Tom Holland Is Taking a Year Off From Acting After “Difficult” Role in “The Crowded Room”

Tom Holland is taking a much-needed break from the big screen. In an interview published on June 6, the 27-year-old actor told Extra he’s decided to take a year-long break from acting. This decision comes after wrapping up the Apple TV+ series “The Crowded Room,” in which he worked as the series lead and executive producer. The 10-episode “true-crime adjacent” project draws inspiration from the story of real-life Billy Milligan. Holland’s character, Danny Sullivan, parallels Milligan’s sexual-assault crimes and mental illness, including his dissociative identity disorder diagnosis.

“It was a tough time, for sure,” Holland said about the making of the show. “We were exploring certain emotions that I have definitely never experienced before. And then on top of that, being an executive producer, dealing with the day-to-day problems that come with any film set, just added that extra level of pressure.”

Consequently, Holland is choosing to take the time he needs to rest and recover. “I’ve always sort of lived by this idea that hard work is good work,” he said. “But then again, the show did break me. There did come a time where I was sort of like, ‘I need to have a break.’ I disappeared. I went to Mexico for a week and had some time on a beach. And I’m now taking a year off, and that is a result of how difficult this show was.”

As Holland previously explained to Entertainment Weekly in May, the mental toll of his role was so great, it almost led to him shaving his head. “I was seeing myself in [the character], but in my personal life,” he said. “I remember having a bit of a meltdown at home and thinking, like, ‘I’m going to shave my head. I need to shave my head because I need to get rid of this character.'”

While he may be taking a brief hiatus from acting, Holland promised fans he’ll still be around elsewhere. “I’m going to be very present online. I’m going to speak to fans and ask them what they think and see if they figured it out,” he said. “I’m hoping that [audiences] feel like they are somewhat educated in a topic that has this stigma, that we do need to change, we do need to talk about the powers of mental health. And hopefully this show can be a stepping stone in the right direction.”

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