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The most surprising fact about Andrew Garfield is not his dating history, the box office records he’s broken, or his accolades. It’s the fact that Andrew Garfield is British. What?
The talented actor, and recent viral flirt, has played a whole range of roles. He’s been Spider-Man, a truth-seeking missionary, a singing playwright, and many other transformative characters. In fact, he’s so immersive that it was a surprise for everyone, including his co-stars, to find out in real life that Andrew Garfield has an accent. A British one.
Garfield’s Most Famous Roles Are American
Garfield first broke into Hollywood with his supporting but pivotal role as Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network, a film about the rise of Facebook started by two college students and roommates at Harvard.
Saverin was an early investor who later is ousted by its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg.
But perhaps the biggest reason why Garfield’s nationality and accent remained a mystery over the years is due to his most famous role.
Beating out rumored contenders like Logan Lerman, the late Anton Yelchin, and even Joe Jonas, who admitted to auditioning and bagging some callbacks, Garfield booked the coveted red and blue-suited role as the American high-school student Peter Parker who turns into the crime-fighting Spider-Man.
But that’s not all. Even in Garfield’s most recent and critically lauded roles, like Tick, Tick… Boom! and the limited series, Under the Banner of Heaven, Garfield has played American characters.
Andrew Garfield Grew Up In England
Garfield was born in Los Angeles, California but moved to England, where his mother is originally from, when he was three years old. His father hails from California.
In the U.K., he grew up in Surrey, an affluent countryside outside of London. Other famous names like Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series, along with Tom Hardy, Lily Collins, and Dame Julie Andrews, are also said to be from the same area.
As a child, Garfield remembers being a bit of a “goof,” and later on, acting became an outlet for his outpouring energy. He went on to study the craft at London’s prestigious Royal Central School of Speech & Drama.
“I needed somewhere to do that in a way that wasn’t annoying (laughs), and I needed someone to say, ‘Oh, no, it’s okay — this is the time and space for you to be an annoying person. We actually like the annoying person here!'” Garfield said.
Andrew’s Accent Has Even Confused His Co-Stars
Since many of Garfield’s most well-known roles had such a convincing American accent, which he kept throughout filming, he surprised his co-stars when he spoke in his natural dialect.
When Garfield and Zendaya, his co-star in Spider-Man: No Way Home, took part in Variety Actors on Actors interview, she recalled how surprised she was when reminded that he was actually British.
“Maybe my memory deceives me, but I want to say we were on the set for Spider-Man, I kept forgetting that you were English,” Zendaya said. “Because you spoke in your American accent the whole time.”
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Garfield clarified he sticks with his character’s accent to keep things streamlined when filming.
“With an accent for me, I just don’t want to confuse my body, and I don’t want to confuse someone else’s system. It’s just simpler,” Garfield explained.
Even his one-time ex-girlfriend and co-star in his Spider-Man series, Emma Stone, recalls a similar moment when working on The Amazing Spider-Man.
“Once the movie was over, I was surprised to hear his completely British accent, because on set, obviously, we were speaking in American accents, so in between takes he was pretty American,” Stone said.
What’s Next For This British Lad
After the end of the Spider-Man series, Garfield took on more subdued roles, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t busy. He also faced the loss of his mother to pancreatic cancer in 2019.
In the last few years, he received his second Oscar nomination for Tick, Tick… Boom!, starred in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, took part in a memorable cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and filmed a limited series, Under the Banner of Heaven.
After all that, he announced in 2022, he’ll be taking a well-earned break.
“I need to recalibrate and reconsider what I want to do next and who I want to be and just be a bit of a person for awhile,” he said. “I need to just be a bit ordinary for a while.”
In a separate interview, he shared cheerfully, “I’m in a real period of not-doing,” he said. “The usual aggressive, ambitious, driven heartbeat, rapping at the door has subsided for a while.”
But for all Garfield fans, he won’t be off the screens forever. Eventually, in the future, Garfield has been tapped to play billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson as he builds Virgin Airways in a drama-filled six-part series.
Till then, the avid surfer might be catching waves somewhere and “taking time to enjoy other people’s work.”
And for those wondering, Garfield is a dual citizen of the US and the UK.
