[a] Holland's career began at the age of nine, when he enrolled in a dancing class, where a choreographer noticed him and arranged for him to audition for a role in Billy Elliot the Musical at London's Victoria Palace Theatre.

Holland made his film debut in the disaster drama The Impossible (2012) as a teenage tourist trapped in a tsunami, for which he received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Goya Award for Best New Actor.

After this, Holland decided to pursue acting as a full-time career, appearing in How I Live Now (2013) and playing historical figures in the film In the Heart of the Sea (2015) and the miniseries Wolf Hall (2015).

Holland achieved international recognition playing Spider-Man in six Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero films, beginning with Captain America: Civil War (2016).

The following year, Holland received the BAFTA Rising Star Award and became the youngest actor to play a title role in an MCU film in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

[21] After two years of training in ballet, tap dancing and acrobatics,[13] Holland won the role of Michael Caffrey, the protagonist's best friend, and made his debut performance at the West End's Victoria Palace Theatre in June 2008.

[17] After his work on Billy Elliot the Musical finished in 2010,[25] Holland voiced a role in the British dub of the Japanese animated fantasy film Arrietty (2011),[26] and sent an audition tape to Juan Antonio Bayona for a part in The Impossible (2012).

[28] A. O. Scott of The New York Times found Holland to be "a terrific young actor", praising his character's transition from a self-involved to a responsible adolescent.

[45][46] While producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal were impressed with his performances in The Impossible, Wolf Hall, and In the Heart of the Sea,[44] directors the Russo brothers cited Holland's dancing and gymnastics background as the reasons to cast him.

[50][51] In a review for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw praised Holland and co-star Paul Rudd (who played Ant-Man) as "seductively high-spirited and hilarious",[52] and Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times wrote that he made "a strong first impression" as Spider-Man.

[54] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter found Holland and White "excellent", describing their terrified reaction as "more emotionally wrenching than the tired thriller genre conventions to which the film ultimately succumbs".

[58] Holland played the son of Percy Fawcett (Hunnam), an explorer who makes several attempts to find a supposed lost ancient city in the Amazon rainforest.

Neil Soans of The Times of India praised Holland for making the film emotional towards the end and Rex Reed of The New York Observer found him "remarkably strong and self-assured".

[80] Ben Travis of Empire magazine found Holland "a note-perfect Spider-Man — still funnier and more believably teenage" than Maguire and Garfield who previously portrayed the character.

[86] Alongside Avengers co-star Sebastian Stan, Holland starred in Antonio Campos's The Devil All the Time (2020), a Netflix psychological thriller set after World War II.

[87] Campos praised Holland's effort to learn Southern American English for the role, described his acting process as "methodical", "thoughtful and sensitive",[88] and called him a kind person.

[88] Critics from IndieWire and Roger Ebert's website opined that despite the film's failed script, Holland gave a convincing performance and showed his range as an actor.

[96] Holland next played alongside Daisy Ridley as a young man living on a planet called New World in Chaos Walking, an adaptation of Patrick Ness's best-selling science fiction series of the same name.

[98][99] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter found the chemistry between Holland and Ridley lackluster, and Christian Holub of Entertainment Weekly noted his failed attempt to break away from roles similar to Spider-Man.

[103] After taking on mature roles in films like Cherry, Holland noted that he found it strange adjusting back to playing Parker, chiefly due to raising his voice pitch and returning to the mindset of a "naïve, charming teenager".

[106] Wendy Ide of The Guardian wrote that the film "delivers an overflowing, funnel-web cornucopia of treats for Spider-fans" and attributed Parker's continuing appeal to "his endearing, puppyish enthusiasm".

He expressed a desire to see a live-action Spider-Man film with Miles Morales as the protagonist, whereas Amy Pascal spoke of wanting Holland to continue playing the role.

[1] Holland began the following year with an investment in Dogpound gyms,[109] and a starring role as a young Nathan Drake, a charismatic fortune hunter, in the film adaptation of Naughty Dog's Uncharted video game series.

[111][112] In a mixed review for his performance, Brian Tallerico of Roger Ebert's website labelled him miscast, writing that "Holland has the agility but quite simply lacks the weight and world-weariness needed" for the role.

[17] German actor Sönke Möhring, his co-star from The Impossible, similarly remarked on his professionalism, adding, "he is blessed with a deep soul [...] down to earth, very polite and a friendly kid.

[129] Calling him "his generation's biggest leading man" in 2021, GQ's Oliver Franklin-Wallis wrote, "Holland has ascended to a tier of stardom few actors ever reach, and rarely so young".

[1] Variety editors Brent Lang and Rebecca Rubin reported in December 2021 that after the success of the Spider-Man films, Holland could become a top-paid actor in the future.

[131] Holland considers himself to be "an impossible people pleaser",[1] which according to Olivia Singh of Business Insider has resulted in his facing burnout and an incident where he vomited after a press conference.

[136] In 2022, Holland felt actor Tom Cruise overlooked the commercial impact of Uncharted when he took credit for "[bringing] the film industry back" during the COVID-19 pandemic with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).

[1][138] He had been in a relationship with his Spider-Man co-star, Zendaya, for some time before publicly acknowledging it in November 2021; he later discussed that he felt that the consistent media attention it received breached their privacy.