Tom Holland may only be 20 years old, but the Spider-Man: Homecoming actor has already proven himself in a string of impressive movie roles alongside some of the industry’s most sought-after actors (not to mention a starring role on the London stage in Billy Elliot the Musical).
You’ve probably already seen Holland swing as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil Warand his epic performance on Lip Sync Battle, but what else has the young Brit been in? Here are five Tom Holland roles that are definitely worth checking out…
The Impossible (2012)
The Impossibleis not a film for the faint of heart, given that it is set during the real-life tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia in 2004. It is tragic and scary in a way that only a film based on something that actually happened can be. This real-life story of one British family fighting for survival in the midst of this tragedy also happens to be one of Tom Holland’s finest performances to date.
Holland plays Lucas, the oldest son of the Bennet family, and he is absolutely phenomenal, being asked to carry much more of the feature film than child actors are normally allowed to do — and making it look easy. There’s no doubt that this performance played some role in getting Holland on Marvel Studios’ radar for Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Tom Holland doesn’t have a huge role in How I Live Now, but he is featured prominently enough in the first half of the film and is both funny and heartbreaking as Isaac. Besides, this film adaptation of the Printz Award-winning young adult novel of the same name is well worth the watch for star Saoirse Ronan’s performance, its unconventional depiction of war, and for the ways in which it treats its young characters with brutal respect.
The Secret World of Arriettyis a Japanese animated film from Studio Ghibli and co-written by master storyteller Hayao Miyazaki. Based on the story of The Borrowers, it tells the story of a family of tiny people who live inside the walls of a human house, borrowing what they need to survive. When bold tiny person Arrietty meets human-sized Sho, the two form an unlikely friendship.
This is where things get tricky if you’re a Tom Holland fan. You see, Holland voiced the character of Sho in the 2011 Studio Canal release of the film, but someone else was voicecast in the Disney version distributed in America. So you’re going to have to get your hands on the British version if you want to hear Holland in the role. Either way, though, this beautifully-crafted film is definitely worth a watch.
Locke (2013)
Lockeis another example of some extremely brief, but still memorable voice work from Tom Holland. Because of the nature of the film, Tom Hardy’s character, Ivan Locke, is the only one who actually appears on screen, but Locke makes 36 phone calls during the course of the movie — including to his son, Eddie, played by Holland. Again, Holland doesn’t have a major role in this film, but the movie is worth watching on its own merits and, even in the small role he is given, Holland shines.
Thor and Spider-Man might not have gottten to hang out in Captain America: Civil War, but Chris Hemsworth and Tom Holland did share the big screen in In the Heart of the Sea, a film about the real-life sinking of a ship that inspired the writing of Moby Dick.Holland plays cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, a younger version of the tale’s narrator, played by Brendan Gleeson. Sadly, Nickerson gets more to do in his older version than his younger version, but you still get to see Thor and Spider-Man fight a whale, so there’s that.
