Andrew Garfield’s rise to prominence is indicative of the unique career trajectories that contemporary actors must take to find themselves in the good graces of the industry. Garfield was first acclaimed for his work as a child star in both theater and television, which landed him the opportunity to co-star in Robert Redford’s political drama “Lions For Lambs.” Even though the film was a disaster that failed as an attempted award season contender, Garfield’s talents were evident, as it was clear that he could hold his own with a legendary A-lister. It wasn’t surprising that Garfield would continue to be a star favored by prestigious directors, as his future collaborators would include David Fincher, Martin Scorsese, Mel Gibson, Ramin Bahrani, Luca Guadagnino, and Terry Gilliam, among others.
Ironically, Garfield’s career faced its most significant peak and hurdle when he was cast to play Peter Parker in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” a hasty reboot of the franchise after Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire didn’t pursue a fourth entry in their series. While both the film and its sequel earned mixed reviews, Garfield earned nearly unanimous praise for his performance as the web-slinger, which made his cameo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover film “Spider-Man: No Way Home” particularly satisfying for fans of his interpretations. Nonetheless, Garfield clearly has a tremendous amount of range and will continue to make ambitious and exciting choices outside of the superhero genre, which he has already mastered. Here are the top ten best Andrew Garfield movie performances, ranked.
10. The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye” famously won Jessica Chastain the Academy Award for Best Actress for her transformative performance as the titular televangelist, who became a surprising feminist icon and LGBTQ advocate after a series of scandals within the religious community. It’s nice to see that an actress of Chastain’s caliber finally has a trophy (even if she really should have won it for “Zero Dark Thirty”), but, unfortunately, Garfield did not also gain traction for his equally impressive turn as Faye’s husband, Jim Bakker, who became a brief media sensation before corruption scandals landed him behind bars.
Garfield had to pull off a difficult trick, as Jim needed to deceive both Tammy and the audience about his true intentions. He is initially a charismatic—if ambitious—young man who offers his lover opportunities she never would have had access to otherwise. Even if there is something deceptive and self-aggrandizing at the heart of Jim’s characterization, Garfield makes a compelling case that his quick rise to power and involvement with more conservative Christian movements caused him to retreat into narcissism and cruelty.
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It may be challenging to call Garfield’s performance sympathetic, but it certainly feels tragic given the strength of his chemistry with Chastain. Thanks to the film’s Oscar-winning makeup, Garfield makes a complete physical transformation and captures the essence of an intriguing, real, larger-than-life media figure without ever dipping into stereotyping or unnecessary idiosyncrasy for the sake of whimsy.
9. We Live in Time (2024)
“We Live In Time” is the type of old-fashioned romantic drama that Hollywood simply doesn’t make anymore, as it has even been trouble for rom-coms to stay alive within the streaming ecosystem, which tends to consume mid-budget productions altogether. Although there’s nothing about “We Live In Time” that wouldn’t be familiar to those who experienced weepies like “Terms of Endearment” or “The Accidental Tourist” in the 1980s, the sheer strength of the chemistry between Garfield and Florence Pugh is enough to justify any familiarity. Rarely, a film so perfectly summarizes what it is like to fall in love for the first time, and thanks to the unusual structure employed by director John Crowley, the film is able to dip in and out of different points in the couple’s relationship for maximum emotional impact.
Garfield is no longer a teenage heartthrob in “We Live In Time,” as he plays a divorced, saddened man who finds an unexpected connection after getting into an accident. Garfield is able to exercise his charisma without ever feeling indulgent, as the film is still willing to recognize the real stakes and realities that these characters deal with amidst their romance. Pugh may have been given the more heartbreaking, dramatic high points of the film that allow her to bare her soul. But it’s unlikely that her performance would have the same crushing impact if Garfield didn’t provide such a soft, compassionate partner for her to realistically fall in love with instantly.
8. Boy A (2007)
Released the same year as “Lions for Lambs,” “Boy A” offered Garfield a far trickier role as a young man recently released from prison after committing a crime as a teenager. There’s nothing idealistic or inviting about the film’s approach to the very difficult subject material. “Boy A” is unflinching in its portrayal of what inspired youthful transgressions and how they can lead to even more devastating consequences down the line. Garfield is once again forced to weaponize his charisma. He plays a character who knowingly has a limit to what he can achieve. Even if his positive outlook and desire to do good endear him to the new community that he joins, he has the lurking knowledge that this new reality could be instantly shattered if anyone were to learn the truth about his past.
Whether his character is intended to be fully absolved is something that “Boy A” is creatively ambiguous about. Although there’s evidence to suggest that he was acting in reaction to an even more horrific crime, Garfield brings an unkempt sense of rage and dissatisfaction that makes the character analysis more difficult. The fact that “Boy A” was more of a critical darling than a mainstream hit is unfortunate, but it may have ended up aiding Garfield’s later career as he pursued different roles. His performance in “Boy A” is so strikingly vulnerable, emotional, and at times terrifying that it’s almost hard to believe that Garfield would make a career out of playing highly endearing characters.
7. 99 Homes (2014)
“99 Homes” is among the most underrated social dramas of the past decade, as Ramin Bahrani’s smart, emotional story about the corruption inherent to America’s real estate crisis has only grown more relevant with age. Garfield gives a rarely disheveled, burdened performance as a hardworking construction worker from Orlando, Florida, who is forced to make a “deal with the Devil” by becoming the protege of a ruthless real estate agent (Andrew Garfield). The story of an impressionable, enthusiastic young person transforming into the thing that they had once wanted to destroy is a time-honored American fable that is as old as “Citizen Kane.” However, “99 Homes” finds a way to make the material feel relevant by showing the malleable ethics involved in modern economics.
Garfield is believable as a blue-collar single father, and his pathos makes the film’s twisty premise even more cunning. While Shannon gets to do a fair amount of scenery-chewing as the epitome of greed and narcissism run rampant, Garfield is saddled with showing how someone could slowly bend their personal code of ethics in order to work for the betterment of their family. As is often the case with Bahrani’s work, the larger implications of “99 Homes” don’t detract from its more individualistic center of the story. The film is so realistic that it becomes uncomfortable to watch in some instances. Even though it somewhat runs out of steam by the time it reaches its conclusion, “99 Homes” benefits from the deeply humanistic performance Garfield provides.
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6. Never Let Me Go (2010)
It’s not often that great books can become great films, but Mark Romanek’s tearjerking adaptation of “Never Let Me Go” is the perfect antithesis to the wave of young adult novel adaptations that dominated the 21st century. Set in a world where extended lifespans are made possible through the sacrifices of organ donors, “Never Let Me Go” offers a grim understanding of the “haves” and the “have-nots” in a classist system. Although it’s a film with big ideas and some deeply upsetting implications, “Never Let Me Go” is brought to life by a trio of lovely performances from Garfield, Keira Knightley, and Carrie Mulligan.
Even if it is the story of a love triangle in a dystopian future, there’s nothing about “Never Let Me Go” that feels schmaltzy, as these characters are forced to cope with a future that they have no power to change. Garfield tragically captures the fleeting youthful innocence, as the film celebrates the emotionally overwhelming nature of young love, even if it’s a deeply melancholy story. The script by Alex Garland relies on the audience to connect the dots. The film avoids easy routes of exposition, but the performances are so well-realized that the emotional impact is never lessened. While it failed to connect at the box office and didn’t receive any significant award season attention, “Never Let Me Go” is the type of soulful work of modern science fiction that is almost guaranteed to be remembered more fondly as it continues to age.
5. tick, tick… BOOM! (2021)
“Tick, Tick…BOOM!” is perhaps the ultimate confluence of collaborators, influences, and style that any musical fan could dream of. Based on the acclaimed stage show of the same name, the feature film directorial debut of Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda stars Garfield as Jonathan Larson, the brilliant composer of “Rent,” who died tragically at the age of 35. Garfield had earned praise for his work on stage, but “Tick, Tick…BOOM!” was an attempt to translate a very specific musical to the big screen. Although the last few years have seen disastrous musical adaptations of acclaimed shows, such as “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Cats,” “Tick, Tick…BOOM!” is a rousing triumph that celebrates and deconstructs its medium. It’s perhaps the most challenging role that Garfield has ever had, as the film required him to be completely open in expressing the inspirational nature of a legendary artist who was lost too soon.
Garfield finds the balance between giving rousing musical performances and still fitting within the confines of a dramatic film, which does not shy away from the dark shadow that the AIDS crisis had over the Broadway community. Even if the film ultimately celebrates what phenomenal achievements Larson was able to make, Garfield does not idolize him to the point that he’s not a relatable character. The performance earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, despite the fact that the film was overlooked in other categories. Even if not for the controversy involved, the fact that Will Smith’s performance in “King Richard” took home the top prize over Garfield is simply blasphemous.
4. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Garfield’s first Oscar nomination came from a film that could have easily been consumed by the controversy surrounding its production, its filmmaker, and its true story. Directed by Mel Gibson, a decade after “Apocalypto,” “Hacksaw Ridge” stars Garfield as the World War II veteran Desmond Doss, who served as an American combat medic during the Pacific War. Although he was a lifelong activist and conscientious objector, Doss was responsible for saving countless lives, even though he refused to even pick up a weapon.
Gibson’s offscreen activities have made any film that deals with bigotry, religious freedom, and violence a touchy subject, but “Hacksaw Ridge” is neither a jingoistic expression nor a work of religious propaganda. Rather, it’s a grounded examination of a man who chose compassion and love during one of the most horrific events in human history, and allowed Garfield to give one of his most earnest performances ever. There’s not a hint of irony to the wholesome, endlessly good nature that Garfield finds in Doss.
But the idealistic nature of his personality is threatened by the post-traumatic stress disorder that plagues his father (Hugo Weaving), the backlash he faces from the Allied military forces, and the hellish landscape of the Japanese battlefields. It’s an all-encompassing, profoundly moving performance in which Garfield is tasked to represent a real hero without making him feel like a larger-than-life character with no semblance of reality. While “Hacksaw Ridge” didn’t lead to a full-on comeback for Gibson, Garfield did the material justice and elevated the entire film.
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3. Under the Silver Lake (2018)
After it was panned at a Cannes Film Festival screening, held from release after being re-tooled, and eventually dumped in select theaters a year later with almost no fanfare, “Under the Silver Lake” was destined to become a cult classic. Director David Robert Mitchell may have struck gold with his directorial debut “It Follows,” which was immediately canonized as a future horror classic, but “Under the Silver Lake” was a far more idiosyncratic, acidic, and purposefully disorienting window into conspiracies, cults, and subjective reality.
Garfield casts aside all of his inherent charisma to play the hapless film buff Sam, who goes on a quest to find the enigmatic girl Sarah (Riley Keough) after she goes missing. While at first it may seem that she simply wasn’t interested in him, Sam deludes himself into thinking there is a vast and insidious plot to prey upon young women in Los Angeles, which connects to a doomsday cult, subliminal messaging in popular music, and many hallucinogenic drugs.
“Under the Silver Lake” is a satire of toxic masculinity that explores the strange ways that conspiracy theories entrap angry young men, but it’s also a gloriously entertaining, madcap adventure with hints of “Blue Velvet,” “The Big Lebowski,” and “Chinatown.” It would be hard to keep up with the film’s haphazard array of subplots, many of which are left ambiguous for a reason, if it weren’t for a performance as laughably pathetic as Garfield’s. It’s a feat of comic genius that shows the bravery Garfield had in portraying a completely unlikable character.
2. Silence (2016)
“Silence” was a long-gestating passion project for Martin Scorsese, who had signaled since “Mean Streets” that his Catholic faith would remain a defining concern in his work as an artist. Even after the media frenzy that followed the release of “The Last Temptation of Christ,” Scorsese was still determined to adapt “Silence,” which explored the exploits of two Jesuit priests who faced persecution and torture when searching for their mentor in Japan during the seventeenth century. While multiple iterations of the cast emerged over the film’s nearly thirty years in development hell, Garfield eventually landed the role of Father Sebastião Rodrigues, whose journey into a brutalistic feudal society causes him to have a serious reckoning with his faith.
The fact that Garfield lost over thirty pounds and performed the difficult Portuguese accent isn’t even the most impressive aspect of his performance in “Silence.” It’s a film about a man who has dedicated his entire life to faith, and is forced to justify his beliefs as those who share his values are tortured and killed. The ethical dilemma that Rodrigues faces as he considers whether God would forgive him for the atrocities committed is complicated by his own anxieties he faces regarding belief. His doubts are only heightened by the challenging circumstances. “Silence” literalizes the debates that Scorsese has overseen throughout his entire career, and maps them onto a powerful true story. It’s perhaps the most Garfield has ever committed to a role, and resulted in a film that is destined to stand the test of time.
1. The Social Network (2010)
When looking at the best and most influential films of the 21st century, “The Social Network” isn’t just worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as “There Will Be Blood,” “Mulholland Drives,” or “Mad Max: Fury Road,” but perhaps the most perfect embodiment of how radically culture shifted over the course of the last 25 years. David Fincher’s masterpiece examined how the Internet could simultaneously connect people and isolate them, in a ‘Citizen Kane’-like chronicle of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and the legal battles surrounding Facebook’s creation. Eisenberg is downright uncanny in his portrayal, but the soul of the film belongs to Garfield, whose performance as Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin embodies the wounded friendship at the heart of the story.
Garfield portrays Saverin as a smart, ambitious, and well-spoken young man whose worst crime was trusting his best friend. By indulging Zuckerberg and excusing his excesses, Saverin unwittingly positioned himself to take the fall for a controversy that almost erased him from the history of social media. Garfield’s contained, charismatic performance is slowly pushed to the brink as the odds are stacked against him, leading to an outburst that easily ranks among the greatest monologues in screen history. It’s rare that such a youthful performer is given the opportunity to appear in a film that reflects the consciousness of an entire generation, and Garfield’s broken spirit is what makes “The Social Network” a great tragedy, and not just a dire warning about the future.
