Who is Tobey Maguire?
Tobey Vincent Maguire is an American actor and film producer best known for his title role in Marvel's franchise Spider-Man trilogy.
Tobey Maguire's rise to fame
Tobey was born on 27 June 1975, in Santa Monica, California. Following his parents' divorce when he was two, the youngster was shuttled between his parents and from school to school. His mother, who had once dreamed of becoming an actor herself, encouraged a 12-year-old Tobey to study acting and he was soon landing small parts on TV shows such as Rosanne.
It was a role alongside Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1993 adaptation of Tobias Wolff's coming-of-age memoir This Boy's Life, which gave the budding actor his first glimpse of the possibilities of his craft.
"Leo opened it up for young people in general," Tobey says. "After Leo did This Boy's Life and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, it was like, 'Oh wow, someone can be young and a good actor'."
Following the success of his earliest work, Sense And Sensibility director Ang Lee cast Tobey as the teenage narrator of The Ice Storm, a chilling account of upper-middle-class American suburbia.
When Tobey more than held his own against co-stars Joan Allen, Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver and Lord Of The Rings star Elijah Wood, his career really started to take off.
More introspective, quirky and angst-filled teenage roles followed, including Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, The Wonder Boys, and The Cider House Rules. It was Tobey's performance in the latter which convinced Spider-Man director Sam Raimi that he had found the right actor for the role of the high school senior transformed by the bite of a genetically altered spider into a superhero.
Tobey Macguire's personal life
Fiercely protective of his private life, the actor refuses to comment on speculation that there was more between him and his Spider-Man co-star Kirsten Dunst than their ground-breaking on-screen kiss.
He was similarly reticent about his rumoured relationships with Nicole Kidman and Heather Graham, both of whose names were linked to him since his portrayal of the Marvel hero propelled him into the Tinseltown stratosphere.
In 2003 the rising star began dating Jennifer Meyer, a jewellery designer and daughter of Universal Studios boss Ron Meyer. The couple got engaged in April 2006, and the following November welcomed their first child, a daughter named Ruby.
Tobey and Jennifer married on 3 September 2007, in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. Their second child, a son, was born in May 2009.
In 2016, the couple announced their separation after nine years of marriage. In 2020, Meyer filed for divorce.
