Tom Holland: Spider-Man Was Identified at Seven
Last updated: November 2026
For a whole generation of children, Tom Holland is Spider-Man. What many of his young fans don't know is that the man inside the suit has dyslexia, and ADHD, and talks about both openly. Holland was identified as dyslexic at seven years old. School was hard work, spelling above all. His story is a useful one for children to hear early: the identification came young, the effort was real, and none of it stood in his way.
"My dyslexia, it's really just my spelling. My spelling was really the biggest hurdle." — Tom Holland, On Purpose podcast with Jay Shetty, 2023
Quick Facts
- Full name: Thomas Stanley Holland
- Born: June 1, 1996, Kingston upon Thames, London, England
- Known for: Actor: Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the Marvel films; also The Impossible and Uncharted
- Identified at: 7
- His dyslexic strength: Physical, playful creativity: a dancer and gymnast's instinct for learning by moving, doing and playing, rather than from the page
- Interesting fact: Holland has ADHD as well as dyslexia, which he spoke about publicly in 2025
Identified early, and it still wasn't easy
Holland's parents found out early: he was identified at seven. On Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast in 2023, he explained how his dyslexia shows up: "My dyslexia, it's really just my spelling. My spelling was really the biggest hurdle. I worked really hard at school. I didn't do particularly well, but my parents said, 'As long as you try your best.'"
That last line is worth dwelling on. His father, Dominic Holland, is a comedian and author; his mother, Nikki, is a photographer. Their rule for their son was effort, not results, and Holland credits that support, repeated in interview after interview, with getting him through school with his confidence intact.
A different route in
Holland's path to success did not run through examinations. Dance classes led to the title role in Billy Elliot the Musical in London's West End (2008–2010), a part that demanded athleticism, memory and stage presence rather than spelling. He trained at the BRIT School for performing arts, then broke through on screen in The Impossible (2012). In 2016 he debuted as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War, and went on to headline the Spider-Man films, in which he plays a clever kid who doesn't always fit in at school.
His school reports were never the measure of him. His body, his timing and his imagination were.
The blank canvas
Dyslexia and ADHD still show up in his working life, and he says so. In September 2025, talking to IGN while promoting Never Stop Playing, a LEGO short film about the importance of play, he put it this way: "I have ADHD and I'm dyslexic, and I find sometimes when someone gives me a blank canvas that it can be slightly intimidating. And sometimes you are met with those challenges when developing a character."
His answer to the blank canvas is the theme of that little film: play. Improvising, moving, trying things out loud: the ways of working that suit his brain are the same ones that make his performances feel so alive.
What he is doing now
2026: Starred in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and returned as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, both released in July 2026, and he remains one of the few actors of his generation to talk plainly about learning differently.
2025: Spoke publicly about having ADHD alongside his dyslexia for the first time (IGN, September 2025), while promoting LEGO's Never Stop Playing and its message that play matters for children.
2023: Spoke at length about his dyslexia on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast, one of the most-listened-to interviews any young actor has given about a learning difference.
In his own words
"My spelling was really the biggest hurdle. I worked really hard at school. I didn't do particularly well, but my parents said, 'As long as you try your best.'"
"I have ADHD and I'm dyslexic, and I find sometimes when someone gives me a blank canvas that it can be slightly intimidating."
How do we know they have dyslexia?
Holland has told this story himself, on the record: on the On Purpose podcast in July 2023, where he said his dyslexia was identified at seven and described spelling as his biggest hurdle; and to IGN in September 2025, where he spoke about having both ADHD and dyslexia. No list or second-hand claim is needed: the sources are his own interviews.
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Photo Credit: Tom Holland at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons