Would you believe us if we told you Tom Holland is a nepo baby? Well, somewhat of a nepo baby…
The Spider-Man star has a famous father – and people are stunned after learning of his identity.
Tom, 27, isn’t the first member of his family to acquire fame and fortune, as his dad, Dominic Holland, is a comedian and author in his own right.
The 56-year-old – who is married to Tom’s mother Nikki Holland – has been winning awards long before his son started picking up Baftas with his glittering CV.
Dominic first began performing stand-up routines in 1991 at The Comedy Café in London.
Then, in 1993, he won the Perrier Best Newcomer Award in Edinburgh.
However, it wasn’t until his BBC Radio 4 series, The Small World of Dominic Holland, that he hit the big time.
Having launched in 2000, the show’s title was a cheeky reference to his 5’6″ height and featured both stand-up and sketches, running for one series which has since been repeated on BBC 7.
But that’s not all, as Dominic has also appeared on the small screen.
His TV debut came in 1993 on Lafter Hours with Harry Hill, while he’s also appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and Have I Got News for You, having once been the latter programme’s regular warm-up act.
Despite Dominic’s string of accomplishments, many of his famous son’s fans are only just clocking who he is.
Following an article by People on stars with famous connections, social media users were quick to express their disbelief.
X user goodkingjon wrote: ‘Why have I only just learned who Tom Holland’s dad is? I would not have guessed that.’
‘Why am I just now finding out Tom Holland is a nepo baby’, posted _onthattrapeze.
Despite being branded with the ‘nepo baby’ label, Tom’s fans have also flocked to his defence, to say the nepotism is, in fact, non-existent.
‘Tom holland is not a nepo baby how many times we gotta go over this, wrote kimkimdaya. ‘His dad is the nepo one if anything’.
‘Just saw someone call tom holland a nepo baby… is the nepotism in the room with us?’, wrote rinaslutteo.
One of Dominic’s most recent projects was the Amazon comedy special Dominic Holland: The Glory Years.
Released in 2020, its synopsis pokes fun at those nepotism accusations: ‘Just your regular, down-to-earth Hollywood Dad, Dom’s son Tom as the latest Spiderman is (annoyingly) doing all the high flying for him.’
Proud dad Dominic also wrote a book titled Eclipsed, in which he reflected on how his child’s success ended up taking over his.
‘How does a kid called Tom Holland, who never had a speaking part in a school, play find himself playing Marvel’s Peter Parker?’, the bio of the book reads.
‘A series of happy coincidences and serendipitous events is the answer. A fluke, then? Yes, but not exactly, given that huge amounts of commitment and hard work have been required.
‘Written by a dad who as a professional comedian took his own shot at show-biz stardom and called Eclipsed because his carefully honed plans didn’t work out so well.’
Dominic has made no secret of his pride for his son.
He previously told the Telegraph: ‘There’s no regret – I don’t spend my time wishing I was famous because that would be an ugly place. But I’m inordinately proud of what Tom has achieved.’
As for the rest of Tom’s immediate family, his mother is a photographer, having met Dominic at university in Leeds.
The couple share four sons, who are Tom, Paddy, 19, and twins Harry and Sam, 24.
Devout fans will know that Harry has made small cameos in his brother’s projects, including in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
He also had a scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but it ended up on the cutting room floor.
Joking about his brother being axed from the action flick, Tom once told Graham Norton that it was him who engineered his brother’s suffering on-camera, only for it to never see the light of day.
‘We cast Harry and he’s on set. I go up to the stunt coordinator and I’m like, “Please just whatever you do with the stunt, make it so he’s upside down.”
He laughed about it being ‘the icing on the cake’ when he realised Harry’s scene wasn’t even in the finished film.
The sibling rivalry is real!
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