2006–2014: Early stage work and film debut '' at the
Victoria Palace Theatre in 2010|alt=Three young boys are performing cheerfully At age nine, Holland began dancing at a
hip hop class at Nifty Feet Dance School in
Wimbledon, where he performed with his school group at the 2006 Richmond Dance Festival. There, he was spotted by choreographer Lynne Page, an associate to
Peter Darling, choreographer of
Billy Elliot the Musical. Page arranged an audition for Holland, where the musical's director
Stephen Daldry thought that he "had great potential and was a very natural actor". After two years of training in ballet, tap dancing and acrobatics, During his time performing in the musical, Holland learned gymnastics. Holland says when his peers at school found out about his dancing activities, they started bullying him. On his first day playing Elliot, Holland developed
tonsillitis but performed on stage anyway to positive reviews; he went to the doctor the next day. Following his stage success, Holland hoped to be popular in school and that his schoolmates would stop bullying him. After being in a professional environment, he matured earlier than his peers and struggled to fit in. As a result, his
GCSE grades suffered. and sent an audition tape to
Juan Antonio Bayona for a part in
The Impossible (2012). Bayona then arranged a meeting, and had Holland write a letter to his mother and recite it as an audition. Impressed with his emotional delivery, Bayona cast Holland in the film. In
The Impossible, Holland played a teenager trapped with his family in the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Transitioning from stage to screen was initially hard for Holland due to the shift from live audience to camera. He and co-star
Naomi Watts filmed physically and psychologically taxing scenes in a 35,000-gallon water tank. Working with Watts made Holland realise that he wanted to pursue an acting career permanently. earning $180.3million against a budget of $45million. Holland received critical praise for his performance. He won several awards, including the
National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance and
London Film Critics Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year. Holland featured in the drama film
How I Live Now (2013), lent his voice in a supporting role for the drama film
Locke (2013), and had a
cameo in
Billy Elliot the Musical Live (2014).
2015–2017: Breakthrough as Spider-Man Holland appeared in four episodes of
BBC Two's historical mini series
Wolf Hall (2015), as
Gregory Cromwell, son of the protagonist
Thomas Cromwell played by
Mark Rylance. He directed
Tweet (2015), a three-minute short film about a young man building a birdhouse with his grandfather;
In the Heart of the Sea received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $93 million against a $100 million budget. Brian Truitt of the
USA Today wrote that Holland "does a good job". In June 2015, Holland signed a six-picture deal with
Marvel Studios to play a teenage
Peter Parker / Spider-Man. Growing up, Holland was a fan of
Spider-Man; he owned 30 costumes and bed sheet covers of the character. While producers
Kevin Feige and
Amy Pascal were impressed with his performances in
The Impossible,
Wolf Hall, and
In the Heart of the Sea,
Stan Lee, Spider-Man's creator, said Holland was the "exact age and height" when he envisioned the character. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide against a budget of $250million to become the
highest-grossing film of 2016. In a review for
The Guardian,
Peter Bradshaw praised Holland and co-star
Paul Rudd (who played
Ant-Man) as "seductively high-spirited and hilarious", and
Richard Roeper of
Chicago Sun-Times wrote that he made "a strong first impression" as Spider-Man. promoting
Spider-Man: Homecoming|251x251px In 2016, Holland co-starred with
Joel Kinnaman and
Percy Hynes White in the psychological thriller
Edge of Winter. It was the first film he did without his parents' knowledge.
Frank Scheck of
The Hollywood Reporter found Holland and White "excellent", describing their terrified reaction as "more emotionally wrenching than the tired thriller genre conventions to which the film ultimately succumbs". At the
70th British Academy Film Awards in 2017, Holland won the
Rising Star Award. Holland's first work that year was alongside
Charlie Hunnam in
James Gray's drama
The Lost City of Z, which was released to positive reviews. On his last day of filming, he broke his nose after a failed backflip attempt. Holland played the son of Percy Fawcett (Hunnam), an explorer who makes several attempts to find a supposed lost ancient city in the
Amazon rainforest. Neil Soans of
The Times of India praised Holland for making the film emotional towards the end and Rex Reed of
The New York Observer found him "remarkably strong and self-assured". Later in 2017, Holland played
Samuel Insull in
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's
The Current War, which received negative reviews and was a box-office failure. Clarisse Loughrey of
The Independent found Holland's role insubstantial. Holland's second film in 2017 was his solo feature as the title character in
Spider-Man: Homecoming. As a result, Holland earned an entry in
Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest actor to play a title role in the MCU. Though Holland took some inspiration from previous Spider-Man actors
Tobey Maguire and
Andrew Garfield, he wanted to add some newness in his reinterpretation of the character.
Homecoming focused on Parker, as he tries to balance being a high-school student and a superhero. To prepare, Holland attended
The Bronx High School of Science in
the Bronx for a few days, although other students did not believe he was cast as Spider-Man. Holland felt this situation reflected the film's story, in which other characters are unaware that Parker is Spider-Man.
Homecoming and Holland's performance received positive reviews.
Peter Travers called it "a star performance given by a born actor". Made on a budget of $175million, the film grossed over $800 million worldwide. Holland's final role in 2017 was in the Irish film
Pilgrimage, which premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival. Outside film that year, Holland appeared with
Zendaya on
Paramount Network's
Lip Sync Battle, during which he performed
Rihanna's "
Umbrella" in drag. His parents founded The Brothers Trust, a charitable organisation, which aims to use his popularity to raise funds for humanitarian causes.
2018–2021: Commercial success Holland reprised his role as Spider-Man in
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and its follow-up
Avengers: Endgame (2019), which were
filmed back-to-back. The pictures each earned more than $2billion, and
Endgame briefly became the
highest-grossing film of all time. Holland followed with the sequel
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), which widely received positive reviews and became the first
Spider-Man film to earn $1billion, finishing as the
fourth-highest grosser of 2019. Ben Travis of
Empire magazine found Holland "a note-perfect Spider-Man — still funnier and more believably teenage" than Maguire and Garfield who previously portrayed the character. Travis wrote, "Holland never loses the ebullient spark that makes him one of the MCU's most endearing figures." Holland received a third consecutive
Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for
Far From Home, having previously won for
Civil War and
Homecoming. He voiced roles in the
Blue Sky Studios animation
Spies in Disguise (2019), the live-action film
Dolittle (2020), and the
Pixar animated film
Onward (2020). The last two were with his MCU co-stars
Robert Downey Jr. and
Chris Pratt, respectively. Made on lucrative budgets, all three films underperformed at the box-office. '' in 2019|alt=Tom Holland looking to his right while raising his left hand and holding his fist Alongside
Avengers co-star
Sebastian Stan, Holland starred in
Antonio Campos's
The Devil All the Time (2020), a
Netflix psychological thriller set after
World War II. Holland said he initially worried that he lacked the depth to play a young orphaned man who goes on a killing spree, and was scared and nervous on his first day on set. Encouraged by Campos, he ultimately enjoyed playing the part, although it took a temporary toll on his mental health. Campos praised Holland's effort to learn
Southern American English for the role, described his acting process as "methodical", "thoughtful and sensitive", and called him a kind person. By November 2020, the film was the 22nd-most watched straight-to-streaming title of the year, according to a
Variety report. Holland starred in three films that were released in 2021. His first, the crime drama
Cherry, is based on
the 2018 novel by American author
Nico Walker, and reunited him with
Avengers directors Russo brothers. He played a college student with
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after enlisting in the army, and robs banks to finance his drug addiction. In preparation for the role, Holland shaved his head and interviewed
military veterans undergoing treatments for substance abuse and PTSD. The film was released in cinemas in February and digitally on
Apple TV+ in March. Consensus among critics was that the film enabled Holland to broaden his horizons as an actor, but it had a formulaic story. This was echoed by
Owen Gleiberman of
Variety who further noted that Holland proved his skills as an actor and demonstrated a range of indulgent looks and moods. Holland next played alongside
Daisy Ridley as a young man living on a planet called New World in
Chaos Walking, an adaptation of
Patrick Ness's best-selling science fiction series
of the same name. The film was delayed due to several reshoots in early 2019, which added $15million to its budget, bringing its cost to $100million.
Chaos Walking failed to recoup its budget and received poor reviews. David Rooney of
The Hollywood Reporter found the chemistry between Holland and Ridley lackluster, and Christian Holub of
Entertainment Weekly noted his failed attempt to break away from roles similar to Spider-Man. In November 2021, Holland voiced
Percy Pig in a series of advertisements for
Marks & Spencer's Christmas food specials. The following month, Holland reprised his role as Peter Parker in the sequel
Spider-Man: No Way Home. After taking on mature roles in films like
Cherry, Holland noted that he found it strange adjusting back to playing Parker, chiefly due to raising his voice pitch and returning to the mindset of a "naïve, charming teenager". He described
No Way Home as the "most ambitious standalone superhero movie ever made". Despite its release during the
COVID-19 pandemic,
No Way Home quickly emerged as
the highest-grossing film of 2021 and the sixth highest-grossing film of all time. It also became the first film since 2019's
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to earn more than $1billion at the box-office.
No Way Home became the highest-rated
Spider-Man film on the online database
IMDb and the review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes. Wendy Ide of
The Guardian wrote that the film "delivers an overflowing, funnel-web cornucopia of treats for Spider-fans" and attributed Parker's continuing appeal to "his endearing, puppyish enthusiasm".
The Times Kevin Maher opined that Holland "own[s] every inch of the role" and "casts his web and captures your heart".
2022–present: Established actor and career expansion Discussing his future as Spider-Man after
No Way Home, Holland told
GQ in 2021 that he was doubtful about reprising the role, especially after he turns 30 in 2026. He expressed a desire to see a live-action
Spider-Man film with
Miles Morales as the protagonist, whereas Amy Pascal spoke of wanting Holland to continue playing the role. and a starring role as a young
Nathan Drake, a charismatic fortune hunter, in
the film adaptation of
Naughty Dog's
Uncharted video game series. In preparation for scenes where his character is bartending, Holland worked shifts at the
Chiltern Firehouse, a pub in London. Though the filming was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Holland continued to eat and train for the role. In a mixed review for his performance, Brian Tallerico of Roger Ebert's website labelled him miscast, writing that "Holland has the agility but quite simply lacks the weight and world-weariness needed" for the role. , India Holland next executive produced and starred in the Apple TV+ miniseries
The Crowded Room (2023), inspired by the 1981 non-fiction novel
The Minds of Billy Milligan, in which he played a character based on
Billy Milligan. It was met with negative reviews;
San Francisco Chronicle Bob Strauss dismissed it as "another one of Tom Holland's 'serious' projects that's hard to take seriously". Nevertheless, he earned a nomination for the
Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries. Holland said that the role proved to be too emotionally taxing for him, and that he would take a year off work to recover. He made a return to the stage as
Romeo in
Jamie Lloyd's West End revival of
Romeo and Juliet, which ran for twelve weeks from May 2024. Critics had mixed opinions on the play and Holland's performance. In 2024, Holland created his own production company, named Billy17, and landed a deal with
Sony Pictures. Among his upcoming films, he will star in
Christopher Nolan's film
The Odyssey, an adaptation of the epic poem the
Odyssey, written by
Homer. In 2025, Holland called the film the best experience of his career up to that point, he stated "I couldn't have asked for a better job. And I'm so proud of the work I've done. I came to work every day with a real sense of purpose and a point to prove, and I'm so grateful for Chris to have given me that opportunity." Holland will then star in the fourth Spider-Man film,
Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In September 2025, Holland was briefly hospitalised after sustaining a concussion while filming
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, leading to a temporary pause in production. ==Public image==