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Andrew Garfield

People · 1983–

Andrew Garfield

English and American actor (born 1983)

Facts

Years
1983–
Category
People

In brief

Andrew Russell Garfield (born August 20, 1983) is a British-American actor recognized for his versatile performances in both independent films and major franchises. Born in Los Angeles, California, to a British mother, Lynn, and an American father, Richard Garfield, he relocated to Epsom, Surrey, England, at age three, where he spent his formative years.

Garfield honed his craft through youth theatre before training at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, debuting professionally in the 2005 BBC drama Simon Schama's Power of Art. His breakthrough arrived with the role of Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher's The Social Network (2010), for which he received nominations for a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. This led to leading roles in Never Let Me Go (2010) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), showcasing his ability to blend emotional depth with period and fantastical elements.

Andrew Russell Garfield was born on August 20, 1983, in Los Angeles, California, to Richard Garfield, an American of Polish Jewish descent, and Lynn Garfield (née Hillman), a British woman from Essex, England. His father's ancestors included Polish Jews who emigrated from areas near Kielce and Stopnica to London around 1910, with family stories later tracing further back to survival amid events like the Treblinka uprising and migrations to Rio de Janeiro before settling in California. The family belonged to the middle class, with Richard initially operating a small moving company in Los Angeles before transitioning to co-owning an interior design business with Lynn upon relocating.

During his childhood in Surrey, Garfield engaged in gymnastics and swimming, activities that aligned with his father's coaching role and reflected the family's emphasis on physical discipline amid a supportive but modest environment. The relocation from the United States fostered Garfield's dual cultural identity, blending American roots with British upbringing in a secular household that nonetheless preserved awareness of paternal Jewish heritage through family narratives.

Andrew Garfield was born on August 20, 1983, in Los Angeles, California, to Lynn Garfield (née Hillman), a British nursery school teaching assistant originally from Essex, England, and Richard Garfield, an American interior designer from California whose parents emigrated from Poland. The family, of Jewish heritage, relocated to Epsom, Surrey, in England when Garfield was three years old, where his parents operated a small interior design business. He has one older brother, Ben Garfield.

Andrew Garfield
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons

Hero photograph: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons

Sources

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