Throughout his career, Andrew Garfield has earned acclaim for his acting on screen in films like “The Social Network” and “Hacksaw Ridge,” won a Tony Award for his striking portrayal of Prior Walter in “Angels in America” on Broadway and even swung between buildings as a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But it’s arguable that 2021 was his biggest year yet.
Garfield played Jim Bakker opposite Jessica Chastain’s Tammy Faye Bakker in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and received positive reviews for his supporting performance. His most beloved part yet, that of Jonathan Larson in “tick, tick… Boom!,” a Netflix musical directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which brought him a second Academy Award nomination. He returned to the superhero genre, once again playing Peter Parker in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” a multiverse-bending blockbuster that broke box office records. The film’s financial success and its warm critical response had many reevaluating Garfield’s stints as Spider-Man.
Garfield has come a long way from his early days. After training at a British drama school, the actor embarked on a stage career in London gaining notice for a number of appearances in classical and contemporary plays. Those appearances would lead to him getting noticed by British television audiences in several television films. He would win a BAFTA in 2008 for his appearance in the television film “Boy A.”
After a few small films, he would gain huge attention in “The Social Network,” a film about the story of the creation of Facebook which was a huge Oscar player in 2010. His success with that film led to him taking over the role of Spider-Man from Tobey Maguire in the reboot of that franchise – and eventually meatier dramatic roles, like Martin Scorsese‘s “Silence” and Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge.” That war film earned Garfield his first Best Actor nomination.
Take a tour of our photo gallery featuring Garfield’s 13 greatest film performances so far.
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13. THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS (2009)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Director: Terry Gilliam. Writers: Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown. Starring Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Johnny Depp.
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” has a tragic place in film history since its star Heath Ledger passed away during the shooting of the film. To deal with his death, director Terry Gilliam inserted other actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell) into the fantasy sequences playing Ledger’s character. This was one of Garfield’s early film roles. He plays a magician who is part of the theatrical troupe the now elderly Dr. Parnassus runs.
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12. UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (2018)
Image Credit: Vendian Entertainment/Kobal/Shutterstock Director and writer: David Robert Mitchell. Starring Riley Keough, Topher Grace.
Despite being a nominee for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this film failed to make much of a ripple with audiences and critics. Garfield plays a young man barely making a living in Los Angeles. He faces eviction from his apartment but doesn’t seem to care. The plot starts to get complicated when he meets a young woman who lives in his building who suddenly disappears.
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11. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PART 2 (2014)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Marc Webb. Writers: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner. Starring Emma Stone, Sally Field, Jamie Foxx.
This was Garfield’s second outing as Spiderman which proved to be less than a stellar film. The series would later be rebooted in a third series of films but this one was deemed by The New Yorker to be “running shockingly low on juice.”
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10. BREATHE (2017)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Bleecker Street Director: Andy Serkis. Writer: William Nicholson. Starring Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander.
Andy Serkis, best known for his motion capture work on “The Lord of the Rings” films made his debut as a director with this film. Garfield plays a young man stricken with polio. He and his wife embark on a journey to defy the poor odds doctors give him as a prognosis.
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9. THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE (2021)
In recent years, Garfield has played the lead in his movies. So it was a delight to see him bite into a meaty supporting part in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” His take on the vainglorious televangelist Jim Bakker matched Jessica Chastain’s portrait of Tammy Faye Bakker and he even found empathy in a character who many might have played as a villainous joke.
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8. NEVER LET ME GO (2010)
Image Credit: Fox Searchlight/Dna/Kobal/Shutterstock Director: Mark Romanek. Writer: Alex Garland. Starring Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte Rampling.
Garfield first gained notice from critics for this film. His strong reviews led him to be noticed by American filmmakers and launched his career in the states. The film is a science fiction work in which a group of young students discover they are being groomed to be organ donors for other people and will only live a short time.
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7. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Director: Marc Webb. Writers: James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, Steve Kloves. Starring Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary.
After his initial breakthrough in American films Marvel inevitably came calling and Garfield was cast as the lead in this second series of Spider Man films. Critics felt Garfield brought a darker more troubled tone to the character of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man than Tobey McGuire had in the previous series of films.
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6. SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (2021)
Image Credit: Sony/Marvel After two critically reviled swings at Spider-Man, Garfield spent the better part of a year obfuscating when asked whether he would return to play Peter Parker in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” He did, of course – the film’s multiverse plot allowed for characters from every Spider-Man franchise to factor into the story – and reminded fans what might have been. Garfield’s take on Peter Parker in “No Way Home” is that of a man haunted by loss but excited to have a second chance. He’s given the film’s emotional highlight and nails it – and arguably left the movie as the top Spider-Man in fans’ minds (no offense to Tom Holland or Tobey Maguire).
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5. SILENCE (2016)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures Director: Martin Scorsese. Writers: Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese. Starring Adam Driver, Liam Neeson.
“Silence” is a passion project for director Martin Scorsese that took 28 years for him to finally get onto the screen. The film tells the story of two young missionaries (Garfield and Adam Driver) who travel to Japan to find their mentor who has gone missing. They face great hardship and backlash since Christianity is banned from Japan at this time.
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4. 99 HOMES (2014)
Image Credit: Hooman Bahrani/Noruz/Broad Green/Kobal/Shutterstock Director: Ramin Bahrani. Writer: Ramin Bahrani, Amir Naderi. Starring Laura Dern, Michael Shannon, Tim Guinee.
Garfield shines in this film about a desperate single father trying to keep his family afloat financially. It is set in the post-recession world of Florida real estate where foreclosures were an all too common occurrences. Garfield falls in with a shady real estate broker (Michael Shannon in a Golden Globe and SAG nominated performance.) The relationship tests his morality and ethics in terms of how far he is willing to go in hurting others while trying to provide for himself and relatives.
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3. THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock Director: David Fincher. Writer: Aaron Sorkin. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara.
Garfield’s big break came with his supporting role in this film about the creation of the social media website Facebook. He earned both Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations as Best Supporting Actor but was surprisingly not among the films 8 Oscar nominations. Garfield gives a passionate and troubled performance as Eduardo Saverin one of the early creators of Facebook who got involved in a legal battle over his stake in the company. Despite complaints about the film’s accuracy it did win the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay along with two other awards. The film was the early front runner for Best Picture but the controversy that swirled around it likely helped “The King’s Speech” pull ahead in the Oscar race and take the top prize.
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2. HACKSAW RIDGE (2016)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate Director: Mel Gibson. Writers: Robert Schenkkan, Andrew Knight. Starring Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Hugo Weaving.
Garfield received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for this film about a pacifist medic serving in WWII. The true-life story depicts how the man became the first person to ever win the Medal of Honor without every firing a single gunshot. Overall the film received 6 Oscar nominations including ones for Best Picture and Best Director for Mel Gibson. The film restored Gibson to the world of filmmaking which he seemed to be banished from due to numerous personal and legal scandals.
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1. TICK, TICK… BOOM! (2021)
Image Credit: MACALL POLAY/NETFLIX To play “Rent” creator Jonathan Larson, Garfield immersed himself in preparation, including learning how to sing and dance like the musical theater composer and legend. The result is Garfield’s best and most complete performance yet: he’s effortlessly charming and whips up controlled chaos – his theater-kid energy is off the charts – while also nailing the film’s emotional arc and catharsis. It’s no wonder that Garfield received his best reviews yet for the role, which has him in the center of the Oscars 2022 Best Actor conversation.
