The Blank Canvas Can Be Intimidating — Tom Holland on Spider-Man and Dyslexia

Spider-Man Is Not a Superhero. But There Is Something Super There.

One of the world's most recognizable teenage superheroes is played by an actor who struggled with schoolwork as a child. Tom Holland was diagnosed with dyslexia at seven, and in 2025, during an interview connected to a LEGO short film, he also spoke openly about having ADHD.

He does not hide it. He does not turn it into a dramatic performance either.

He simply says how it is.

"I Wasn't Particularly Good at School. But My Parents Said..."

In 2023, on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast, Holland talked about what school felt like with dyslexia:

That sentence sounds simple. But every parent should sit with it for a moment.

His parents did not say, "Do not fall behind." They did not make shame the center of the story. They said: do your best.

That kind of acceptance matters. A family that does not treat dyslexia as a failure gives a child room to keep trying. And years later, that child can stand inside one of the biggest film franchises in the world and speak about his differences without disappearing behind them.

How Spider-Man Reflects This

Here is the part that gets interesting.

Peter Parker, the character Holland plays, is also a teenager who does not quite fit. Too smart to be ordinary, too awkward to be confident. His mind moves fast, while his words sometimes stumble behind. Does that sound familiar?

Many ADHD or dyslexic children know that feeling: thoughts racing ahead, written words getting tangled, creativity and frustration living in the same body.

Maybe that is why Holland's Spider-Man feels so human. He is not just a hero with powers. He is a young person trying to balance the outsider he is at school with the strength he carries inside.

In the IGN interview, Holland connected neurodivergence with creativity:

He also spoke about building a LEGO Death Star with Jacob Batalon during Spider-Man: Homecoming. The LEGO bricks, the structure, the hands-on making, the play.

That detail is not small. For many ADHD children, LEGO, Minecraft, Pokemon cards, Magic decks, and similar worlds become safe islands: places where focus can finally rest and creativity can open up.

What This Says About Us

Here is a world-famous superhero actor saying, honestly, that the blank canvas can scare him.

He is not saying, "Nothing can stop me." He is not posing as a motivational poster.

He is saying: this is hard sometimes.

And still, or maybe because of that, play and creativity keep moving him forward.

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💙 Reading This as a Father

My son is not a Spider-Man fan yet. But I know there may come a time when he needs an actor like this, or a sentence like this.

When he feels, "The blank page scares me too."

And then it may help to know that the guy who plays Spider-Man feels that way as well. He just also happens to climb walls in Marvel films.

Maybe what I want to tell my son is this: the challenge is not proof that you are broken.

The challenge is part of the road.

And school is not the finish line.

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📚 Sources

• IGN interview (September 1, 2025) — Tom Holland speaking openly about ADHD: ign.com
• Jay Shetty, On Purpose podcast (July 2023) — On dyslexia and parental support: jayshetty.me
• Daily Mail (2008) — Early public mention of his dyslexia diagnosis at age seven
• E! News (September 3, 2025) — Summary of the IGN statement: eonline.com
• University of Michigan Dyslexia Help — Tom Holland success story: dyslexiahelp.umich.edu

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Next in the series: Mark Ruffalo, the Hulk, who told his younger self that help exists and there is a way through.

Who would you add to the list? Send us a comment or message. 💙