Andrew Garfield Weaves Broadway Into Promising Career

Andrew Garfield, 28, is known primarily for his starring roles in two films — The Social Network and The Amazing Spider-Man — the latter of which hits theaters in June. But Garfield is not content with letting his star status build uncontrollably past his vocational goals; he just wants to be an actor. "I'm lucky because many people don't know what they want to do," he told USA Today. "They end up not being happy — or even more tragically, they never realize they're not happy. I knew I wanted to be passionate about something."

That humble view of his career led Garfield, who was born in Los Angeles to a British mother and an American father, to his latest acting project — playing Biff Loman in the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the iconic role of Biff's father, Willy Loman.

The choice to do a dramatic play is, for Garfield, a logical one. He has already acted in many plays in the U.K., where he was raised, but Death of a Salesman will be his Broadway debut. He says he did not hesitate to accept the role. "I got a call saying that Scott Rudin and Mike and Phil and Linda (Emond, who plays Biff's mom) were interested in me playing Biff, and I was like: 'Yeah. I'll do it. I'll absolutely do it.' There was no hesitation."

Now in previews, Death of a Salesman opens March 15 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City.