Andrew Garfield: From Facebook to Webslinger

Andrew Garfield like most actors started out in television; he then landed a role in a British film Boy A (2007) in which he played the grown up version of young boy who was sent to jail for committing a crime.  Years later he (in the form of Garfield) was released and he tries to to start his life over again, but with one act of heroism it all starts to fall a part.  What a great description from having only seen the preview.  As a big fan of this upcoming actor I will be adding this to my Netflix queue.  To some I think Garfield appears whiny, but I think his acting works splendidly.

In the same year Robert Redford directed and starred in the film Lions for Lambs. Redford gave Garfield a an important role acting opposite him as youth who gave Redford hope.  The film is not one of Redford's crowning achievements, but Garfield's future acting chops were there within this moment I remembered thinking "He is going to be big."

Two years later he was in the film the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (Heath Ledger's last film) which I have not brought myself to watch, partly because this movie looked just awful, and I wanted to remember Heath Ledger in his quality work, but I digress.  Garfield had started working with some of the most famous directors.

In 2010 his career took off even further with two great roles, one as Tommy in Never Let Me Go and Eduardo Saverin one of the inventors of facebook in The Social Network; he is great in both of these films.

Never Let Me Go is the story of three young children Kathy (Mulligan), Tommy (Garfield) and Ruth (Knightley) who attend Halisham boarding school.  While attending this school the children are raised kept away from the outside world in order to carry out a mission without their knowledge of the purpose of the mission.   Garfield's performance as Tommy is heartbreaking as he realizes his love for Katie can never happen you see the hope drain from his face.

The Social Network is the movie about the founding of facebook, and Garfield plays the former best friend of billionaire genius Mark Zukerberg.  Garfield's innocence and vulnerability are the strengths in his acting; he never sells the character short.  This should have been his first of many Academy Award nominations, but like most young male actors he lost out.

Garfield has proven his acting talent, but in 2012 is where he will gain his star power taking over the role of Peter Parker aka Spiderman in The Amazing Spiderman.  This is a reboot of the series and it seems as though it will actually be better than the original (or that is my hope).  As Garfield finishes filming this movie look for him to become a big superstar in years to come.