Who is Andrew Garfield, the lucky actor just announced as the lead in Marc Webb's new reboot of Spider-Man? Let Movieline fill you in.
Now that Garfield's won the most coveted role in Hollywood, there will be some who call him an overnight success, but in fact, the 26-year-old Brit has been a promising up-and-comer for the last few years.
In honor of his major coup, I've selected three of Garfield's best performances, though I had to leave a few out; sorry, but there's no way I can endorse the tedious Lions for Lambs despite Garfield's American debut in it, and while he gained plenty of hipster cred as a robot in Spike Jonze's short film I'm Here, it's not exactly a showcase for him.
Want to know what your next Peter Parker is capable of? Take a look:
Boy A (2007)
Garfield is simply stunning in this 2007 British TV-movie (distributed theatrically in the U.S. the following year), and he even nabbed a Best Actor BAFTA Award for his performance as Jack, a shy, tentative man with a dark secret. In his youth, Jack fell under the sway of a troubled friend who involved him in a girl's murder, and after spending his teenage years in prison, he's finally released under a new identity, hoping for a fresh start. Garfield expertly plays the damaged Jack's fumbling, poignant attempts at social interaction and love, and it's doubly heartbreaking when word gets out about Jack's notorious past and the walls start closing in on him again.
Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974 (2009)
The 26-year-old Garfield has a boyish face that certainly makes him capable of pulling off the teenaged Peter Parker, but in the Red Riding Trilogy, he proved himself a man. Like Boy A, the three Red Riding films aired on British television before a theatrical stateside debut, and in the dark first installment -- the trilogy's best -- Garfield ages before our eyes from a larky young reporter to a revenge-motivated obsessive while investigating a series of murders involving young girls.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
Terry Gilliam's comic fantasia received the lion's share of its attention for featuring Heath Ledger's final role, but overshadowed in the hubbub was Garfield's winning performance. As the handsome but gawky Anton, Garfield found himself going toe-to-toe with Ledger for the affections of the beautiful Valentina (Lily Cole), and he made their romantic rivalry an actual horse race: Ledger was charismatic as always, but Garfield showed the beginning glimmers of matinee idolhood. As Ledger teased him without mercy, it felt like the generous passing of the torch (although, in one ironic footnote, Ledger was Sony's first choice for the original Spider-Man, but refused to accept the role).