All About Tom Holland’s Parents, Dominic and Nikki Holland

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in Tom Holland’s family.

The Spider-Man: Homecoming actor’s father is a stand-up comedian, writer and broadcaster who’s been actively working in the industry since the 1990s. Dominic Holland is not nearly as much of a household name as his eldest son — a fact the father frequently pokes fun at.

“I have been trying to make it as a star for a long time,” Dominic wrote in a 2013 op-ed for The Daily Mail. “For more than 20 years, my entire income has come from making people laugh — or trying to … So, looking at my son, Tom, standing next to me in the immigration queue at the airport in Los Angeles, I realized that, at the tender age of 16, he had already eclipsed his father’s own show business career.”

His mother, Nikki Holland, meanwhile, is a photographer who specializes in taking headshots for actors as well as wedding, lifestyle and corporate photography. Tom has said that both of his parents are very supportive and that his mom will go to great lengths to make sure he’s being treated well on set. Once, after complaining to his mom about how hard it was to get out of his Spider-Man: Homecoming costume to use the bathroom, Nikki called the producer directly.

“Two days later, the producer came up to me and was like, ‘How are your kidneys?’ ” Tom said during a 2022 appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan. “I was like, ‘My kidneys are fine, why are you asking?’ He was like, ‘Well your mom called us.’ … So, my mom called up the biggest studio in the world and was like, ‘Give my son toilet breaks!’ ”

So, who are Tom Holland’s parents? Here’s everything to know about Dominic and Nikki Holland.

They met at school

Dominic and Nikki met while studying textile management at Leeds University in the late 1980s, according to Leeds Alumni Magazine.

It’s not clear how long they were together before getting engaged, however. According to an old picture of Nikki as a bride that Dominic shared on Instagram, they wed on Sept. 10, 1994.

Dominic is a comedian, author, actor and broadcaster

He may be best known for being Spider-Man’s dad, but Dominic has an impressive résumé of his own. He worked as a professional comedian after college before branching into other forms of entertainment like writing, acting and broadcasting. According to his website, he’s written nine books, including one about his son’s rise to fame, called Eclipsed: Turns Out, Spider-Man Has a Dad After All.

In 2012, NextUp Comedy interviewed a 16-year-old Tom after watching one of his dad’s stand-up routines for the first time. They both admitted to being a bit competitive about their similar careers.

“He can be irritable like all dads can be, but he’s a funny guy,” Tom joked at the time. “I was always confident that you would do a good show. I knew you weren’t going to stiff.”

Nikki is a photographer

Nikki also attended Leeds University and shared the same major as Dominic, but her career took a different path after college. According to her website, she’s shot headshots for hundreds of actors, including, of course, her sons.

Outside of sharing her work on Instagram, Nikki also frequently posts updates on the family’s dog, Tessa.

They have four sons

Dominic and Nikki had their first son, Tom, in 1996. Twins Sam and Harry came a few years later in 1999, and they then welcomed their last son, Paddy, in 2004. The couple raised their house of boys in Kingston upon Thames, where Tom said he enjoyed the privilege of always having at least one parent at home.

“We had this amazing foundation where, no matter the time of the day, either mum or dad would be at the house,” he said during an interview on the podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty in July 2023. “We felt so solid as a family … I really admire how my dad was around.”

That solid family unit could have even been the focus of a Kardashian-style reality show, according to Dominic. According to the Evening Standard, he was supposedly offered “untold riches” for the series, but turned it down, saying he “couldn’t imagine anything worse.”

Dominic said Tom’s acting career was “a complete fluke”

In a 2013 op-ed for The Independent, Dominic revealed how entirely unplanned his son’s rise to fame was. He wrote that Tom was more interested in dance as a kid and hadn’t taken a single drama class. But when he was 9, he was scouted at a dance class by someone from Billy Elliot the Musical.

“Scroll forward 10 auditions and two years of training, and Tom finally took to the stage for his first-ever speaking part in a play,” Dominic wrote. “Until then, he had never been cast in any of his school productions and had never even spoken on a stage.”

Nikki encouraged Tom to be a dancer

Tom told Interview Magazine during a 2017 interview with his longtime girlfriend Zendaya that Nikki thought he had a natural talent for ballet.

“My mom thought I could dance because I used to dance to this Janet Jackson song she’d play when I was a baby,” he said. “I loved doing ballet … I’m very happy I had that training. It’s been so valuable to my career, and I’ve used it on almost everything I’ve done since.”

Dominic almost stopped Tom’s Lip Sync Battle performance

In 2017, the actor made headlines everywhere when he dressed in drag and performed Rihanna‘s 2007 pop hit “Umbrella” on Lip Sync Battle. While he noted in a 2021 interview with British GQ that the viral moment was good for his career, his dad almost talked him out of doing it.

Dominic was supposedly worried that the suggestive nature of the performance would result in too much fame too fast.

“My dad always taught me when I was younger and coming up in the business that you want to get famous as slowly as possible,” Tom said. “You don’t want to get super famous tomorrow, because you won’t be able to handle it. It will ruin your life.”

They run a charity to support lesser-known nonprofits

Nikki and Dominic founded The Brother’s Trust in 2017 as an effort to “shine a light on charities that struggle to be heard.” The organization supports multiple charities in the health, education and social sectors by hosting events and sweepstakes.

While Tom is the face of the organization, his three younger brothers also have active roles. In November 2023, Tom and Zendaya signed posters for their movie Spider-Man: No Way Home to benefit the charity.