Tobey Maguire

27 Jun, 1975 | Santa Monica, California

Actor/Producer

Biography

Tobias Vincent "Tobey" Maguire is an American actor. He began his career in the 1980s, and has since become best known for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Spider-Man films. Maguire was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Wendy (née Brown), a secretary turned screenwriter and producer, and Vincent Maguire, a construction worker and cook. His parents were 18 and 20 years old (and unmarried) at the time of his birth; the two married and subsequently divorced when Maguire was two. Maguire spent much of his childhood moving from town to town, living with each parent and other family members. During his childhood, Maguire entertained the idea of becoming a chef and to that end wanted to enroll in a home economics class as a sixth grader. His mother offered him US$100 to take a drama class instead, and Tobey agreed. The nomadic nature of his school-age years began to take a toll on Maguire emotionally, and finally, after yet another relocation to yet another school, Maguire dropped out of his freshman year of high school and never returned, deciding to focus himself on his blossoming acting career. By 2000, Maguire had taken the General Educational Development (GED) to officially graduate from high school, noting that during his high school days, he'd reached a point where "I wasn't doing school. I was showing up, but...not really giving myself."