Actor Andrew Garfield was born on 20 August 1983 in Los Angeles to an English mother Lynn (née Hillman) and American father, Richard Garfield, but he was brought up in England after his parents moved to Epsom in Surrey when he was just three years old. He rose to stardom after starring in The Social Network as Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder of Facebook, but his big break was two years later, when he appeared as the web-slinging superhero on The Amazing Spider-Man, capturing the hearts of millions.
His episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, first broadcast on 22 April 2025, opens with Andrew reflecting on the deep bond he shared with his parents, Richard and the late Lynne Garfield. “She was the best of us,” he says of his mother, who passed away in 2019. “Not everyone gets this kind of mothering – I got lucky.”
Andrew doesn’t know much about his family history but feels a longing to connect to his Jewish heritage. To begin the journey into his ancestry, he meets with his father, Richard Garfield.
He learns that his grandfather – originally Samuel Garfinkel – was born in Kielce, southern Poland, in 1909. His parents, Ludwig Harry Garfinkiel and Sara Kupczyk (later anglicised to Cooper), emigrated to England shortly after.
Andrew Garfield travels to Poland
At the National Museum in Kielce, Andrew discovers Ludwig had several sisters and may have chosen to leave Poland in response to rising anti-Jewish violence. At the time, Kielce was under Russian rule, and waves of pogroms had claimed thousands of lives. Ludwig’s decision to leave was likely a desperate but brave move to protect his young family and provide for them.
“It’s an impossible position.” Andrew says, “There’s no easy route.”
A register from 1930 reveals that Ludwig’s mother, Chaja, and his sisters worked as seamstresses in Kielce. One of them, Ruchla, married into a notable family – her husband, Szmul, was the first cousin of Władysław Szpilman, the Polish pianist and Holocaust survivor whose life inspired the critically acclaimed film The Pianist.
Another sister, Estera, died in 1935. The fate of the others, including Chaja, is uncertain. But Andrew learns that their home was just around the corner from the Kielce ghetto, established in 1941 after the German invasion of Poland. If the women remained in the city, it is highly likely they were forced into the ghetto – and eventually deported.
“It strikes me in this moment that if Ludwig Harry hadn’t decided to leave Kielce with Sammy, my father would have never been born…” Andrew reflects, visibly emotional.
The trail leads to Brazil, where Ruchla and her husband emigrated to. Andrew connects with her descendants, Adolfo and Lydia, in Florida. They deliver bittersweet news: Chaja made it to Brazil in 1936, but her two daughters were left behind in Warsaw. When letters stopped arriving, the family presumed they had been murdered during the Holocaust.
"This journey that we’ve been on has recovered my memory and my family’s memory of them and I'm very grateful for that" - Andrew Garfield
To pay respects to his ancestors who he now knows faced such a violent end, Andrew travels to Treblinka, the second-deadliest extermination camp built in Poland by Nazi Germany, now a memorial site for the Jewish people who lost their lives there.
“This journey that we’ve been on has recovered my memory and my family’s memory of them and I'm very grateful for that.”
Andrew Garfield's surprising family connection to Hollywood
With the story of the Garfinkiel women ending here, Andrew continues his journey – now following his great grandmother’s side of the family, the Kupczyks, who emigrated to London, and later LA, before the Second World War.
This side of the story is a strikingly different picture than the devastation and loss of Nazi-occupied Poland. Andrew learns that the first Kupczyk to arrive in the US was Harry, his great grandmother’s brother. He was a ladies’ tailor and established a shop in Beverly Hills, which became very renowned, with the likes of Marylin Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor visiting.
Andrew is able to meet with Cathy, one of Sara’s brother’s daughters, who still lives in LA. She shares memories of Harry’s shop, recounting the ballroom-like interior, with a big staircase and an impressive chandelier.
“The Kupczyk drive out of poverty, difficulty, suffering, into a life we deserve, the sunshine we deserve – it's very beautiful,” Andrew says.
Andrew also learns about his cousin, Bernard Taper, a successful journalist and writer. He feels a particular kinship with an ancestor connected to the arts.
Bernard Taper, a lieutenant with the US army during the Second World War, was part of a group called the Monuments Men, a team tracking down stolen pieces of art in Germany post-war. By the end of the mission, the Monuments Men returned four million stolen pieces of art. Reading Bernard’s reflections on the experience, Andrew is visibly moved.
"It’s shining a light on all the beauty and the longing and desire for life that’s come before me, that lives in my bones and lives in my blood" - Andrew Garfield
Bernard’s efforts to refute some of the atrocities the Nazis committed during the war and preserve culture in the wake of devastation feel like “restorative justice”.
“With Bernard, it becomes a story of this full circle of healing,” says Andrew.
The story comes full-circle – the tragic fate of the Garfinkiel women stands in contrast to the life the Kupczyks found outside of Poland. Despite the sadness and suffering encountered on the way, Andrew feels closer to his family, knowing what they went through and what they overcame for him to be here, right now.
“It’s shining a light on all the beauty and the longing and desire for life that’s come before me, that lives in my bones and lives in my blood.”