98 Fun Facts About Tom Holland

What does Tom Holland's father, Dominic, do for a living?

Comedian Dominic Holland has unofficially acted as his son's manager, and turned being overtaken by a teenager into a book, How Tom Holland Eclipsed His Dad.

Which West End show launched Tom Holland's career at age 12?

Billy Elliot the Musical found him after a choreographer spotted him dancing with his hip hop class at a Richmond festival; he trained for two years in ballet, tap and acrobatics before his West End debut.

Which role did Holland first play in the musical before taking the title part?

Michael is Billy's best friend; Holland was promoted to the lead later in 2008 and played it until 2010.

Which 2012 tsunami drama gave Tom Holland his first on-screen film role?

The Impossible cast him after an unusual audition: the director had him write a letter to his mother and read it aloud, and Holland cried as he did.

Which Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director earlier made Holland's tsunami-drama debut?

J. A. Bayona built the film on the true story of survivor María Belón, who was involved in every stage of the shoot, and he insisted on real water rather than a digital wave.

Which actress played Holland's mother in his tsunami-drama debut?

Naomi Watts earned an Oscar nomination as his mother; five weeks of gulping water beside her in a massive tank convinced Holland that acting was the career he wanted.

In which MCU film did Holland first appear as Spider-Man?

Captain America: Civil War could include him only because Sony and Marvel struck a 2015 deal to share the character; his own solo film followed a year later.

Roughly how many teenagers did Holland audition against for Spider-Man?

1,500 hopefuls were seen in a worldwide search that came down to Holland and Charlie Rowe, who were both called back to test again before Holland won the part.

Which directors cited Holland's dance and gymnastics background when casting him as Spider-Man?

The Russo brothers were in the room for his final screen tests at the end of a worldwide search; Stan Lee later said Holland was the exact age and height he had imagined for Spider-Man.

Holland confirmed in 2021 that he would play which Hollywood dance legend in a Sony biopic?

Fred Astaire was the role producer Amy Pascal had already said she wanted him for; Holland then confirmed it himself, admitting the script had arrived a week earlier and he had not read it yet.

How did Holland prepare to play a schoolboy in Spider-Man: Homecoming?

Holland went undercover at a Bronx high school for three days, using a fake name and an American accent; it was a science school for gifted pupils, and classmates were baffled about why he was there.

Who directed Spider-Man: Homecoming?

Jon Watts went on to direct Holland's first three solo Spider-Man films, then walked away from Marvel's Fantastic Four in 2022, needing a break from superheroes.

Who plays the Vulture opposite Holland in Spider-Man: Homecoming?

Michael Keaton, a former Batman, plays salvager Adrian Toomes, who builds a winged suit from alien wreckage; the twist is that he is also the father of Peter's homecoming date.

Which villain does Jake Gyllenhaal play in Spider-Man: Far From Home?

Mysterio wins Peter's trust by posing as a hero, then turns on him; his doctored footage frames Spider-Man for murder and exposes his secret identity to the world.

Far From Home was the first Spider-Man film to achieve what milestone?

Far From Home was the first to gross $1 billion worldwide; in the month it became Sony's biggest hit, talks with Marvel over sharing the character collapsed, and fan anger helped bring a new deal weeks later.

Which two former Spider-Man actors appear with Holland in No Way Home?

Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return as Peter Parkers from other universes, and the three Spider-Men work together to cure the villains instead of killing them.

Which sorcerer does Peter ask to erase the world's memory of his identity in No Way Home?

Doctor Strange begins a spell to make the world forget, but Peter keeps interrupting to exempt his loved ones, and the corrupted magic pulls in visitors from other universes.

Before Holland's Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was the last film to pass $1 billion at the box office?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, from December 2019, was the last release to pass $1 billion before the pandemic emptied cinemas; No Way Home ended the two-year drought.

Which BAFTA award did Holland win in 2017?

Rising Star is the BAFTA decided by the public: a jury picks the nominees, but the winner is chosen entirely by public vote, and in 2017 the voters picked a 20-year-old Holland.

How did Holland hurt himself on his last day filming The Lost City of Z?

Holland broke his nose attempting a backflip while showing the cast his gymnastic skills on his final day; two years later he broke it again while filming Chaos Walking.

Which BBC miniseries featured Holland as Gregory Cromwell?

Wolf Hall cast him in four episodes as the son of Thomas Cromwell, played by Mark Rylance; it was one of the performances that later impressed the producers casting Spider-Man.

In which Ron Howard film did Holland play the teenager Thomas Nickerson?

In the Heart of the Sea put Holland and Chris Hemsworth on as little as 500 calories a day to play the starving crew of the whaleship Essex, whose sinking helped inspire Moby-Dick.

Which song did Holland perform in drag on Lip Sync Battle in 2017?

Rihanna's 'Umbrella' had Holland dancing in fishnet stockings, latex shorts and red lipstick, a routine that won him the episode against his Spider-Man co-star.

What is the name of the charity founded by Holland's parents?

The Brothers Trust was set up to use Holland's fame to raise funds and shine a light on charities that struggle to be heard.

In which Netflix thriller did Holland play an orphaned young man in post-war Ohio?

The Devil All the Time cast him against type as an orphan who turns killer; Holland said he arrived on set nervous and scared, unsure he had such a character in him.

In which 2021 crime drama did Holland play an army veteran who robs banks to fund his addiction?

Cherry, based on Nico Walker's novel, had Holland shave his head, lose 30 pounds and interview veterans being treated for addiction and PTSD.

Which author of A Monster Calls wrote the sci-fi series behind Holland's film Chaos Walking?

Patrick Ness co-wrote the screenplay himself, but poor test screenings forced reshoots and the $100 million film still failed to earn back its budget.

Which character did Holland voice in Marks & Spencer Christmas adverts in 2021?

Percy Pig had never spoken before: in the advert a Christmas fairy voiced by Dawn French wakes the sweet mascot by magic, and he explores a food hall at night with Holland's voice.

Which video game character did Holland play in Uncharted?

Nathan Drake starts the film behind a bar, so Holland worked shifts at London's Chiltern Firehouse hotel to learn the bartending he needed for those scenes.

Who plays Victor Sullivan opposite Holland in Uncharted?

Mark Wahlberg was once lined up to play the hero himself; years and a string of directors later, he returned to the project as the mentor instead.

Which Pixar film features Holland as elf brother Ian Lightfoot?

Onward pairs him with Chris Pratt as elf brothers whose spell to bring back their late father for a day goes wrong, conjuring only his legs.

The Crowded Room, Holland's Apple TV+ series, was inspired by a book about whom?

Billy Milligan was the first person acquitted of a major crime after a multiple-personality defence, spending a decade in psychiatric hospitals instead of prison; Daniel Keyes' book about him inspired the series.

Who plays interrogator Rya Goodwin opposite Holland in The Crowded Room?

Amanda Seyfried's Rya Goodwin questions Danny Sullivan after his arrest over a 1979 New York shooting, and the story of his past comes out through their interviews.

Which Shakespeare play brought Holland back to the West End stage in 2024?

Romeo and Juliet, staged by Jamie Lloyd in his stripped-back style, ran for 12 weeks from May 2024; Holland took it on after a year away from acting.

Holland voices young inventor Walter Beckett opposite Will Smith in which 2019 animated film?

Spies in Disguise turns Will Smith's suave super-spy into a pigeon when he swallows one of Walter's experiments, leaving the young inventor to help him save the world as a bird.

Which character does Holland play in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey?

Telemachus is the son Odysseus left behind as an infant; grown up, he sets out to look for his missing father, played by Matt Damon, while suitors besiege his mother Penelope.

What is the subtitle of Holland's fourth Spider-Man film?

Brand New Day takes its name from a 2008 comics storyline that reset Spider-Man's world, with his marriage erased and his secret identity forgotten by everyone.

Who directed Holland's fourth Spider-Man film after making Marvel's Shang-Chi?

Destin Daniel Cretton took the job after stepping down from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, the Marvel sequel he had been lined up to direct.

Which injury to Holland paused filming on his fourth Spider-Man film in September 2025?

A concussion on set sent Holland to hospital, where he was checked without being admitted; filming was suspended while he took a short precautionary break.

Whom did Tom Holland marry?

Zendaya, his Spider-Man co-star, got engaged to Holland in December 2024; her stylist Law Roach let slip in March 2026 that the wedding had already happened, and Holland confirmed it that June.

What is the name of the non-alcoholic beer brand Holland launched in 2024?

BERO grew out of Holland's own sobriety: he gave up alcohol after a Dry January in 2022 and, two years on, launched a beer he could drink himself.

Holland has turned down hosting Saturday Night Live because of which condition?

Dyslexia makes reading aloud a mental block for Holland, and SNL hosts read their lines from cue cards, so he has turned the invitation down a few times.

Why did Marvel give Tom Holland only his own lines from the Avengers: Endgame script?

He is notorious for spoilers: after he let plot points slip in interviews, his co-stars named him the least trustworthy member of the cast, so the directors kept the full script from him.

Which Croydon performing arts institution did Holland attend?

The BRIT School, which is free to attend, took him after his Jesuit secondary school; as a teenager he also briefly went to carpentry school in Cardiff.

In which film does Holland's Spider-Man crumble to dust in Tony Stark's arms after Thanos snaps his fingers?

Avengers: Infinity War scripted only a short line before he vanished; the directors say a co-star kept pushing Holland for more emotion on set, and the pleading goodbye came out of that.

Which businessman did Holland play in The Current War?

The 2017 film about the electricity wars received negative reviews and flopped.

Who plays Aunt May to Holland's Peter Parker in the MCU Spider-Man films?

Marisa Tomei's Aunt May is the one who gives Peter the great power, great responsibility lesson, speaking it as she dies in No Way Home after acting as his moral guide through the series.

Which sci-fi and fantasy film awards gave Holland three straight Best Younger Actor prizes?

The Saturn Awards were set up because their founder felt science fiction films were being overlooked by Hollywood's main prizes; Holland won for three Spider-Man performances in a row.

Tom Holland worked as the on-set stand-in for which actor's giant tree creature in A Monster Calls?

Liam Neeson recorded the Monster's voice and motion capture before the shoot, so Holland, who had worked with the director on his own screen debut, stood in for the yew-tree giant on set.

In Spies in Disguise, a concoction made by Tom Holland's young inventor turns a super-spy into which creature?

A pigeon is what agent Lance Sterling, voiced by Will Smith, becomes after swallowing the mixture while searching the home of Walter Beckett, the gadget whizz Holland voices.

Which pop star wrote the music for the West End musical in which Tom Holland made his name as a child?

Elton John wrote the music, with book and lyrics by Lee Hall, who had also written the screenplay of the 2000 film the stage show is based on.

Tom Holland plays a cabin boy in a Ron Howard film about an 1820 shipwreck that helped inspire which novel?

Moby-Dick grew partly out of the sinking of the whaler Essex, and the film has Herman Melville coax the story out of Holland's character in old age.

Which actor plays the title hero Odysseus opposite Tom Holland in Christopher Nolan's epic The Odyssey?

Matt Damon plays the Greek king of Ithaca, whom Christopher Nolan described as complicated, an amazing strategist and a very wily person.

Which job did Tom Holland work in shifts at London's Chiltern Firehouse to prepare for scenes in Uncharted?

Bartender was the job, because his young fortune hunter is seen serving drinks; Holland also kept training and eating for the part while the pandemic delayed filming.

Tom Holland gave up alcohol for good after taking part in which month-long challenge in 2022?

Dry January became permanent for Holland, who signed up after feeling he had come to depend on drink in social situations.

Which actor is the only person seen on screen in Locke, in which Tom Holland voices a son on the phone?

Tom Hardy carries the whole film from the driver's seat, while Holland, Olivia Colman and Andrew Scott are heard only as voices on his calls.

What audition task did the director of Tom Holland's tsunami-drama screen debut set him?

Write a letter to his mother, then recite it: that was the test, and the boy's emotional delivery won him the part.

Which director's criticism of Marvel films did Tom Holland answer by pointing out he had never made one?

Martin Scorsese had said Marvel films fail to portray human emotion; Holland replied that they are real art too, and that the main difference from an awards film is the budget.

Tom Holland was born in which riverside town in south-west London, where he later settled near his parents?

Kingston upon Thames kept its hold on him after fame: Holland made his own home there, close to the house of his parents and younger siblings.

Dominic Holland, who wrote a book about being eclipsed by his son Tom Holland, made his name as what?

A comedian by trade, Dominic Holland won the Perrier Best Newcomer Award at the 1993 Edinburgh Fringe, then published How Tom Holland Eclipsed His Dad twenty years later.

Which pop star's songs did a young Tom Holland love dancing to, prompting his mother to enrol him in a class?

Janet Jackson was the favourite, and the dance class his mother chose was one advertised at his prep school in Wimbledon.

Which trade did Tom Holland briefly study at a school in Cardiff, Wales, during his teenage years?

Carpentry was one of several paths he weighed up as a teenager, along with becoming a primary school teacher.

Which Scottish actor plays the father of Tom Holland's character in his tsunami-drama screen debut?

Ewan McGregor plays Henry Bennett, who is separated from his wife and eldest son by the wave and finds them again in a hospital.

Which Irish actress plays Daisy, the American cousin of Tom Holland's character, in How I Live Now?

Saoirse Ronan leads the film as an American teenager trying to reunite with her British cousins, Holland's Isaac among them, after war tears them apart.

Which Avengers co-star of Tom Holland played first mate Owen Chase in Ron Howard's 2015 seafaring drama?

Chris Hemsworth and his castmates, Holland included, lost significant weight to play starving sailors, eating as little as 500 to 1,000 calories a day.

Which inventor does Benedict Cumberbatch play opposite Tom Holland in the electricity drama The Current War?

Thomas Edison is Cumberbatch's role, facing Michael Shannon as his rival; Holland's character presents Edison's bid to light the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Which kind of animal is Jip, the bespectacled character voiced by Tom Holland in the 2020 film Dolittle?

A dog, and specifically a loyal wolfhound, Jip wears glasses to help him see and is left behind to guard the poisoned queen.

Which Marvel co-star voices Barley, older sibling of Tom Holland's teenage elf, in a 2020 Pixar fantasy?

Chris Pratt voices the older elf, who longs for a magical quest, while Holland's teenager longs for their late father.

Which actor plays preacher Preston Teagardin opposite Tom Holland in a 2020 Netflix thriller set in Ohio?

Robert Pattinson plays the reverend, in a film narrated by Donald Ray Pollock, the author of the novel it adapts.

Which actor plays explorer Percy Fawcett, father of Tom Holland's character, in The Lost City of Z?

Charlie Hunnam plays the British explorer who keeps returning to the Amazon in search of a supposed ancient city, with Holland as his son Jack.

Which Army role does Tom Holland's heartbroken student sign up for in Cherry, before returning home with PTSD?

Medic is the job he enlists for to escape a break-up, and what he sees on deployment, including a friend killed by a roadside bomb, follows him home.

On the colony planet in Chaos Walking, what can everyone see and hear from men such as Tom Holland's Todd?

Their thoughts spill out as a stream of images, words and sounds called the Noise, so Todd cannot hide what he knows when a woman crash-lands nearby.

Which studio developed the Uncharted video games that became Tom Holland's 2022 treasure-hunting film?

Naughty Dog developed the series, published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, and the film casts Holland as a younger version of its fortune hunter.

Which actor plays ruthless treasure hunter Santiago Moncada, the villain facing Tom Holland in Uncharted?

Antonio Banderas plays the descendant of the Moncada family, who races Holland's young adventurer to the same lost fortune.

What did Tom Holland say he would do after finding his role in The Crowded Room too emotionally taxing?

Take a year off work was his answer: playing the troubled lead of a series he also executive produced took him a long time to recover from.

The Odyssey, with Tom Holland in its cast, was the first feature film shot entirely on which camera format?

IMAX 70 mm film cameras are so loud that a soundproof blimp had to be built to mute them during dialogue scenes.

Which actor plays Thomas Cromwell, father of Tom Holland's character, in a 2015 BBC Tudor miniseries?

Mark Rylance leads the drama as its protagonist, and Holland appears in four episodes as his son Gregory.

Avengers: Endgame, with Tom Holland as Spider-Man, overtook which film as the biggest box-office hit ever?

Avatar lost the record to Endgame in 2019, then took it back two years later thanks to a re-release in China.

Which young actor was reported alongside Tom Holland as a front-runner for Spider-Man early in the 2015 casting search?

Asa Butterfield, later the lead of Sex Education, was one of six finalists who screen-tested for chemistry with an established Marvel star.

Which Disney chief did Tom Holland personally lobby in 2019 after the Spider-Man deal with Sony collapsed?

Bob Iger later credited Holland's efforts, along with the reaction of fans, for bringing the two companies back to the negotiating table.

Which Marvel star did Tom Holland screen-test opposite for chemistry before being cast as Spider-Man?

Robert Downey Jr., the Tony Stark of the films, read with all six finalists, and he and Holland were later reunited on Dolittle.

Which style of dance was Tom Holland learning at Nifty Feet in Wimbledon when a choreographer spotted him?

Hip hop got him noticed at a 2006 dance festival, but he then needed two years of ballet, tap and acrobatics training before his West End debut.

Which director of a hit West End musical judged the young Tom Holland a natural actor at his audition?

Stephen Daldry thought the boy had great potential after a choreographer's associate, who had seen him dance at a festival, arranged the audition.

At which West End venue did Tom Holland make his professional stage debut in June 2008?

Victoria Palace Theatre audiences first saw him in a supporting part, and he was back on the same stage in 2010 for the show's fifth anniversary.

Which illness did Tom Holland perform through on his first day in the lead role of a West End musical?

Tonsillitis struck on the day he stepped up from a supporting part to the lead, yet he went on anyway and drew positive reviews.

Tom Holland's mother Nicola, who signed him up for his first dance class, works in which profession?

Photographer Nicola Holland and her husband both have creative jobs, which the actor says has often inspired him.

Tom Holland's paternal grandmother came from Tipperary in Ireland, but which island was his grandfather from?

Isle of Man roots sit beside Irish ones on his father's side, and his father told Manx Radio he was happy for Tom to be called Manx, in a segment titled SpiderManx.

Tom Holland began 2022 by investing in Dogpound, a chain of which kind of business?

Gyms are Dogpound's business despite the canine name, a fitting investment for an actor whose gymnastics training helped win him his best-known role.

Which kind of character does Tom Holland play in Pilgrimage, about a holy relic's journey from medieval Ireland?

A novice monk called Brother Diarmuid, he sets out with his elders to carry their holiest relic to Rome, in the hope that it will aid the coming Fifth Crusade.

Tom Holland has spoken about frequent episodes of sleep paralysis and which other night-time condition?

Sleepwalking is something Holland has talked about openly, even though he calls himself a private person and is reluctant to discuss his life off screen.

Tom Holland's first film role was a voice part in a Studio Ghibli version of which English children's novel?

The Borrowers, Mary Norton's tale of tiny people living secretly in the walls and floors of a house, became a Ghibli film whose British dub was Holland's cinema debut.

Which Marvel antihero's 2021 sequel includes an uncredited mid-credits appearance by Tom Holland's Peter Parker?

Venom: Let There Be Carnage borrows MCU footage of Holland for its mid-credits scene, and neither he nor a fellow MCU actor seen with him is credited.

In which country is the family of Tom Holland's character on holiday when the wave hits in his screen debut?

Thailand's Khao Lak coast is where the Bennetts arrive on Christmas Eve, two days before the Indian Ocean tsunami swamps their resort.

Tom Holland's tsunami-drama screen debut had its premiere at which Canadian city's film festival in 2012?

Toronto gave the film its launch that September, a month before it opened in cinemas in Spain, the country that produced it.

Which Irish actor plays the older version of Tom Holland's cabin boy in a Ron Howard seafaring drama?

Brendan Gleeson plays the cabin boy as an old man, at last telling a visiting novelist what happened to the crew decades earlier.

Which Spider-Man co-creator said Tom Holland was the exact age and height he had imagined for the character?

Stan Lee gave the casting his blessing, and Holland had been a fan since childhood, owning 30 costumes and bed sheets of the hero.

Which actress plays Penelope, wife of the wandering hero, alongside Tom Holland in The Odyssey?

Anne Hathaway plays the queen of Ithaca, who fends off many suitors while her husband is away.

Which actor plays the Mute, a silent labourer travelling with Tom Holland's character in Pilgrimage?

Jon Bernthal plays the wordless labourer who accompanies the party as it carries a sacred relic across Ireland towards Rome.