Early work and breakthrough (2004–2011) '' at the
2009 Toronto International Film Festival Garfield began taking acting classes in Guildford, Surrey, when he was nine, and appeared in a youth theatre production of
Bugsy Malone. Upon graduating in 2004, he began working primarily in stage acting. 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 year after), and won the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the 2006
Evening Standard Theatre Awards. In October 2007, he was named one of
Varietys "10 Actors to Watch". In the Channel 4 drama
Boy A, released in November 2007, he portrayed a notorious killer trying to find new life after prison. Amy Biancolli of the
Houston Chronicle wrote, "there is no doubt about the intelligence and sensitivity" of Garfield's portrayal.
Minneapolis Star Tribune Christy DeSmith echoed Biancolli's sentiment, citing his "detailed expressions" as an example. Writing in
The Seattle Times, John Hartl noted that Garfield demonstrated range in the role, and concluded: "Garfield always manages to capture his passion".
Joe Morgenstern, the critic for
The Wall Street Journal, dubbed Garfield's performance "phenomenal", assessing that he "makes room for the many and various pieces of Jack's personality". In 2008, he had a minor role in the film
The Other Boleyn Girl, and was named one of the
Shooting Stars at the
Berlin International Film Festival. In 2009, Garfield held supporting roles in the
Terry Gilliam film
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and the
Red Riding television trilogy. In 2010, Garfield co-starred opposite
Carey Mulligan and
Keira Knightley in
Mark Romanek's
dystopian science-fiction drama
Never Let Me Go, an adaptation of
Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005
novel of the same name. He said of his character, Tommy D., "There's a sense of anxiety that runs through these kids, especially Tommy, because he's so sensory and feeling and animalistic, that's my perspective of him." Garfield was attracted to the film based on the existential questions the story expresses. He further remarked that the scenes in which his character—unable to contain his frustration—erupts with a wail, were "intense" for him. "I think those screams are inside all of us, I just got a chance to let mine out". For his portrayal of a well-meaning, but dim young man caught in a love triangle, he won the 2010
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. Writing for
Entertainment Weekly,
Owen Gleiberman praised the performances of the lead cast, reflecting that "these three all act with a spooky, haunted innocence that gets under your skin." In comparison to Mulligan and Knightley, Scott Bowles, writing for
USA Today, deemed Garfield "the real find" of
Never Let Me Go. The same year, Garfield co-starred opposite
Jesse Eisenberg in
The Social Network, a drama based on the founders of Facebook. On his character, Garfield remarked, "No one knows who
Eduardo Saverin is, and I don't either. Of course, the fact he's a real-life human being, breathing on this Earth somewhere, creates a whole new dimension to my approach because you feel a greater sense of responsibility". Initially, the film's director,
David Fincher, had met Garfield under the auspices of him playing
Mark Zuckerberg, having been referred to him by Mark Romanek. Garfield's performance was very well received; he earned wider recognition and numerous nominations, including
BAFTA nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and
Rising Star, as well as a
Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance in a Supporting Role.
Mark Kermode of the BBC expressed his surprise that Garfield had been overlooked for an Academy Award nomination, opining that "everyone knows he's one of the very best things about
The Social Network." Writing in
The Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgenstern thought the role was portrayed with "great subtlety and rueful charm".
Rolling Stone said Garfield delivered "a vulnerability that raises the emotional stakes in a movie", and proclaimed: "Keep your eyes on Garfield – he's shatteringly good, the soul of a film that might otherwise be without one."
The Amazing Spider-Man and worldwide recognition (2012–2016) Garfield was cast as
Spider-Man/Peter Parker, opposite
Emma Stone as his love interest
Gwen Stacy, in
Marc Webb's
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), a
reboot of the
Spider-Man film series. Garfield saw his casting as a "massive challenge in many ways", having to make the character "authentic" and "live and breathe in a new way". He described Peter as someone he could relate to and stated that the character had been an important influence on him since he was a child. and practiced
yoga and
pilates.
The Amazing Spider-Man earned a worldwide total of $752,216,557, and Garfield's performance was generally well received.
The Guardian Peter Bradshaw labelled his portrayal as the "definitive Spider-Man" and Tom Charity of
CNN commended his "combination of fresh-faced innocence, nervous agitation and wry humor". '' in Sydney, Australia, 2014 In March 2012, Garfield made his Broadway theatre debut as Biff Loman in the revival of
Death of a Salesman. According to
The New York Times David Rooney, Garfield had successfully "exposed the raw ache of Biff's solitude". Two years later, Garfield hosted an episode of
Saturday Night Live and appeared in a music video for the song "
We Exist" by
Arcade Fire, playing a trans woman. Also in 2014, he co-produced and starred in the 2014 independent drama
99 Homes and reprised the titular role in
The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Following a deal between Sony and
Marvel Studios to integrate the Spider-Man character into the
Marvel Cinematic Universe, sequels to the latter film were scrapped, and the role was taken on by
Tom Holland in a reboot. Arachnologists
Yuri M. Marusik and
Alireza Zamani honored Garfield's portrayal of the role by naming a new species of
crevice weaver spider,
Pritha garfieldi, after him. Following a year-long absence from the screen, Garfield had starring roles in two films of 2016,
Martin Scorsese's drama
Silence and
Mel Gibson's war film
Hacksaw Ridge. In the former, based on
Shūsaku Endō's 1966
novel of the same name, Garfield played Sebastião Rodrigues, a Portuguese Jesuit priest in the seventeenth century who travels to Japan to spread his faith. Garfield spent a year with
James Martin studying to be a Jesuit priest and went on a silent retreat in Wales. The film's arduous principal photography took place in Taiwan, and Garfield lost to achieve his character's physicality. At the box office, it earned less than half of its $50 million budget.
Hacksaw Ridge, however, was a commercial success, earning over $175.3 million worldwide. In it, Garfield portrayed
Desmond Doss, a combat medic during World War II, who was the first
conscientious objector in American history to be awarded the
Medal of Honor. Writing for
USA Today, Brian Truitt labelled the film as "brutally intense and elegantly crafted"; he believed that the central role allowed Garfield to bring depth to his career and commended him for portraying Doss with both "simple sweetness" and "steadfast mettle". He received a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Actor for
Hacksaw Ridge.
Established career (2017–present) '' in 2017 Garfield played the role of Prior Walter in
Tony Kushner's two-part play
Angels in America at the Lyttelton Theatre in the
National Theatre, London from April to August 2017, and the performance was broadcast live to cinemas around the world in summer 2017 through the
National Theatre Live series. It was directed by
Marianne Elliott and co-starred
Nathan Lane,
James McArdle,
Russell Tovey, and
Denise Gough. Paul T Davis of The British Theatre Guide wrote that Garfield was "transformative and unrecognisable in places, completely inhabiting camp, laconic, frightened and totally loveable Prior Walter". He was nominated for the
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor. Garfield's sole film release of 2017 was the biopic
Breathe, in which he portrayed
Robin Cavendish, a young man paralysed by
polio. In preparation, he interacted with individuals who had polio and collaborated closely with Cavendish's wife and son. Stephen Dalton of
The Hollywood Reporter wrote that despite an exceptional story, the film had glossed over the complexities in Cavendish's life, and thought that Garfield was "hampered by a role that restricts him to little more than nodding and grinning". In March 2018, Garfield reprised the role of Prior when the
Angels in America production transferred to Broadway for an eighteen-week limited engagement at the
Neil Simon Theatre, alongside a majority of the London cast. Reviewing the production for
The Washington Post,
Peter Marks remarked that "nothing [Garfield's] done prepares you for the star-powered dexterity of his Prior" and considered his performance to be the "persuasive moral core of the piece". He won the
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance. The
2018 Cannes Film Festival marked the premiere of Garfield's next film, the
David Robert Mitchell-directed neo-noir
Under the Silver Lake. In it, he played Sam, an unemployed and wayward young man who sets out on a journey to find his neighbour who has mysteriously disappeared. Writing for
Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson found Garfield to be "great in the role, doing nimble, subtle bits of physical comedy and teasing out the creepy, menacing side of Sam". Garfield starred in
Gia Coppola's drama
Mainstream, alongside
Maya Hawke and
Jason Schwartzman, which had its world premiere at the
2020 Venice Film Festival. In 2021, Garfield starred in
The Eyes of Tammy Faye opposite
Jessica Chastain, a drama about the televangelists
Tammy Faye and
Jim Bakker, which had its world premiere at the
2021 Toronto International Film Festival. That same year, Garfield portrayed composer
Jonathan Larson in
Lin-Manuel Miranda's
film adaptation of
Tick, Tick... Boom!. Miranda had first seen Garfield performing on stage in
Angels in America. Garfield, who had not professionally sung before, underwent vocal training in preparation for the role. The film was released on
Netflix. For his performance, Garfield received the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Despite issuing repeated public denials to the contrary, Garfield reprised his role as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film
Spider-Man: No Way Home, starring alongside his Spider-Man successor Tom Holland and predecessor
Tobey Maguire. Garfield described his experience working on the film as "joyful", and said that it gave him "closure" with his version of the Spider-Man character. He also said that he would be open to reprising the role in future if it felt right. In 2022, Garfield was included on
Time magazine's
annual list of 100 most influential people in the world. That same year, he starred in
Dustin Lance Black's miniseries
Under the Banner of Heaven, an adaptation of
Jon Krakauer's
book of the same name. Reviewing the miniseries,
Vultures Kathryn VanArendonk highlighted Garfield's "almost flagrantly tender portrayal" of Jeb Pyre, a
Mormon detective. His performance earned him a
Primetime Emmy Award nomination for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. In 2024, Garfield starred opposite
Florence Pugh in
John Crowley's romance
We Live in Time. In 2026, he starred in
The Magic Faraway Tree, a family film based on
Enid Blyton's
book series of the same name. In May 2025, he was cast to play Roy Horn of
Siegfried & Roy in the
Apple TV+ miniseries
Wild Things. He will reunite with Guadagnino for
Artificial, portraying
OpenAI CEO
Sam Altman. ==Personal life==