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Born in Los Angeles in 1983, Andrew Garfield is one of the most famous and talented actors of his generation. The general audience still knows him best for his role as Peter Parker aka Spider-Man, but Garfield has been acting professionally since the mid-2000s and amassed many credits, both in movies and TV shows.
His film career suggests he likes to switch between genres, and he takes on challenging roles. Considering the scope of his talent, Garfield has a lot of memorable parts under his belt but some of his movies naturally achieved better critical acclaim than others. Garfield recently said he would like to take a break from acting, so this is a good time to catch up on his best movies.
5 Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Fans of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man were excited when they learned that Garfield would go on to reprise his role in the latest Tom Holland Spider-Man solo movie Spider-Man: No Way Home. Premiering in December 2021, the movie broke the boundaries between realities which allowed multiple versions of Peter Parker to work together. Garfield’s Parker was one of them, and he once again brought a lot of emotion and wit to the role.
Not only did he help Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man to defeat multiple villains, but he also found a personal resolution of sorts. He failed to save his girlfriend Gwen a few years back but this time around, he saved MJ who was in a very similar danger, making for a poignant moment. Spider-Man: No Way Home currently has the best rating on IMDb of all Garfield’s feature films, proving that people love Spider-Man, and even more so when there are several of them!
4 Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Some of the best movies were inspired by real events. That’s also the case in this war drama taking place during World War 2. Andrew Garfield stars as Desmond Doss, a young man determined to serve his country during the war. However, what makes Doss different is that he doesn’t believe in violence and taking the lives of others. Despite his attitude and beliefs that other people have struggled with accepting, Doss managed to save multiple lives during a highly risky situation.
Andrew Garfield gives one of his best performances as Desmond Doss, he’s both sympathetic and admirable in the role. The movie doesn’t focus only on action but takes the time to characterize the heroes, making it easy to become invested in their fates. Garfield was nominated for an Oscar for this role and even though he didn’t win, the movie is a must-watch for all of his fans.
3 The Social Network (2010)
One of Andrew Garfield’s first prominent movie roles was the 2010 drama The Social Network once again based on real events. Even though Jesse Eisenberg played the leading part of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, Andrew Garfield has a similarly important part in the movie. He plays Eduardo Saverin who supports Zuckerberg in building Facebook and also provides him with the initial funds needed for the website’s development.
Even though not all the characters are sympathetic, Saverin is one of the more relatable and civil ones, thanks to Garfield’s performance. The movie works as a drama story for everyone, regardless of whether they have a Facebook account or not. An interesting fact is that before Garfield was cast as Saverin, he could have played Mark Zuckerberg himself!
2 Boy A (2007)
If Andrew Garfield’s fans want to go back to the roots and see the actor’s very first major acting role in a feature film, they should watch Boy A, a British drama movie. Garfield stars as Eric Wilson, a young man who spent years in juvie, and now he’s trying to start over. That won’t be an easy task, though. The movie has a realistic feel to it, and it doesn’t spare its heroes.
It’s interesting to watch how will Eric integrate into the world and how will others approach him, knowing about his past. Despite his youth, Garfield gives a balanced and serious performance, one that cemented his reputation as a talented young actor. He won the BAFTA for his role in the movie, and it’s possible that without Boy A, he wouldn’t have had such a rich acting career today.
1 tick, tick… BOOM! (2022)
One of Andrew Garfield’s best-rated movies tick, tick... BOOM! is also one of his most recent works. Once again, Garfield plays a real-life person. He stars as Jonathan Larson, a talented musician, who’s about to celebrate his 30th birthday. Jon is dealing with a life crisis as he feels like he hasn’t achieved what he wanted to. To make matters worse, he also has to deal with his friends who aren’t making things easier for him. When somebody mentions Andrew Garfield’s name, people don’t usually think of him as a singer, but as Garfield proves in the musical movie, he’s proficient at singing.
His Jon comes across as a fleshed-out relatable hero who’s going through something many other people have faced. The music doesn’t disappoint and the rest of the cast gives solid performances as well. To be able to sing the way he does, Garfield studied singing with singing couches for a year. The effort paid out as he was nominated for an Oscar for this role.