perfect hero for breaking stereotypes. “He’s all covered, from head to toe. That’s why everyone thinks they might be in that uniform. You don’t see any skin color, no sexual orientation, you can’t tell the age of the person, you don’t know what the gender is”. In June 2016, he attended the vigil held in Los Angeles for the victims of the Massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando and then composed a publication in which he offered condolences to the padecentes and extolled the importance of the event, beyond the struggles that LGBTQ people find to be accepted into society. In some of his public appearances, he has appeared with nail polish.
On June 10, 2018, during his Tony Award for Best Actor acceptance speech for his portrayal in Angels in America, which follows a number of characters and touches on issues such as immigration, religion, AIDS, homosexuality, climate change in 1980s New York City, the actor dedicated his award to the LGBTQ community:
“It is a profound privilege in my life to represent Prior Walter in Angels in America, because he represents the purest spirit of humanity, and especially the LGBTQ community. It’s a spirit that says no to oppression. It is a spirit that says no to fanaticism, not to shame, not to exclusion. It’s a spirit that says we’re all made perfectly. So I dedicate this award to the countless LGBTQ who fought and died to protect that spirit”.
Personal life
Garfield has dual U.S. and British citizenship and in 2009 told the Sunday Herald that he “feels equally at home” in both countries and “likes to have a varied cultural existence”. He usually gives interviews about his work, but does not publicly discuss the details of his private life. The actor also recounted that when he was a baby, he nearly died after contracting meningitis. “My parents heard from the doctors that if I survived, I would have severe physical and mental disabilities. But other than that I didn’t have to deal much with diseases”.
From 2008 to 2011, he had a relationship with actress Shannon Woodward. During the filming of The Amazing Spider-Man in 2011, Garfield began dating her co-star Emma Stone. For a while, they were Hollywood’s favorite couple. However, after some discrepancies related to his work, especially his, which was recording Silence in Asia, they separated in 2015, although they remain close. She stated that he “is someone I still love very much”.
When asked about his sexuality in an interview conducted in July 2017, Garfield stated, “Up to this point, I’ve only been sexually attracted to women. My attitude towards life, however, is that I always try to surrender to the mystery of not being in charge. I think, [like] most people, we are intrinsically trying to control our experiences, manage them and put walls around who we are and who we are. I want to know as much of the garden as possible before I leave—I have an opening for any impulse that might arise within me at any time. […] As far as I know, I’m not gay. Maybe I have an awakening at another time in life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll be able to explore that part of the garden. But now, I’m isolated in my area, which is wonderful too”.
Previously, the actor had stated, “I’m a gay man right now without the physical act —that’s all,” a quote that generated some negative comments. Timothy Hafke, in his analysis to Out, noted this speech as a “closet exit” mode. The speech considered was similar to that of James Franco, who once said he was “gay in his art”. Garfield later pointed out that comments he had made about gay men were “distorted” by the media: “That’s of course that’s not what I meant.
This discussion was about this piece and how deeply grateful I am to be able to work on something so profound. It’s a love letter to the LGBTQ community. We were talking about ‘How do you prepare for something so important and so big?’ and I was basically saying, ‘I dive as much as I can.’ The intention [in my comments] was to talk to it, to speak to my desire to play this role to the best of my ability, and to fully immerse myself in a culture that I love”. In previous statements, he has already revealed that he has no sexual preference and, in others, has implied bisexuality.
Religion of Andrew Garfield
Although he did not consider himself a religious, Garfield revealed that during the preparation for the film Silence, he developed what he calls a “deep relationship with Jesus Christ”. Beforehand, he had no relationship with Jesus and considered him only the leader of Christianity. In addition, the actor considered himself “pantheistic, agnostic, occasionally atheist and a little Jewish, but mostly confused. […] I wouldn’t say I had a crisis of faith. I’m always having a crisis of faith, with everything. The right people are afraid of me. That’s how religious wars start.”
In addition, he pointed out that it is important to note that both hacksaw ridge and Silence films, in which he plays religious, transcend specific religion. “[Although] Desmond Doss was obviously a Christian, a Seventh-day Adventist, I assume that his actions in history transcend the specific religion in which he found himself. His actions go beyond being Christian”. Father James Martin, who served as a teacher to behave like a Jesuit priest in Silence, remains his spiritual advisor, guiding the actor in his own “very specific relationship with Jesus”.
Garfield stated that he has been “a spiritual seeker” since he was a child and has always been fascinated by figures such as Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon and Martin Luther King. He cited the mystery of his existence and the mystery of his acts of love and devotion as admirable things and that this deep desire to “be a spiritual quest” has always been in itself.
Filmography of Andrew Garfield
Cinema
| Year | Original title | Paper | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Mumbo Jumbo | Simmo | Short film |
| 2007 | Lions for Lambs | Todd Hayes | |
| 2008 | Other Boleyn Girl | Francis Weston | |
| 2009 | Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | Anton | |
| Air | Tone | Short film | |
| 2010 | I’m Here | Sheldon | |
| Never Let Me Go | Tommy D | ||
| The Social Network | Eduardo Saverin | ||
| 2012 | The Amazing Spider-Man | Peter Parker / Spider-Man | |
| 2014 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | ||
| 99 homes | Dennis Nash | Also producer | |
| 2016 | Hacksaw Ridge | Desmond Doss | |
| Silence | Father Sebastião Rodrigues / Okada San’emon | ||
| 2017 | Breathe | Robin Cavendish | |
| 2018 | Under the Silver Lake | Sam | |
| 2020 | Mainstream | Link | |
| 2021 | The Eyes of Tammy Faye | Jim Bakker | |
| Tick, Tick… Boom! | Jonathan Larson | ||
| Spider-Man: No Way Home | Peter Parker / Spider-Man | ||
| TBA | We Live in Time |
Television
| Year | Title | Character | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Sugar Rush | Tone | 5 episodes (season one, episodes 1, 3, 6, 8 and 9) |
| Swinging | Various roles | 1 episode (season 1, episode 1) | |
| 2006 | Simon Schama’s Power of Art | Boy | 1 episode (season 1, episode 1) |
| 2007 | Trial & Retribution | Martin Douglas | 1 episode (tenth season, episode 3) |
| Freezing | Kit | 1 episode (season 1, episode 1) | |
| Doctor Who | Frank | 2 episodes (season three, episodes 4 and 5 ) | |
| Boy A | Jack Burridge as Eric Wilson | Telefilm | |
| 2009 | Red Riding | Eddie Dunford | 3 episodes |
| 2011, 2014 | Saturday Night Live | Himself | Special participation |
| 2019 | RuPaul’s Drag Race UK | Guest Judge (Season 1, episode 1) | |
| 2022 | Under the Banner of Heaven | Detetive Jeb Pyre | Papel principal |
Theater
| Year | Piece | Paper | Local |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Mercy | Deccy | Soho Theatre |
| Kes | Billy | Manchester Royal Exchange | |
| 2005 | The Laramie Project | Various roles | Sound Theatre |
| Romeo and Juliet | Romeo Montague | Manchester Royal Exchange | |
| 2006 | Beautiful Thing | Jamie | Sound Theatre |
| Burn / Chatroom / Citizenship | Birdman / Jim / Stephen | Royal National Theatre | |
| Overwhelming | Geoffrey | UK tour | |
| 2012 | Death of a Salesman | Biff Loman | Ethel Barrymore Theatre |
| 2017 | The Children’s Monologues | Teen bullied by father | Carnegie Hall |
| Angels in America | Prior Walter | Royal National Theatre | |
| 2018 | Neil Simon Theatre |
Music video
| Year | Title | Character | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | We Exist | Young transgender girl | Arcade Fire |
Awards and nominations
Throughout his career, Garfield has been nominated and won several awards, notably his Nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor (2017), the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor, Best Rising Star and Best Actor (2011 and 2017); Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Film and Best Actor in a Dramatic Film (2011 and 2017); Satellite Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Film (2011) and the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor in a Film and Best Actor (2011 and 2017).
He has won the AACTA Award for Best Actor (2017), BAFTA For Best Actor in Television (2008), Critics Choice for Best Actor in an Action Film, Palm Springs Performance of the Year (2017), Satellite for Best Actor in a Film (2017), the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Cinemator (2011), among many others. In the theater, he obtained nominations for the Drama League Award for Outstanding Performance (2012 and 2018, which won), Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Best Newto and Best Actor (2006 and 2017), Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor (2018 ) and the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role (2012) and won the Drama Desk (2018) and the Tony for Best Actor in a Piece.
The actor has also been nominated for the Teen Choice Awards on four occasions. For MTV Movie, it received three nominations, as well as the Gold Derby awards, Golden Schmoes, KCA, Online Film & Television Association, of which it won one, and the Young Hollywood. With regard to awards awarded by film critics’ associations, he received nominations at the Chicago Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Detroit Film Critics Society, Houston Film Critics Society, London Film Critics Circle, in which it won the categories of Best British Actor and Best British Supporting Actor of the Year, and at Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association.
References (sources)
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