Holland previously appeared on stage in the title role of Billy Elliot the Musical in London's West End in 2008, and other major films include The Impossible (2012), In the Heart of the Sea (2015), and The Lost City of Z (2016). He is also set to voice Walter Beckett in Spies in Disguise (2019) and Jip in The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle (2020). Holland has also signed on to star in The Devil All the Time, Onward and as Nathan Drake in Uncharted (all 2020). In 2017, Holland received the BAFTA Rising Star Award.
Holland began dancing at a hip hop class at Nifty Feet Dance School in Wimbledon. His potential was spotted by choreographer Lynne Page (who was an associate to Peter Darling, choreographer of Billy Elliot and Billy Elliot the Musical) when he performed with his dance school as part of the 2006 Richmond Dance Festival.
After eight auditions and two subsequent years of training, on 28 June 2008, Holland made his West End debut in Billy Elliot the Musical as Michael, Billy's best friend. He gave his first performance in the title role on 8 September 2008, receiving positive notices.
In September 2008, Holland (together with co-star Tanner Pflueger) appeared on the news programme on channel FIVE and gave his first TV interview. The following year, he was featured on ITV1 show The Feel Good Factor. At the premiere on 31 January, Holland and two actors also playing the title role, Pflueger and Layton Williams, performed a version of "Angry Dance" from Billy Elliot the Musical, after which Holland was interviewed by host Myleene Klass. He trained five British schoolboys for a dance routine he fronted for the final The Feel Good Factor show on 28 March 2009.
On 8 March 2010, to mark the fifth anniversary of Billy Elliot the Musical, four current Billy Elliots, including Holland, were invited to 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. Holland was chosen to be a lead at the fifth-anniversary show on 31 March 2010. Holland appeared on a regular basis as Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical, rotating with three other performers, until 29 May 2010, when he finished his running.
In 2015, Holland appeared in four episodes of BBC Two's TV series Wolf Hall, as Gregory Cromwell, son of the protagonist Thomas Cromwell played by Mark Rylance. He is set to play Pino Lella in the upcoming mini-series Beneath a Scarlet Sky.
Holland appeared on an episode of Lip Sync Battle, in which he defeated Zendaya. He presented the award for Best Visual Effects at the 90th Annual Academy Awards, in which the Oscar was won by Blade Runner 2049. He later made his fourth appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October 2018, this time portraying his Spider-Man character to promote Spider-Man: Far From Home.
In 2011, Holland was cast in the British version of the animated film Arrietty, produced by Japan's Studio Ghibli. He provided a voice for the principal character Sho.
Holland made his feature film debut in The Impossible, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, alongside Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. Holland was praised so highly, that there were even rumours he was a contender for an Academy Award nomination. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2012 and was a critical and commercial success, earning $180.3 million worldwide and Holland won universal praise from critics and several awards such as the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance and London Film Critics Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year.
Holland starred as Isaac in the drama film How I Live Now, which was released in the UK on 4 October 2013, co-starring Saoirse Ronan and co-starred as Thomas Nickerson in the film In the Heart of the Sea (2015), directed by Ron Howard. Holland also appeared in Locke (2013) alongside Tom Hardy in a supporting role and made a brief appearance in Billy Elliot the Musical Live (2014) to celebrate his role as a 'former Billy'.
In 2016, he played Bradley Baker in the film Edge of Winter, where he co-starred with Joel Kinnaman and Percy Hynes White. In 2017, Holland co-starred alongside Charlie Hunnam in the drama film The Lost City of Z, directed by James Gray, and released in April, to positive critical reception. Holland also performed as the on-set stand-in for the character of The Monster as he would reunite with director J.A Bayona in the film A Monster Calls. Actor Liam Neeson provided the voice for the character, whilst Holland was credited with a special thanks.
In 2017, he co-starred alongside Richard Armitage and Jon Bernthal in the film Pilgrimage. The film premiered on 23 April 2017 at the Tribeca Film Festival, in its "Viewpoint" sections. Also that year, Holland played Samuel Insull in Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's The Current War, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Early reviews of The Current War was met with a mixed response; however, Holland's performance in the film was praised by critics. After The Current War's wider release was met with a delay due to the Harvey Weinstein controversy, in October 2018, Lantern Entertainment, which acquired The Weinstein Company's assets through its bankruptcy, and 13 Films, an international distribution and finance company, struck a deal to co-distribute the film internationally with plans to release the film in 2019.
On 23 June 2015, it was announced that Holland was cast as a teenage Peter Parker / Spider-Man, and his "life was flipped upside down", as he later tweeted. As part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he first appeared as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War (2016). The film was a massive critical and commercial success, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2016, with Holland receiving critical praise. This performance earned Holland a Guinness Book of World Records title as the youngest actor to play a title role in the MCU. In July 2017, Spider-Man: Homecoming was released, in which Holland reprised his role from Captain America: Civil War. Earning $117 million in box office receipts in its first weekend, Homecoming received positive reviews and Holland considerable praise, with his appearance being called "a star performance given by a born actor." The film went on the gross over $800 million worldwide. Holland reprised Spider-Man in Avengers: Infinity War, which was released on 27 April 2018. He has a six-picture deal with Marvel Studios, not including his Captain America: Civil War appearance.
Holland reprised his role in Avengers: Endgame. Holland began shooting for Spider-Man: Far From Home in July 2018 with production wrapping that October. The film is scheduled for a worldwide release date of July 2, 2019. The trailer was released on January 15, 2019, and was first shown at Sony's CCXP Brazil panel on December 8, 2018, with Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal, who portrays Mysterio, in attendance to promote the film.
In 2016, Holland was cast in The Modern Ocean. The project has since encountered development problems but director Shane Carruth has said the film is still in production and has not yet been cancelled, with plans to begin filming in 2020. Holland was set for a supporting role alongside Keanu Reeves, Daniel Radcliffe, Anne Hathaway and Jeff Goldblum.
Holland was cast in the film adaptation of Patrick Ness's best-selling YA series Chaos Walking as Todd Hewitt, alongside Star Wars star Daisy Ridley, which will be directed by Doug Liman. Holland revealed after filming that a sequel was in the works. In May 2017, it was announced that he had been cast as a young Nathan Drake in the film adaptation of Naughty Dog's Uncharted video game series. He is also now cast as the lead role in the film adaptation of Beneath the Scarlet Sky with Pascal Pictures. He is set to star in Blue Sky Studios' Spies in Disguise in 2019 alongside Will Smith. Holland was later cast in a voice role in The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle, alongside MCU co-star Robert Downey Jr.
During the filming of Spider-Man: Far From Home, it was announced that Holland would appear in The Devil All the Time, a horror film set during the events of World War II. The film, scheduled for release in 2020, will be directed by Antonio Campos. Days later, it was also confirmed that Holland would appear in the war film 1917, a film set during the events of World War I directed by Sam Mendes. He played Spider-Man again in Avengers: Endgame, released on 26 April 2019, and will appear in the sequel to Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, which is scheduled for release on 5 July 2019. In December 2018, Holland signed on to the Pixar animated film Onward, alongside Avengers: Infinity War co-star Chris Pratt. In March 2019, it was confirmed that Holland was in talks to take on the lead role in Cherry, based on the novel of the same name, reteaming him with the Russo brothers.
Holland has said that his long-term career plans are to "do some more franchises," play "some meatier indie roles and eventually...transition to the other side of the camera and branch into directing."
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