At 19, Tom Holland beat 1,500 actors for ‘Spider-Man’ role

Tom Holland had the odds stacked up against him to land the coveted role of Spider-Man back in 2015.

Marvel Studios conducted a worldwide search to find the actor who would portray its famous wall-crawling superhero. Holland reportedly beat out more than 1,500 competitors for the role, including current Hollywood superstar Timothée Chalamet.

To get the part, Holland went above and beyond just learning a New York accent and memorizing his lines.

With a background in dance and acrobatics, including a lead turn in a West End production of “Billy Elliot,” Holland leaned on his athleticism to help convince decision-makers that he was their Spider-Man. His audition tape opens with a 19-year-old Holland acrobatically flipping into the frame before delivering his lines.

“He just was so young and sweet, and just charming, and then in the audition, he did a full backflip, like a standing backflip, in addition to being really great on tape,” director Jon Watts told Men’s Health in a recent profile of the actor. “It was like watching a video of the real Peter Parker.”

“Avengers: Endgame” director Anthony Russo noted in the profile that Holland’s flip when entering a scene was helpful in getting him the role.

“He was all the things that reminded me of what I loved about Peter Parker as a kid,” Russo said. “And he was a movie star. He had that movie-star quality. The charisma, the confidence, the energy.”

Holland’s Spider-Man would be a massive success, with his character playing a prominent role in three of the 10 highest-grossing films ever made.

Though his ability to fly through the air helped him land one of the hottest roles in the world, Holland admits that he might not be doing all his own stunts for too much longer. Now 28, the Brit says his body doesn’t react to physical stresses quite the way it used to.

He told the magazine that when a younger cousin asked him to do a backflip for them, he didn’t hesitate.

“I actually did land it, but I pulled every muscle in my stomach,” he said. “For weeks, I couldn’t laugh because my stomach was so sore.”

Want to make extra money outside of your day job? Sign up for CNBC’s online course How to Earn Passive Income Online to learn about common passive income streams, tips to get started and real-life success stories.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.