On television, he starred as a Mormon detective in the crime drama miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven (2022) for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor.

[27][28] Garfield began taking acting classes in Guildford, Surrey, when he was nine, and appeared in a youth theatre production of Bugsy Malone.

[31] In his review for The Boston Globe, Wesley Morris considered Garfield's work "a willing punching bag for the movie's jabs and low blows".

[36] Joe Morgenstern, the critic for The Wall Street Journal, dubbed Garfield's performance "phenomenal", assessing that he "makes room for the many and various pieces of Jack's personality".

[31][38] In 2009, Garfield held supporting roles in the Terry Gilliam film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and the Red Riding television trilogy.

[40] In 2010, Garfield co-starred opposite Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley in Mark Romanek's dystopian science-fiction drama Never Let Me Go, an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel of the same name.

[43] For his portrayal of a well-meaning, but dim young man caught in a love triangle, he won the 2010 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.

[44] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman praised the performances of the lead cast, reflecting that "these three all act with a spooky, haunted innocence that gets under your skin.

[49][50] Mark Kermode of the BBC expressed his surprise that Garfield had been overlooked for an Academy Award nomination, opining that "everyone knows he's one of the very best things about The Social Network.

[67][68] The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw labelled his portrayal as the "definitive Spider-Man" and Tom Charity of CNN commended his "combination of fresh-faced innocence, nervous agitation and wry humor".

[74] Two years later, Garfield hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live and appeared in a music video for the song "We Exist" by Arcade Fire, playing a trans woman.

[82] Arachnologists Yuri M. Marusik and Alireza Zamani honored Garfield's portrayal of the role by naming a new species of crevice weaver spider, Pritha garfieldi, after him.

In the former, based on Shūsaku Endō's 1966 novel of the same name, Garfield played Sebastião Rodrigues, a Portuguese Jesuit priest in the seventeenth century who travels to Japan to spread his faith.

The film's arduous principal photography took place in Taiwan, and Garfield lost 40 pounds (18 kg) to achieve his character's physicality.

[18] Kate Taylor of The Globe and Mail disliked the film and wrote that Garfield "is sweetly resolute and gently anguished as the missionary Rodrigues but any hope that the actor might elucidate the psychology of philosophical certitude or the pain of religious doubt proves vain".

[89] In it, Garfield portrayed Desmond Doss, a combat medic during World War II, who was the first conscientious objector in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

[90][91] Writing for USA Today, Brian Truitt labelled the film as "brutally intense and elegantly crafted"; he believed that the central role allowed Garfield to bring depth to his career and commended him for portraying Doss with both "simple sweetness" and "steadfast mettle".

[94][95] Paul T Davis of The British Theatre Guide wrote that Garfield was "transformative and unrecognisable in places, completely inhabiting camp, laconic, frightened and totally loveable Prior Walter".

[98] Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that despite an exceptional story, the film had glossed over the complexities in Cavendish's life, and thought that Garfield was "hampered by a role that restricts him to little more than nodding and grinning".

[99] In March 2018, Garfield reprised the role of Prior when the Angels in America production transferred to Broadway for an eighteen-week limited engagement at the Neil Simon Theatre, alongside a majority of the London cast.

[100] Reviewing the production for The Washington Post, Peter Marks remarked that "nothing [Garfield's] done prepares you for the star-powered dexterity of his Prior" and considered his performance to be the "persuasive moral core of the piece".

[103] Writing for Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson found Garfield to be "great in the role, doing nimble, subtle bits of physical comedy and teasing out the creepy, menacing side of Sam".

[104] Garfield starred in Gia Coppola's drama Mainstream, alongside Maya Hawke and Jason Schwartzman, which had its world premiere at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.

[117] He starred in Dustin Lance Black's miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven, an adaptation of Jon Krakauer's book of the same name, that same year.

[118] Reviewing the miniseries, Vulture's Kathryn VanArendonk highlighted Garfield's "almost flagrantly tender portrayal" of Jeb Pyre, a Mormon detective.

[119] His performance earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

[144] In October 2023, Garfield was a signatory in an open letter by Artists4Ceasefire to President Joe Biden, calling for a ceasefire in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war and has voiced support for the lives of Palestinians.