Andrew Garfield up in the air as Sir Richard Branson

The Oscar-nominated Jewish actor is a devout mormon in a new Disney series then takes to the skies with Virgin

By Brigit Grant July 19, 2022, 9:29 pm Edit

For more than four decades, Brigit Grant has covered news and celebrity exclusives. As Executive Editor (Features) and Editor of Life magazine, she combines award-winning journalism with a longstanding passion for animal welfare, particularly dogs.

Lyn Garfield would have been so proud of her son Andrew. The actor, who was Oscar-nominated for his performance in Tick,Tick… Boom lost his mother to cancer just before filming the bio-pic about composer Jonathan Larson. While promoting the film, Andrew spoke of his grief, saying: “For a period of time I didn’t want to, and I wasn’t able to, do anything. I was kind of wasted and the world didn’t make sense, and it still doesn’t, because I miss her greatly, and I hope it never makes sense because I always want to miss her.”

Andrew Garfield and his late mother Lynn Garfield

Thankfully the loving son found his way back to work and on 27 July appears in Under The Banner Of Heaven on Disney+, in which he plays a detective and devout Mormon investigating the real-life murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her baby daughter in the mormon stronghold of Salt Lake City. Garfield, who is already nominated for an Emmy for the series is moving on to play Sir Richard Branson in the six-part series Hot Air, which tells the story of the billionaire businessman and his airline company, Virgin Airways, from when it started in 1984 with one leased aeroplane to when it threatened British Airways’ monopoly. Andrew recently reprised his role as Spider-Man in 2021’s The Spider-Man: No Way Home, so he knows how to get around with a web, but portraying Branson will doubtless secure his way home in the future from wherever Virgin flies.

Under The Banner Of Heaven on Disney+