Tom Holland

Holland (centre) performing at the fifth anniversary of Billy Elliot the Musical at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London on 31 March 2010

Holland began dancing at a hip hop class at Nifty Feet Dance School in Wimbledon. His potential was spotted by choreographer Lynne Page (who was an associate to Peter Darling, choreographer of Billy Elliot and Billy Elliot the Musical) when he performed with his dance school as part of the 2006 Richmond Dance Festival.[14]

After eight auditions and two subsequent years of training,[15] on 28 June 2008, Holland made his West End debut in Billy Elliot the Musical as Michael, Billy's best friend.[16] He gave his first performance in the title role on 8 September 2008, receiving positive notices.[9][17]

In September 2008, Holland (together with co-star Tanner Pflueger) appeared on the news programme on channel FIVE and gave his first TV interview. The following year, he was featured on ITV1 show The Feel Good Factor.[18] At the premiere on 31 January, Holland and two actors also playing the title role, Pflueger and Layton Williams, performed a version of "Angry Dance" from Billy Elliot the Musical, after which Holland was interviewed by host Myleene Klass. He trained five British schoolboys for a dance routine he fronted for the final The Feel Good Factor show on 28 March 2009.[19]

On 8 March 2010, to mark the fifth anniversary of Billy Elliot the Musical, four current Billy Elliots, including Holland, were invited to 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.[20][21] Holland was chosen to be a lead at the fifth-anniversary show on 31 March 2010.[22] Holland appeared on a regular basis as Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical, rotating with three other performers,[23] until 29 May 2010, when he finished his run.

In 2011, Holland was cast in the British dub of the animated fantasy film Arrietty, produced by Japan's Studio Ghibli. He provided a voice for the principal character Sho.[24] Holland made his feature film debut in The Impossible (2012), directed by J.A. Bayona, alongside Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2012 and was a critical and commercial success, earning $180.3 million worldwide and Holland received universal praise from critics and won 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.[25][26]

He starred as Isaac in the drama film How I Live Now, which was released in the UK on 4 October 2013, co-starring Saoirse Ronan. Holland also appeared alongside Tom Hardy in a supporting role for the drama film Locke (2013), and made a brief appearance in Billy Elliot the Musical Live (2014) to celebrate his role as a 'former Billy'.

In 2015, Holland appeared in four episodes of BBC Two's historical miniseries Wolf Hall, as Gregory Cromwell, son of the protagonist Thomas Cromwell played by Mark Rylance.[27] He also co-starred as Thomas Nickerson in the film In the Heart of the Sea (2015), directed by Ron Howard.[28]

On 23 June 2015, it was announced that Holland was cast as a teenage Peter Parker / Spider-Man,[29] and his "life was flipped upside down", as he later tweeted,[30] as part of a six-picture deal with Marvel Studios.[31] As part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), he first appeared as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War (2016).[32] The film was a massive critical and commercial success, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2016,[33] with Holland receiving critical praise.[34][35]

Holland during an interview with MTV in 2018

In 2016, he played Bradley Baker in the film Edge of Winter, where he co-starred with Joel Kinnaman and Percy Hynes White. In 2017, Holland co-starred alongside Charlie Hunnam in the drama film The Lost City of Z, directed by James Gray, and released in April, to positive critical reception.[36] Holland also performed as the on-set stand-in for the character of The Monster as he would reunite with director J.A Bayona in the film A Monster Calls (2016). Actor Liam Neeson provided the voice for the character, whilst Holland was credited with a special thanks.[37]

In 2017, he co-starred alongside Richard Armitage and Jon Bernthal in the film Pilgrimage. The film premiered on 23 April 2017 at the Tribeca Film Festival, in its "Viewpoint" sections. Also that year, Holland played Samuel Insull alongside Avengers co-star Benedict Cumberbatch in Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's The Current War, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.[38] Early reviews of The Current War was met with a mixed response; however, Holland's performance in the film was praised by critics. In May 2017, Holland appeared with Zendaya on Paramount Network's Lip Sync Battle. On the show, he performed a dance number to Rihanna's "Umbrella".[39]

In July 2017, Spider-Man: Homecoming was released, in which Holland reprised his role from Captain America: Civil War. Homecoming received positive reviews and Holland considerable praise, with his performance being called "a star performance given by a born actor."[40] The film went on the gross over $800 million worldwide. This performance earned Holland a Guinness Book of World Records title as the youngest actor to play a title role in the MCU.[41]

Holland reprised Spider-Man in Avengers: Infinity War, which was released on 27 April 2018, and then in that film's follow-up, Avengers: Endgame, released on 26 April 2019. Holland began shooting the sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home in July 2018, with production wrapping that October. The film was released worldwide on 2 July 2019.[42] The trailer was first shown at Sony's CCXP Brazil panel on 8 December 2018, with Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal, who portrays Mysterio, in attendance to promote 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.[43] 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.[44] 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 Gyllennhaal.

Holland will also headline Chaos Walking, an adaptation of Patrick Ness' best-selling science fiction series of the same name alongside Daisy Ridley. He'll play as Todd Hewitt. The film was directed by Doug Liman and is distributed by Lionsgate. Following poor test screenings, he returned for the film's reshoots[45][46] and is now slated to be released on 5 March 2021.[47]

In May 2017, it was announced that he had been cast as a young Nathan Drake in the 2022 film adaptation of Naughty Dog's Uncharted video game series.[48] Principal photography began on 16 March 2020, shooting in Berlin,[49] but was placed on hold indefinitely in mid-March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[50] In March 2019, it was confirmed that Holland was cast as the lead role in Cherry, based on the novel of the same name, reteaming him with his Avengers directors, the Russo brothers.[51] He is also now cast as the lead role in the film adaptation of Beneath the Scarlet Sky with Pascal Pictures.[52]

In 2016, Holland was cast in The Modern Ocean, an experimental epic from writer-director Shane Carruth. Holland himself stated that it is "the best script I’ve ever read".[53] The project has encountered development problems, with Holland set for a supporting role alongside an ensemble cast with Keanu Reeves, Daniel Radcliffe, Anne Hathaway, Jeff Goldblum and Chloë Grace Moretz. Following Carruth's announcement of retirement[54] and he himself releasing the full script and the unfinished score,[55] the project is now unlikely to begin production anytime soon.[56] In October 2020, Holland started working on the untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel, which will end filming in February 2021.[57][58]

Holland has said that his long-term career plans include "do[ing] some more franchises," and playing "some meatier indie roles and eventually...transition to the other side of the camera and branch into directing."[59]