Andrew Garfield has built a career in Hollywood with several great films that span almost every genre. From explosive action in Spider-Man: No Way Home to mind-boggling plots in Hacksaw Ridge and Never Let Me Go, he has made his worth felt. After his success in Boy A, Garfield wasted little time in assuming the position of becoming one of the most iconic actors of his generation.
From the intense religious drama Silence to the gripping tech biopic The Social Network, here are some of the best performances he has played. It is rightly acknowledged that Garfield’s talent is matched by two Academy Award Best Actor nominations. He deserves credit for his skills. With this consistency, expect more nominations to come. Moving on to his filmography, here are Andrew Garfield’s top seven roles when looking beyond the iconic Spider-Man portrayals.
never let Me Go
Andrew Garfield plays Tommy D, a clone with opposing emotions in the complex love affair between Kathy H., played by Carey Mulligan, and Ruth C., played by Keira Knightley. The film is based on the characters’ detailed emotions under their magnetic attraction to each other, when it dawns on them that the reality is that they are organ donors. The chemistry between them, combined with their coldness, establishes the depth of tragedy in a relationship created for a very sad purpose.
Never Let Me Go has a 7.1 IMDb rating and a 71% approval on Rotten Tomatoes. It has been praised as a powerful emotional masterpiece in the sci-fi romance genre, dealing with concepts such as love and loss and the existential horrors associated with a destiny determined at birth.
silence
Most people believe that Martin Scorsese’s misguided passion project Silence was a case of cashing in on a “blank check” he received from The Wolf of Wall Street, a laborious and lengthy picture about missionaries in feudal Japan. Despite Garfield’s questionable accent in the film, most critics found the film entertaining nonetheless.
Tammy Faye’s Eyes
The Eyes of Tammy Faye is Jessica Chastain’s look at the life of Tammy Faye Baker, focusing on her relationship with Andrew Garfield’s televangelist Jim Baker. It sheds light on the private and public lives of these characters through a detailed portrayal of the graph of their relationship from when they first met to the fall of their televangelist empire. Although Chastain won an Academy Award for Tammy Faye, Andrew Garfield’s performance as Jim Baker was no less deserving. It brought to light the difference between what a public figure is and what he has been like in his private life, showing two sides of a celebrity’s life.
Hacksaw Ridge
In Hacksaw Ridge, Andrew Garfield plays combat medic and devout Seventh-day Adventist Christian Desmond Doss. He received his first Oscar nomination for this performance in a highly acclaimed film directed by Mel Gibson, with an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.1 rating on IMDB. Garfield’s performance – restrained, touching – is a pacifist thrust into the war. Vince Vaughn is also strong here, doing an impression of an impressively thuggish drill sergeant who rises to the level of R. Lee Ermey.
Doss is an unconventional hero of the war film genre, known as a conscientious objector. Yet, he manages to become an invaluable asset to his unit despite his reluctance to kill. His heroism is marked not by the lives he takes but by saving countless lives on the battlefield.
Tick, tick… BOOM!
Andrew Garfield’s recent work, particularly with Netflix’s Tick, Tick. Boom!, has solidified his shift in acting talent. Directed by the acclaimed Lin-Manuel Miranda, the musical was so different from anything Garfield had done before that it truly showcased his range as an adaptable actor. Tick, Tick. Boom! has been considered one of the best movie musicals of recent years. If, in the future, Garfield decides to take on other such roles, audiences will love his performance.
Boy A
Andrew Garfield began making his mark in the industry in 2007; he first made his mark in the cinematic world. In one of the most powerful portrayals by a living young actor, the young man comes to life in this drama about a child killer’s attempts to return to society after being released from prison.
It was the inner pain of a character torn between his past and redemption that endeared audiences and critics to Garfield. He portrayed the character’s inner turmoil and desperation beautifully.
social network
David Fincher’s The Social Network turns a common theme of lawsuit cases into a real page-turning film. At the center of it all is Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, the author of the very popular Facebook. However, it is Andrew Garfield playing co-founder Eduardo Saverin who provides an interesting counterpoint to Mark Zuckerberg’s character. The story comes alive with powerful, sharp dialogues through Aaron Sorkin’s Academy Award-winning screenplay. It would almost be the makings of a supervillain origin story: a few frustrated college students from an unsavory website rating mainly women’s attractiveness turns into an international connecting device. Given that Facebook is not out of the woods with its multiple scandals of violating user privacy, if at all, the film’s relevance could hardly have gone a step lower.
With a rating of 7.8 on IMDb and an encouraging 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Social Network is arguably one of director David Fincher’s best works. The film tells the story of tech giants being sued for massive amounts of money, which is exposed through a series of simple statements. Because of all this, Fincher’s brilliant direction, Sorkin’s impeccable screenplay, and the performances by the cast – particularly Eisenberg and Garfield – make The Social Network a truly compelling cinematic experience. The camera work is dynamic, the Oscar-winning editing is tight, and the film’s relentless exploration of narcissism is brilliantly intimate.
Also read: Andrew Garfield dating history: Exploring the Spider-Man star’s past few years of relationships