Andrew Garfield
Andrew Russell Garfield (born 20 August 1983) is an English and American actor.[2][3][4] 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.
Andrew Garfield
20 August 1983
- United Kingdom
- United States
Actor
2004–present
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. 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). 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). 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).
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.
Early life
Andrew Russell Garfield was born on 20 August 1983, in Los Angeles, California.[5] His mother, Lynn (née Hillman),[6] was from Essex, England, and his father, Richard Garfield, is from California.[7][8] Richard's parents were also from the United Kingdom.[9] 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.[7][10][11] Garfield had a secular upbringing.[12] He is Jewish on his father's side, and describes himself as a "Jewish artist."[13][14][15][16] His paternal grandparents were from Jewish immigrant families who moved to London from Poland, Russia and Romania, and the family surname was originally "Garfinkel."[9][17][18]
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.[19][20] He has an older brother who is an NHS doctor at Royal Brompton Hospital.[21][22] Garfield was a gymnast and a swimmer during his early years.[8][19] 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.[23][24] 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.[25][19][26] His first job was at Starbucks, being moved between three separate establishments in Golders Green and Hendon.[27][28]
Advocacy
In 2011, Garfield became the ambassador of sport for the Worldwide Orphans Foundation.[123] In October 2023, Garfield was a signatory in an open letter by Artists4Ceasefire to President Joe Biden, calling for a ceasefire in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.[124]
Personal life
Garfield has referred to himself as an "agnostic pantheist",[125][12] though he identifies as Jewish.[39][126][127] Having completed the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola for playing a Jesuit in Silence, he said how "What was really easy was falling in love with this person, was falling in love with Jesus Christ. That was the most surprising thing."[128]
Garfield has dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom.[129][72][25][130][131] In 2009, he told the Sunday Herald that he felt "equally at home" in both countries and enjoyed "a varied cultural existence".[132] When asked again in 2019, he stated, "I identify more as Jewish than anything... I have a love-hate relationship with both countries and used to be very proud to have both passports. Today, I'm slightly less proud."[126][3] Garfield's primary place of residence is in North London near Hampstead Heath.[133] He told Shaun Keaveny on a podcast in 2021 that he considers England home as that is where his family and friends are.[4]
Garfield customarily gives interviews about his work, but does not publicly discuss details of his private life.[134] In 2011, Garfield began dating his The Amazing Spider-Man co-star Emma Stone sometime during production of the film.[62][135] In 2015, they were rumoured to have broken up although no formal statement was released.[136][137] When asked about his sexuality, Garfield identified himself as heterosexual but has stated "I have an openness to any impulses that may arise within me at any time."[138]
Garfield's mother Lynn died of pancreatic cancer during his filming of The Eyes of Tammy Faye and shortly before Tick, Tick... Boom! began production. He was able to fly home to be there with her.[139][140]
