Andrew Garfield

Andrew Garfield Bio

Andrew Russell Garfield, born on 20 August 1983 in Los Angeles, California, is an English and American actor recognized for his work across superhero films, independent cinema, and musical dramas. He first drew widespread attention with his performance as Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network and later became a global star as Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man series. His accolades include a Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award, along with nominations for two Academy Awards and three BAFTA Awards. Garfield continues to balance large-scale studio work with deeply researched independent projects.

Throughout his career, Andrew Garfield has earned praise for his emotional commitment, technical preparation, and willingness to take on demanding physical and vocal roles. From a Jesuit priest in Silence to composer Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick… Boom!, he has built a reputation for immersive performances. He was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.

Early Life and Background

Andrew Russell Garfield was born on 20 August 1983 in Los Angeles, California, to Lynn Garfield, originally from Essex, England, and Richard Garfield, who is from California. His paternal grandparents were from Jewish immigrant families who had moved to London from Poland, Russia, and Romania, and the family surname was originally Garfinkel. When Andrew was three years old, his parents relocated the family from the United States to the United Kingdom, and he was raised in Epsom, Surrey.

Garfield’s parents ran a small interior-design business, while his mother also worked as a teaching assistant at a nursery school and his father served as head coach of the Guildford City Swimming Club. He has an older brother who works as a doctor in the National Health Service. During his early years, Garfield trained as a gymnast and a swimmer, activities that would later influence his physical approach to acting roles.

He attended Priory Preparatory School in Banstead and later City of London Freemen’s School in Ashtead before enrolling at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, where he completed his formal training. His first job was at Starbucks, where he was assigned to three separate stores in Golders Green and Hendon. Although he had originally intended to study business, he became interested in acting at the age of sixteen when a friend persuaded him to take theatre studies at A-level.

Path to Acting

Andrew Garfield began taking acting classes in Guildford, Surrey, when he was nine years old, and soon appeared in a youth theatre production of Bugsy Malone. He joined a small youth theatre workshop group in Epsom and continued his theatre studies at A-level before spending three years at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Upon graduating in 2004, he focused primarily on stage acting and quickly accumulated early honours in British theatre.

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 following year. He followed this with the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the 2006 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Garfield made his British television debut in 2005 on the Channel 4 teen drama Sugar Rush and later appeared in series three of the BBC’s Doctor Who in 2007.

In October 2007, Variety named him one of its 10 Actors to Watch, the same year he made his American film debut in the ensemble drama Lions for Lambs alongside Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Robert Redford. He also won the 2008 BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his role in the Channel 4 drama Boy A, in which he portrayed a notorious killer rebuilding his life after prison. These early distinctions established him as one of the most promising actors of his generation.

Andrew Garfield Career

Early Career (2004-2009)

Andrew Garfield’s earliest professional years were shaped by British stage and television work, beginning with his 2004 win at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards for his role in Kes. His transition to television included appearances in Sugar Rush and Doctor Who, while his film work began with small parts in productions such as Lions for Lambs and The Other Boleyn Girl. In 2008, he was named a Shooting Star at the Berlin International Film Festival, marking him as a rising international talent.

He continued building his resume in 2009 with supporting roles in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and the Red Riding television trilogy. Critics including Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times praised his stand-out performance in Red Riding. This period laid the groundwork for the larger roles that would soon define his career.

Breakthrough (2010-2016)

In 2010, Andrew Garfield co-starred in Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, a science-fiction drama based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, which earned him the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. That same year, he portrayed Eduardo Saverin opposite Jesse Eisenberg in David Fincher’s The Social Network, a performance that brought him nominations from BAFTA and the Golden Globes and positioned him among Hollywood’s most compelling young actors. His role in The Social Network is widely regarded as his breakout moment on the international stage.

He was then cast as Spider-Man, opposite Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), a reboot of the superhero franchise. The film earned more than $752 million worldwide, and critics such as The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw labelled his portrayal the definitive Spider-Man. In 2012, Garfield also made his Broadway debut as Biff Loman in the revival of Death of a Salesman, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

After reprising his role in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014 and hosting Saturday Night Live, Garfield took a year-long screen absence before starring in two major 2016 films: Martin Scorsese’s Silence and Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge. For Hacksaw Ridge, in which he portrayed real-life World War II medic Desmond Doss, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hacksaw Ridge earned over $175.3 million worldwide and is widely considered a defining moment of his early career.

Notable Works and Milestones

Andrew Garfield’s signature works include The Social Network, The Amazing Spider-Man, Hacksaw Ridge, and Tick, Tick… Boom!, the last of which earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. His performances have repeatedly demonstrated a blend of technical discipline and emotional vulnerability that has defined his public image as a serious dramatic actor. He has consistently alternated between large studio productions and deeply personal independent projects throughout his career.

Andrew Garfield Award Nominations

Andrew Garfield has received a wide range of major award nominations across film, television, and stage. His nominations include the Academy Award for Best Actor for both Hacksaw Ridge (2017) and Tick, Tick… Boom! (2022), as well as the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Death of a Salesman. He has also received BAFTA nominations, Golden Globe nominations, a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Angels in America, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Under the Banner of Heaven.

Andrew Garfield Awards Won

Andrew Garfield has won several of the most prestigious awards in entertainment. His wins include the 2008 BAFTA Award for Best Actor for Boy A, the 2018 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for Angels in America, and the 2022 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Tick, Tick… Boom!. He has also received the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for Never Let Me Go, the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Newcomer, and the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer.

Andrew Garfield Family

Andrew Garfield is the son of Richard Garfield, originally from California, and Lynn Garfield, originally from Essex, England. His father became head coach of the Guildford City Swimming Club, while his mother worked as a nursery school teaching assistant and helped run the family’s small interior-design business. He has an older brother who works as a doctor at Royal Brompton Hospital.

Garfield’s mother, Lynn, died of pancreatic cancer while he was filming The Eyes of Tammy Faye and shortly before Tick, Tick… Boom! began production. He has spoken publicly about his grief, including on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2021 and on Sesame Street and CNN in 2024.

Personal Life

Andrew Garfield holds dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom and has described feeling equally at home in both countries. His primary residence is in North London near Hampstead Heath, although he has said that England, where his family and close friends live, feels most like home. He identifies as Jewish on his father’s side and has described himself as a Jewish artist and an agnostic pantheist.

From 2011 to 2015, Garfield was in a relationship with actress Emma Stone, his co-star in The Amazing Spider-Man. Since early 2025, he has been in a relationship with actress Monica Barbaro. While he generally keeps his private life out of interviews, he has been open about his grief following his mother’s death.