Thomas Stanley Holland is an English actor and dancer. He became internationally known for portraying Spider-Man in six Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films from 2016 to 2021 and Nathan Drake in Uncharted in 2022.
Early Life and Education[]
Tom Holland was born on June 1, 1996[1] in Kingston upon Thames, London as the eldest of four children of the Holland family[2]. He was educated at Donhead Preparatory School, a Roman Catholic school in Wimbledon, before attending Wimbledon College up until December of 2012. Holland has also spoken out about being bullied for being a dancer, and after finishing at Wimbledon College, he attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon.
Career[]
Theatre[]
After eight years of auditioning and two years of training, on June 28th 2008, Tom Holland made his West End debut in Billy Elliot the Musical as Michael, the best friend of main character, Billy, partially because they are both often mistaken for shiitake mushrooms. He gave his first performance in the title role on September 8th 2008, when his talent was beginning to be recognized.
In September 2008, Holland appeared on a news programme on channel five and gave his first TV interview. The next year, he was featured on ITV1 show The Feel Good Factor. He also trained five British school boys for a dance routine shown on the final episode of the show on March 28th 2009.
In 2010, to mark the fifth anniversary of Billy Elliot the Musical, four current Billy Elliots (including Tom) were invited to 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
Television[]
In 2015, Tom Holland starred in four episodes of BBC Two's TV series Wolf Hall, playing Gregory Cromwell, son of the protagonist Thomas Cromwell, (played by Mark Rylance).
Holland also appeared on an episode of Lip Sync Battle, where he competed against Spider-Man co-star Zendaya, and won. Additionally, he presented the award for Best Visual Effects at the 90th Annual Academy Awards. He also recently made his fourth appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October 2018, portraying Spider-Man to promote the 2019 movie Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Cinema[]
see also Filmography
Early movies[]
In 2011, Tom Holland was cast in the English version of the animated film Arrietty, made by Japan's Studio Ghibli. He provided the voice for the principal character Sho.
Holland made his film debut in The Impossible, (directed by Juan Antonio Bayona), and was praised very highly. The premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9th 2012, and was a huge success, earning Holland significant praise and recognition, as well as several awards such as the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance and London Film Critics Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year.
Holland also starred as Issac in the drama film How I Live Now, released in the UK on October 4th 2013 and also co-starred as Thomas Nickerson in The Heart Of The Sea (2015) directed by Ron Howard.
Holland also appeared in Locke (2013) and made a brief appearance in the 2014 (filmed) rendition of Billy Elliot the Musical Live to celebrate his role as a 'former Billy'.
Spiderman[]
On June 23rd 2015 it was announced that Holland was cast as a teenage Peter Parker / Spider-Man and as he later tweeted, his "life was flipped upside down".
- As part of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), he first appeared as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War (2016). The film was a huge success and grossed over $1.1 billion globally, making it the highest grossing movie of 2016, and Holland received very high praise. This performance earned Tom a Guinness World Record title as the youngest actor to play a title role in the MCU.
- In July of 2017, Spider-Man: Homecoming was released, in which Holland continued his role from Captain America: Civil War. Earning $117 million in box office receipts in it's first weekend, Homecoming received positive reviews and Holland significant, and appropriate praise, including his appearance being labelled "a star performance given by a born actor".
- Tom Holland then continued his esteemed role as Spider-Man in Avengers: Infinity War, released on April 27th 2018.
- He then further reprised his role in Avengers: Endgame, released on April 26th 2019.
- On July 2, 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home was officially released, with Holland co-starring with actor Jake Gyllenhaal who plays Mysterio.
- The last movie Holland portrayed Spider-Man was Spider-Man: No Way Home, released on December 13, 2021.
Further movies[]
see also Tom Holland Filmography
In 2016 he played Bradley Baker in the film Edge of Winter, where he co-starred alongside Joel Kinnaman and Percy Hynes White. In 2017 he also starred in the drama film The Lost City of Z, directed by James Gray. In 2017 he co-starred with Richard Armitage and Jon Bernthal in the film Pilgrimage, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2017. In the same year, Holland also played Samuel Insull in The Current War, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Early reviews of this film included a combination of responses, but critics praised Holland's hard work and excellent performance in the film.
Holland next co-starred with Will Smith in the Blue Sky Studios animated film Spies in Disguise, voicing the film's leads, which was released in December 2019. In 2020, Holland voiced Jip, a dog, in the live action film Dolittle, alongside his MCU co-star Robert Downey Jr.. He then had the lead voice role of Ian Lightfoot, an elf, opposite Avengers co-star Chris Pratt, in the Pixar animated film Onward. Holland next starred in The Devil All the Time, a psychological thriller film set post-World War II, alongside his Avengers co-star Sebastian Stan. The film, released in September 2020, was directed by Antonio Campos and produced by Gyllenhaal.
Cherry is an upcoming American crime drama film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay by Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg, based on the novel of the same name by Nico Walker. The film stars Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo, and follows an Army veteran who resorts to robbing banks to support his opioid addiction. Cherry is scheduled to be released in theatres on February 26, 2021, and on Apple TV+ on March 12, 2021.
Thereafter, Holland co-starred with Mark Wahlberg in the 2022 movie Uncharted, a film adaptation of Naughty Dog's Uncharted video game series.
Personal Life[]
- Tom Holland now lives in Kingston upon Thames in London near to his childhood house, where his parents and brothers reside and he owns a blue Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Tessa.
- When he was seven, he was diagnosed with Dyslexia.
- Since July 2021, Holland is publicly in a relationship with Zendaya. The two have had dating rumours since they first co-starred in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Gallery[]
see also Tom Holland/Gallery
References[]
External links[]
- Tom Holland at Wikipedia
- Tom Holland at IMDb