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English and American actor Andrew Garfield has proven to the world that he can fully embody the roles he's given, with the recent announcement that he will be taking hiatus from Hollywood, take a look at his successful career. Through the course of his career, Andrew Garfield has gained numerous recognition from different award giving bodies in Hollywood. The British / American actor has accumulated an estimated net worth of $16 million. Take a look at how he took interest in acting, how he started his career and how he became the great actor that he is today.
How Garfield Ended Up Taking Acting Classes
Andrew Russell Garfield was born on August 20, 1983 in Los Angeles, California to mother Lynn Hillman from Essex, England and to father Richard Garfield from California. The paternal grandparents of Garfield lives in United Kingdom which resulted to his family moving back to United Kingdom when he was only three years old and was brought up in Surrey. Growing up in the UK, he had a secular upbringing. He is Jewish on his father’s side and often describes himself as a Jewish artist just like other famous Hollywood celebrities who are Jewish. When Garfield was young, his parents used to run a small interior design business while his mother was also working at a nursery school as a teaching assistant and his father working as the head coach for the Guildford City Swimming Club.
With his father’s affiliation to sports, Garfield grew up being a gymnast and a swimmer during the early years of his life. He started taking some acting class in Guildford, Surrey when he was about nine years old and has appeared in some theatre production of the Bugsy Malone. Initially, he wanted to take up business course however when he reached the age of sixteen, he was convinced by a friend to take up theatre studies since they are one student short to run the course. Garfield ended up attending the Priory Preparatory School in Banstead then decided to transfer to City of London Freemen's School in Ashtead. He went on the train more in Central School of Speech and Drama at the University of London. At the time, he started working part time and ended up having his first job at Starbucks.
Andrew Garfield’s Hollywood Debut And Rising to Prominence
When Garfield graduated in 2004, he started working in stage acting and even won the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Newcomer that same year for his performance at the Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre. The following year, he finally made his TV debut at Channel 4’s teen drama called Sugar Rush. He garnered the public attention when he appeared in the third season of BBC’s Doctor Who. Variety took notice of him and included him to their 10 Actors to Watch list in 2007.
He finally had his Hollywood film debut in November 2007 when he co-starred with Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Robert Redford for the film Lions for Lambs. When the film was released, his stint in Channel 4’s drama Boy A was also released where he played as the notorious killer who is trying to build a new life after his jail time. The following year, he was recognized by the BAFTA and given him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in 2008. During this time, numerous critics have taken notice of his acting talent including a critic from the The Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgenstern, claiming that he always manages to capture his passion through acting and he dubbed Garfield as a phenomenal actor.
Garfield further rose to prominence when he co-starred with Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg in the film The Social Network in 2010. The film is about the founder of the social media platform Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and initially the director of the film, David Fincher, wanted him to portray the lead role however Fincher did not see Garfield fit for the role and decided to give him the role of Eduardo Saverin. His performance for the film was well received and got him nominations including BAFTA nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Rising Star and Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. He further got more promising roles as he co-starred with Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley in the science-fiction drama Never Let Me Go.
Starring as Spiderman And Gaining Worldwide Recognition
Garfield finally landed a lead role to a big budget film which led to his worldwide recognition. He was cast to portray the role of Peter Parker / Spiderman for the 2012 adaptation titled The Amazing Spider-Man opposite Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Garfield described Peter as some he could easily relate to and added that Peter’s character had been a major influence during his childhood. The movie has made him among the hottest actor in Hollywood which leads him to reprise his role for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014.
Critics and producers are starting to take notice of his exemplary talent in acting which landed him to a prominent project Mel Gibson's war film Hacksaw Ridge. Garfield portrayed the lead role as portrayed Desmond Doss who is a combat medic during the World War II. His portrayal of the role has gained him his first Oscars as he won the Academy Award's Best Actor for Hacksaw Ridge in 2016.
Taking Time Off From Hollywood
Since he won the Oscars for Best Actor, he started to play roles in theatres; he portrayed the role of Prior Walter in the two part play Angels in America by Tony Kushner. The play which took place at the National Theatre was broadcasted live to some cinemas across the world through the National Theatre Live series. He was nominated for the said performance for Olivier’s Award for Best Actor. He went on to star in numerous films after such as Breathe in 2017, Under the Silver Lake in 2018, Mainstream in 2020 and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Tick, Tick... Boom! and Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021.
On April 27, 2022, Andrew Garfield has announced that he will be taking some time off from the entertainment business. He said that he is going to take some time off and plans to refuel. He added that he is happy and excited about it and wanted to just have a quiet life for now. He believes that this is needed for him to still be passionate about his work and refill his passion for the craft.
Sources: Deadline, Variety, Celebrity Net Worth