Andrew Garfield Is Taking a Break from Acting After Back-to-Back Projects

It's often easy to forget just how exhausting acting can be. From rigorous days on set, long hair and makeup routines, and the various circuits and appearances that encompass a film's press, there is a lot that goes into the craft. As an audience, it's easy to lose sight of this when we primarily just see actors on screens. As such, they undoubtedly deserve a break every now and then, and that's just what one of Hollywood's hottest stars has now decided in Andrew Garfield.

The actor, who will soon be appearing in his first starring television role as a Mormon detective in the FX series Under the Banner of Heaven, announced his decision in an interview with Variety. His words sound far from a retirement, and after a busy 2021 which saw him star in two major Academy Awards contenders in The Eyes of Tammy Faye and tick, tick... BOOM!, in addition toreprising his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it's a decision that is very much warranted. Here's what he had to say when asked what audiences can expect from him next:

"I'm going to rest for a little bit. I need to recalibrate and reconsider what I want to do next and who I want to be and just be a bit of a person for a while. Because as you know, that is a washing machine, that awards season. I need to be just a bit ordinary for a while."

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Garfield is of course referring to his recent second Academy Award nomination for his work as Jonathan Larson in tick, tick... BOOM!. It's surely been a grueling cycle for the actor, who is now just ending his awards circuit appearances to do press for his new series. His comments also do line up well with what's known about the actor, who has no other active roles or projects on the horizon.

2021 was a major resurgence for Garfield, whose films all had their theatrical/streaming releases within three months of each other. While most audiences will recognize him as Spider-Man in the 2012 and 2014 films from Marc Webb, he really broke out onto the scene for his incredible performance as Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher's The Social Network. He's also starred in Silence, 99 Homes, and Breathe. His first Academy Award nomination came in 2017, where he was nominated for Best Lead Actor for his performance as Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge.