Everyone adores Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ in Hollywood. Because of this, our joy knew no bounds when he put on the Spider-Man suit once again in Spider-Man: No Way Home! In addition to portraying Spider-Man, the actor has played a ton of other roles, each of which highlights his extraordinary range of talent.
But have you ever considered what the 39-year-old actor might be doing today if he were not an actor? He might have been an extremely smart doctor, an instructor, or even a pilot. After all, there are countless options!
However, there is one profession that Garfield realized was not for him—gymnastics. He initially showed interest in the field, but he quickly realized that it was not going to be a good fit for him.
Exactly, he once admitted that before deciding to pursue the glamor of the big screen, he originally had his sights set on a distinguished sporting career.
The English-American actor is well-known for his parts in lauded movies like Under the Banner of Heaven, The Social Network, and Hacksaw Ridge.
What Led Andrew Garfield to Give Up Gymnastics?
Andrew Garfield revealed in a conversation with The Guardian in 2021 that his upbringing was centered around sports as he stated:
“I was raised in a sports household. Very competitive with my older brother. My dad’s a swimming coach, I did gymnastics and swimming, rugby and cricket and football.”
But his mother’s death from cancer (pancreatic cancer) in 2019 was what ultimately inspired him to pursue acting. The actor recalled that she wanted him to try his luck in the entertainment business because she saw him struggling in school.
“What a dangerous, bold, loving, soulful thing to do. She knew I probably wouldn’t make any money from it but she saw her son was having trouble and was not feeling a sense of joy about being alive.”
When it came to making decisions about his own well-being, Garfield was also motivated by gymnast, Simone Biles. In the end, Biles withdrew from five of her six Olympic finals in order to focus on her mental health.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye actor, who claimed that this served as inspiration, said:
“The fact that she [Simone Biles] decided to publically honor her own fallibility may be the most inspiring move she could make…I said, ‘I don’t want a big fat Russian gymnastics coach to be sitting on my back while I do the box splits at the age of nine. I wanna go be a punk with my friends and go skateboarding and listen to Rage Against the Machine and be a bit of f*ckup for a minute.’ There was a natural inclination to own being a f*cking idiot.”
‘This is No Place for an 11-year-old’
After watching Andrew Garfield swing between buildings as Spider-Man, we cannot help but wonder if he would have become a decent gymnast. But as he jokingly recalled, there are some things you should let go of.
The actor once discussed his desire to be a gymnast as a young child in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
DeGeneres asked him:
“So you were in a tiny town in England and you wanted to be a gymnast when you grew up?”
The 39-year-old replied stating:
“That’s something that I found myself doing and I had a nice moment with that. I was very young and I realized that it probably wasn’t for me at that very young age. There was a moment where I think I was 11 and I came to consciousness in box splits with a very overweight man sat on my back. I was just like, ‘This is no place for an 11-year-old.’”
While there is no doubt that Garfield would have made a great gymnast if he had put in the effort, we are happy he chose a different career path.
In light of this, let’s honor the actor’s unwavering spirit and the brave decisions he made to control his own destiny as we eagerly await Garfield’s next film role. The possibilities are seemingly endless for this former sports aspirant who has now become a Hollywood phenomenon.
source – The Guardian
