Andrew Garfield (born 1983) is a British-American actor. Born in Los Angeles to a Jewish mother and father whose family originally emigrated from Poland, Romania, and Russia—later changing their surname from Garfinkel to Garfield—he was raised in Surrey, England. He has described his upbringing as secular Jewish, noting that his heritage shaped his awareness of minority identity and social history.
Garfield rose to prominence with his roles in The Social Network (2010) and The Amazing Spider-Man film series (2012–2014). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his performances in the war drama Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and the musical Tick, Tick… Boom! (2021), the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe Award. On stage, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as Prior Walter in the 2017 London and 2018 Broadway revivals of Angels in America.
Garfield has publicly advocated for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. He is a prominent supporter of the Artists4Ceasefire campaign, regularly wearing the group’s symbolic red emblem on red carpets and signing open letters to the U.S. administration calling for an end to military escalations and the entry of humanitarian aid.
In October 2024, during a promotional interview for his film We Live in Time, Garfield redirected a question about his personal life to address the humanitarian situation in Palestine, stating: “We should be putting our energy into something that actually matters right now… maybe the lives of, you know, Palestinians in Gaza right now. Maybe that’s where our hearts and our energy should be.“