Tom Holland (actor)

Theatre

Holland (centre) performing at the fifth anniversary of Billy Elliot the Musical, 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.^[10]

After eight auditions and two subsequent years of training, on 28 June 2008, Holland made his West End debut in Billy Elliot the Musical as Michael, Billy's best friend.^[11] He gave his first performance in the title role on 8 September 2008, receiving positive notices.^[5][12]

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.^[13] 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.^[14]

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.^[15][16] Holland was chosen to be a lead at the fifth-anniversary show on 31 March 2010.^[17] Holland had been appearing on a regular basis as Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical, rotating with three other performers,^[18] until 29 May 2010, when he finished his running.

Television

In 2015, Holland appeared in four episodes of BBC Two's TV series Wolf Hall, as Gregory Cromwell, son of the protagonist Thomas Cromwell played by Mark Rylance.^[19] He later appeared on an episode of Lip Sync Battle, in which he defeated Zendaya. Holland presented the award for Best Visual Effects at the 90th Annual Academy Awards, in which the Oscar was won by Blade Runner 2049.

Cinema

In 2011, Holland was cast in the British version of the animated film Arrietty, produced by Japan’s Studio Ghibli. He provided a voice for the principal character Sho.^[20]

Holland made his feature film debut in The Impossible, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, alongside Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. Holland was praised so highly, that there were even rumours he was a contender for a Academy Award nomination. 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 won universal praise from critics and 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.^[21][22] He was also shortlisted for an Academy Award for his performance in the film.

Holland 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 and co-starred as Thomas Nickerson in the film In the Heart of the Sea (2015), directed by Ron Howard - in which he was shortlisted for the second time in his career for an Academy Award for his performance.^[23]

In 2016, he played Bradley Baker in the film Edge of Winter, where he co-stars 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.^[24]

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 in Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's The Current War, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.^[25]

Upcoming works

Holland was cast in the film adaptation of Patrick Ness's best-selling YA series Chaos Walking as Todd Hewitt, alongside with Star Wars star Daisy Ridley, which will be directed by Doug Liman Holland revealed after filming that a sequel was in the works.^[35] In May 2017, it was announced that he had been cast as a young Nathan Drake in the film adaptation of Naughty Dog's Uncharted video game series.^[36] He is also now cast as the lead role in the film adaptation of Beneath the Scarlet Sky with Pascal Pictures.^[37] He is set to star in 20th Century Fox Animation's Spies in Disguise in 2019 alongside Will Smith.^[38] Holland was later cast in a voice role in The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle, alongside Avengers co-star Robert Downey Jr.

He is set to play Spider-Man again in the Untitled Avengers film, scheduled for release on 3 May 2019, and the sequel to Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, which is scheduled for release on 5 July 2019.^[39][40][41]

Holland has said that his long-term career plans are to "do some more franchises," play "some meatier indie roles and eventually...transition to the other side of the camera and branch into directing."^[42]

Film

Television

Video games