Tom Holland on His ADHD and Dyslexia: “Sometimes It Can Be Slightly Intimidating”

The short version: In an interview with IGN, Spider-Man actor Tom Holland shared his ADHD diagnosis publicly for the first time, talking about how it combines with his dyslexia to shape his experience as an actor, and why creative play “really does help.” Here is the AuDHD Feed read.

That’s a specific kind of vulnerability to put on record, particularly for someone whose job is to inhabit characters from scratch. A blank canvas, no instruction manual, no clear structure, is exactly the kind of environment that can send an ADHD brain into paralysis rather than creativity. Holland named that plainly, without dressing it up.

His fix, at least partly, is play. Creative, unstructured, make-it-up-as-you-go play. “Any way that you can, as a young person or as an adult, interact with something that forces you to be creative and forces you to think outside the box… just promotes healthy creativity,” he said. “And I think that the more we do that sort of stuff, the better.”

The dyslexia context — and why the ADHD disclosure matters more than it looks

Holland has spoken about his dyslexia before. In a 2023 appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, he described it as mostly affecting his spelling. Low-key, matter-of-fact, not a big deal.

The ADHD piece is new. And the reason it matters, beyond the headline, is that Holland is one of the most recognisable faces on the planet right now. When someone at that level of visibility names ADHD for the first time, in a mainstream entertainment interview, without apology or disclaimer, it moves the needle on what feels sayable.

It also raises a question a lot of AuDHD adults will recognise: how long has he known? The interview doesn’t say. But for many people, dyslexia and ADHD travel together, and the gap between one diagnosis and the other can be years, sometimes decades.

The plaything is not a throwaway line

It would be easy to read Holland’s comments about play as a footnote; he was, after all, there to discuss a LEGO film. But the link between play and ADHD is well-evidenced and worth taking seriously on its own terms.

Unstructured creative play builds exactly the skills that ADHD brains often struggle to develop in conventional learning environments: flexible thinking, tolerance for ambiguity, the ability to shift between tasks, and, crucially, the experience of being absorbed in something for its own sake rather than for a reward.

For Holland, LEGO is clearly not new. “We grew up playing with the sets,” he said. And the short film itself, in which he plays a soccer star, a tech entrepreneur, a toupee-wearing executive, and a sci-fi hero, is essentially a showcase of rapid character-switching, which is, when you think about it, a very ADHD way to approach a short film.

The AuDHD Feed takes

Three things worth flagging here.

First, the framing is understated in a useful way. Holland doesn’t describe ADHD as a superpower. He doesn’t describe it as a tragedy. He describes it as something that makes certain things harder, specifically, the blank canvas, the unstructured brief, and something that creative play genuinely helps with. That’s a much more honest and usable framing than most celebrity ADHD coverage manages.

Second, the co-occurrence with dyslexia is worth naming. ADHD and dyslexia frequently travel together, and so do ADHD and autism. The more public figures talk about living with more than one of these things at once, without treating each one as a separate, siloed identity, the easier it becomes for the rest of us to describe our own overlapping experiences without feeling like we’re overclaiming.

Third, the late-disclosure piece. Holland doesn’t say when he was diagnosed with ADHD, only that this is the first time he’s spoken about it publicly. That gap between knowing and saying is something a lot of neurodivergent adults understand well. It takes time to find language for it. It takes time to feel like the room is safe enough. The fact that he said it at all, in a mainstream entertainment context, is the part that matters.

Frequently asked questions

When was Tom Holland diagnosed with ADHD?

He hasn’t specified publicly. His September 2025 IGN interview marks the first time he has spoken about his ADHD diagnosis. He was diagnosed with dyslexia at age seven.

How does he describe living with ADHD?

As something that can make certain things, particularly unstructured creative challenges like developing a character from a blank canvas, feel “slightly intimidating.” He says creative play “really does help.”

Does Tom Holland have autism?

He has not disclosed an autism diagnosis. He has spoken publicly about ADHD and dyslexia.

Why does this matter to the AuDHD community specifically?

ADHD and dyslexia frequently co-occur, as do ADHD and autism. Holland’s willingness to name more than one neurodivergent trait, without drama, in a mainstream interview, contributes to a cultural environment where co-occurring conditions feel more visible and more speakable.

What is AuDHD?

AuDHD is a community term for people who are both autistic and ADHD. It is not a clinical diagnosis, but the experience is widely shared. Many AuDHD adults receive one or both diagnoses in their 30s, 40s, or later, often after years of being told they were bright but disorganised, creative but inconsistent, sensitive, or hard to read.

Source: https://people.com/tom-holland-says-adhd-dyslexia-can-make-acting-intimidating-11803747