User:YSec/sandbox

Nathan Jake Holton (born Dario Veneziali; September 30, 1999) is an Italian actor, voice actor, showrunner, producer, screenwriter and entrepreneur. Holton is best known for his breakthrough roles as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2016-present) and as Damian Wayne in Wayne (2018-2023). He has received various accolades, including fuor Academy Awards, sixteen Primetime Emmy Awards, seven Saturn Awards, and two Game Awards, along with many others.

Holton has headlined films in various genres, including the swashbuckler fantasy Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), the historical war thriller Dunkirk (2017), the animated Onward (2020) and Luca (2021), the historical legal drama The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), the action comedy Red Notice (2021), the action adventure Uncharted (2022), and the fantasy adventure Peter Pan & Wendy (2023).

For his role as Officer Jason Dixon in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, he won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Tom Hayden in The Trial of the Chicago 7, he won his second Academy Award for Best Actor, and for his role as Peter Gordon in The Power of the Dog, he won his third Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Holton has also headlined various television series and videogames, including Game of Thrones (2014-2019), Teen Wolf (2015-2017; 2021-present), Fear the Walking Dead (2015), The Walking Dead (2015-2022), Final Fantasy XV (2016), the Spider-Man video game series (2018-2023), Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), Prototype (2021-2022), Assassin's Creed Mirage (2023), and Wayne & Kent (2025).

He is the founder and current Chief Executive Officer of Holton Studios, a multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. He also operates as chairman and Chief Executive Officer of its subsidiaries, Holton Media Group and Holton Interactive Group, while also being Chairman of Legendary Entertainment. He is also a member of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings representing WWE.

Early life
Nathan Jake Holton was born Dario Veneziali in Voltri, Genoa, Italy. His mother, Cristina (née Esposito) is a nurse, and his father, Federico, is a former music manager and nurse. He has an older sister, Sabrina Fiennes Tiffin (née Veneziali, born July 12, 1992).

After 8 years of living in Liguria, he and his family moved to Piedmont in 2007.

Holton never expressed interest in acting and aspired to become an English teacher in Italy.

Acting career
In August 2013, he met David Benioff, co-creator of Game of Thrones, who offered him a trip to the US to meet the cast. Holton performed an improvised scene with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Lena Headey and impressed them enough to be offered an audition for a minor role. Despite his brief appearance, Holton’s performance was well received and he was added to the cast for season five. George R. R. Martin even rearranged the plot to feature his character more prominently. A different version of his character will appear in The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the series that inspired Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones (2014-2019)
Da espandere; maggiori dettagli su stagioni successive

In 2013, Holton landed his first acting role as Brayton Baratheon on the hit TV show Game of Thrones. He joined the cast at the age of 14 during the show’s fourth season. Despite being a minor character, he was featured in the opening sequence from his first appearance. Starting with the second half of the fifth season, Holton’s role was expanded and he became more involved in the overall plot. Since then, he has been a fan favorite.

Teen Wolf (2015-2017), The Walking Dead (2015-2022), and Pirates of the Caribbean (2017)
After the fourth season of Game of Thrones, David Benioff recommended Holton to Jeff Davis, creator of Teen Wolf. Holton auditioned for the role of Jake Griffith, the son of a werewolf huntress aligned with the Argent family, and landed the newly-created part. Jake was introduced in the first episode of the fifth season of the show as Liam's childhood friend and a young werewolf hunter. Through Teen Wolf, Holton met his best friend and former housemate, Dylan Sprayberry, who played the character of Liam Dunbar. The show ended in 2017, but was later revived by Holton in 2021.

In August 2014, a few weeks following his casting in Teen Wolf, he received a call from Greg Nicotero, the executive producer of The Walking Dead. A meeting was scheduled between them to discuss a spin-off series, Fear the Walking Dead, with Holton set to play the lead character. Despite receiving positive reactions during initial screenings, AMC canceled the show before its airing, deeming it too similar to the main series. However, due to critical acclaim during the screenings, the show was eventually released. The main characters, Damien Kuttler (played by Holton) and his younger brother Cody (played by Nolan Gross), were subsequently introduced in the main series, debuting in the first episode of the sixth season. Similar to his experiences in Game of Thrones and Teen Wolf, his character quickly rose in prominence and garnered a strong fan following. Beginning with the ninth season in 2018, he assumed the role of showrunner and lead writer and for the show, generating excitement among fans and revitalizing the main themes of the series following lackluster seventh and eighth seasons. The ninth season received highly favorable reviews, halting the show's decline and persuading AMC to renew it for both a tenth and an eleventh, ultimately concluding, season. With Andrew Lincoln's departure from the series, Holton's character seamlessly transitioned into the position of the lead protagonist.

In February 2015, discussions began with Holton regarding the portrayal of Henry Turner, the offspring of franchise figures Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Filming for the movie commenced in September 2015 on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia, and it was eventually released in May 2017.

In 2015, Holton won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor on Television for his lead role on Fear the Walking Dead. It was Holton's first award.

Portraying Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2016-2021)
On July 23, 2015, Marvel Studios' president, Kevin Feige, announced that Robert Downey Jr., who portrays Tony Stark/Iron-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), had selected Nathan Holton to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man. This decision marked a significant turning point in Holton's life, as he noted in a subsequent tweet. Following the announcement, he inked an initial six-picture deal with Marvel Studios.

Holton made his debut as the character in the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War. The movie achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success, earning over $1.1 billion worldwide and securing its position as the highest-grossing film of 2016. Holton's performance garnered positive reviews.

In July 2017, Spider-Man: Homecoming hit theaters, featuring Holton reprising his role. The film earned $117,027,503 in its opening weekend and received praise for Holton's standout performance with critics hailing it as "a star performance given by a born actor". It was his first lead role in movies.

The next appearances were in Avengers: Infinity War, released on April 27, 2018, and in Avengers: Endgame, released on April 26, 2019. The latter became the highest-grossing film of all time for a two-year period, amassing over $2.7 billion worldwide.

The sequel to Homecoming, titled Spider-Man: Far From Home, premiered on July 5, 2019, receiving acclaim for Holton's performance alongside co-star Jake Gyllenhaal. The film marked the conclusion of Phase Three and the Infinity Saga. On the big screen, it was Holton's first time as executive producer.

On August 21, 2019, Sony Pictures and Disney chose not to renew their contract for the rights to the Spider-Man character, resulting in his removal from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Holton asserted that, regardless of the company or producers involved, he was committed to reprising the role in two more solo Spider-Man movies as dictated by his contract. However, on September 28, 2019, due to Holton's influence, the two companies reached a new agreement. This deal allowed Spider-Man to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The contract, involving Sony Pictures, Disney, and Holton, was signed and set to expire in September 2029. This reconciliation led to an uncredited cameo by Nathan Holton in the mid-credits sequence of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and the inclusion of Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock in the post-credits sequence of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The third installment in the Spider-Man franchise, Spider-Man: No Way Home, was released on December 17, 2021, as part of Phase Four. It became the highest-grossing film of 2021, the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time, the top-grossing Spider-Man film, and set numerous box office records, particularly notable during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to his role as the main actor, Nathan Holton also served as a producer and contributed as one of the writers for the film. His production company, Holton Productions, assisted Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.

First Academy Award (2018)
Midway through the shooting of Spider-Man: Homecoming he was chosen to be part of the cast of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, directed by Martin McDonagh, as Jason Dixon, a 37 year old police officer. The movie was a huge critical and financial success and received several awards' nominations. His co-worker and lead role for the movie, Frances McDormand, won the Academy Award for the Best Actress while Holton got nominated and later won the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actor becoming the youngest male winner in any category in the Academy Award's history winning it at 18 years of age.

His victory prompted Marvel Studios, AMC, HBO, and several video game publishers to reassess his contracts, resulting in more lucrative deals. This accolade also catapulted him into high demand as an actor, despite his reputation for declining most offers. As a result, he became the highest-paid actor in the cast of the final season of Game of Thrones and in The Walking Dead.

Wayne (2018-2023)
Da riscrivere; aggiungere riassunti su speciali e stagioni finali

In August 2017 Holton made a deal with HBO and the creator of Gotham, Bruno Heller, and started developing the script for Wayne. The rights of Heller's show were bought from FOX by HBO in order to use former scenes shown in Gotham as flashbacks and to create the "HBO's Gothamverse" that would later also include Pennyworth, a TV show where Holton is co-creator and executive producer only. Creator of the Dark Knight trilogy, Christopher Nolan, and his brother Jonathan are also involved in the project. This new TV series was intended as a standalone sequel to Heller's show being set 18 years after it and focusing on the life of the Bat-Family living in Gotham City. The show takes elements from the police-procedural genre and from various Batman stories, including videogames and movies while also including an original take on the characters by Holton and Christopher Nolan, the two lead writers.

Other than being the creator, the showrunner and main writer for the show, Holton plays the part of Damian Wayne / Robin in a leading role. The rest of the cast consists of Luke Grimes (as Bruce Wayne / Batman), Cody Christian (as Richard Grayson / Nightwing), Sawyer Sharbino (as Timothy Drake), Sean Pertwee (as Alfred Pennyworth) and Saxon Sharbino (as Barbara Gordon / Oracle) along with lots of famous characters and villains from the Batman franchise portrayed by the same actors featured in Gotham like Commissioner James Gordon (still portrayed by Ben McKenzie) and Ra's al Ghul (still portrayed by Alexander Siddig).

In October 2018 the 24-episode first season of Wayne aired on the HBO network with the pilot having 6.7 million views and receiving high critical praise with a 91% of approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 8.96/10 based on 431 reviews. This season also marked the live-action debut of the son of Ra's al Ghul and Damian Wayne's rival, Dusan al Ghul, portrayed by Aramis Knight in a minor role. In December 2018, HBO renewed the show for a 24-episode second season that premiered in October 2019.

The second season was a huge success with 8.9 million views for the pilot and 10.2 for the season finale. It received massive critical praise for the action, the narrative and the acting by critics and viewers. On Rotten Tomatoes this season holds an astonishing 100% of approval rating with an average rating of 9.95/10 based on 874 reviews. In June 2019, four months before the premiere of season two, it was again renewed for a 24-episode third season that will be aired in October 2020 and will be split into Season 3A and 3B.

The first part of the third season was met with huge critical praise with the pilot having 12.5 million views and a 96% of approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 9.38/10 based on 125 reviews. Season 3B was initially delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic but it was then released on time in January 2021. Aramis Knight returns as part of the main cast after only appearing in two episodes of the first season and Morena Baccarin returns with a recurring role as her Gotham character, Dr. Leslie "Lee" Thompkins. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau also gets promoted to series regular.

Odio l'estate by Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo (2020)
During the end of 2019, it was announced that Holton was cast in Odio l'estate, an Italian movie directed by and starring Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo, a famous trio of Italian comedians. He takes on the role of Salvo Baglio, the adoptive son of Aldo Baglio's character.

In the marketing campaign and in the movie's poster, Holton was billed with his birth name, Dario Veneziali, for the first and only time in his career. It was his first time in an Italian project with him only speaking in his native language.

2020-present: Chief Executive Officer of Holton Studios and major production roles
Da riscrivere completamente; riassumere fondazione ed acquisizioni importanti

During April 2020 and after months in the making, Holton founded a film and television production company named Holton Productions. This company will produce almost every project where Holton is involved. Starting from the third season, Wayne will also be produced by Holton's company alongside HBO. Other projects like Teen Wolf, Prototype and Pennyworth will all be produced also by Holton Productions. While being independent and not part of HBO, the latter will retain exclusive television rights for the airing of some shows but Holton's company will have a majority percentage ownership over the IPs.

Holton Productions will also produce movies. Their first projects are Tenet directed by Christopher Nolan and the Uncharted movie, the latter distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.

The original team consists of Nathan Holton, director and producer Jon Watts, producer and screenwriter Bruno Heller and actor Dylan Sprayberry.

The Walking Dead expanded franchise (2020-present)
Da scrivere

Writer, producer and director in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2021-present)
In June 2020, Kevin Feige announced an important change for the second installment of the Doctor Strange film series with Jade Halley Bartlett departing from the project and Nathan Holton joining as the new lead writer and as producer. Along with the film's new director, Sam Raimi, they started over, adding elements of the horror genre that Raimi had worked with previously and making Wanda the villain of the film, continuing her story from the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision (2021). Produced by Marvel Studios and Holton Productions, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was released on May 6, 2022, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $955.8 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2022 but also one of the most expensive films ever made because of the production budget of $294.5 million.

After the success of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel Studios announced in October 2022 that Nathan Holton would write and direct the third Deadpool film. Development initially began at 20th Century Fox in November 2016 but was put on hold after Disney's acquisition of the studio in March 2019. Marvel Studios took over, integrating Deadpool into the MCU and maintaining the R rating. Holton's hiring led to the return of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick as writers, alongside contributions from Ryan Reynolds. Hugh Jackman decided to reprise his role as Wolverine from Fox's X-Men films due to Holton's involvement. Filming commenced in May 2023 and concluded in January 2024. Produced by Marvel Studios, Holton Studios, and Maximum Effort, Deadpool & Wolverine is set for release on July 26, 2024, as part of Phase Five of the MCU.

Teen Wolf revival (2021-present) and Prototype adaptation (2021-2022)
Da riscrivere completamente

On March 15, 2020, Holton announced the production and the completion of a seventh season of Teen Wolf by uploading the new opening sequence on his YouTube channel by surprise. The season will air for 12 episodes with the first 6 being aired weekly starting from March 30 2020, with the second half expected for September. The first half was released five months before the planned release date because Holton wanted to anticipate the airing due to the recent Coronavirus pandemic and wanted to give people something new to watch during quarantine times by releasing the only episodes that were already finished. It features the majority of the original cast and new characters. It is produced and aired by HBO (who bought the rights from MTV) and the original creator of Teen Wolf, Jeff Davis, is involved in the project as co-creator and showrunner. Holton and Dylan Sprayberry became the lead actors with Tyler Posey (also a producer) and Dylan O'Brien reprising their roles as Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski. Tyler Hoechlin came back on the show with a recurring role. Some of the new actors for this season are Ayden Mekus (in his first major acting role), Gavin Magnus (in his first role as an actor), and Aramis Knight (who briefly worked with Holton in the first season of Wayne and later in the third season). The second part of the season aired in September 2020. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 93% and an average rating of 8.35/10 for the seventh season, based on 86 reviews. The pilot gained over 5.3 million views, a record for the show. On May 1, it was renewed for a non divided 12-episode eight season. In August 2021, Season 8 premiered featuring the same cast with the exception of Shelley Hennig who stays as a recurring character. This season saw the promotion of Benjamin Wadsworth and Jill Wagner as main characters.

On April 19 2020, Holton announced the production of Prototype, a series that will consist of two 16-episode seasons before concluding, based on the videogame series developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision. Holton portrays Dr. Alexander J. Mercer, the protagonist turned antagonist of the original games. He serves as the lead character of the first season and has a main role in the second season. The show's first season was released on HBO in October 2021 while the second season was released in September 2022. Holton serves as creator, showrunner and writer.

House of the Dragon and The Last of Us (2022-present)
Da scrivere

Directorial debut with The Adam Project (2022) and Peter Pan & Wendy (2023)
Da scrivere

Establishment of Holton Interactive Group (2023-present)
Da scrivere

Member of the board of directors at TKO Group Holdings (2024-present)
In February 2024, Nathan Holton played a key role in securing a groundbreaking deal for WWE. Starting in January 2025, WWE Raw, their flagship program, will exclusively stream on Max in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Latin America. This marks the first time in its 31-year history that Raw will move from linear TV to streaming. Additionally, the entire WWE catalog will be available for streaming at no extra cost with Premium Live Events being added a week later. Worldwide, the deal was secured with Netflix and also includes live airings of WWE SmackDown, WWE NXT, and Premium Live Events.

During WrestleMania XL, Nathan Holton’s appointment to the board of directors at TKO Group Holdings was officially announced.

Videogames Roles (2016-present)
Da riscrivere; modificare date ed aggiungere dettagli

Holton also worked as voice actor in many videogames starting with Uncharted 4: A Thief's End as Young Samuel Drake in 2016. Also in 2016, he got his first major role as Noctis Lucis Caelum, the protagonist and playable character of Final Fantasy XV, in every one of his appearance.

In 2018, he worked in Far Cry 5 as one of the main villains, John Seed and in Marvel's Spider-Man as Peter Parker / Spider-Man having great success and receiving a huge response by fans.

In 2019, he announced that he'll be featured in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Death Stranding, The Last of Us Part II, Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy VII Remake cementing his career as voice actor with these high-profile roles. His performance in Death Stranding and Marvel's Spider-Man were highly praised and gained him two awards for Best Performance.

In 2020, Final Fantasy VII Remake was finally released and fans surprisingly noted how Holton's portrayal of Sephiroth and Final Fantasy XV's main character, Noctis Lucis Caelum, were very different in voice tone and overall presentation despite both having Holton as voice actor. During the same year, he also voiced straw hat Ryuzo in Ghost of Tsushima and Basim Ibn Ishaq in Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

He was also cast for an undisclosed role in Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy, both scheduled for release in 2022.

In 2023, he reprises the role of Peter Parker in Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

CD Projekt brand ambassador (2019-2024)
In January 2019, Holton announced a collaboration with the polish company CD Projekt and its subsidiaries, the videogame development team CD Projekt Red and the digital distribution platform GOG.com serving as a honorary brand ambassador.

During E3 2019 it was announced that Holton was going to have a role in their upcoming role-playing game, Cyberpunk 2077, while also writing the story of part of the main plot, one of the game's endings, and several side-quests.

On June 25 2020, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, an animated TV spin-off produced by Studio Trigger and Holton Productions was announced. It premiered on Netflix September 13, 2022. It is a 10 episode series that serves as a prequel to the game and takes place about a year before the events of Cyberpunk 2077 but with an independent story written by Marcin Blacha, writer of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and Nathan Holton.

During November 2020, Holton's role in Cyberpunk 2077 was revealed as the male voice of the main character, V. He reprised the role in 2023 for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, an expansion pack of the main game set after the main plot. Holton serves as the main writer of the expansion's story.

Starting from October 4, 2022, CD Projekt announced a company makeover updating its strategies and working on multiple AAA games and expansions in parallel. Nathan Holton and Keanu Reeves were the main spokespersons for this announcement.

In May 2024, Holton announced the acquisition of CD Projekt, thereby establishing it as a subsidiary of Holton Interactive Group and concluding his tenure as the brand ambassador.

WWE (2024-present)
At WrestleMania XL, Holton served as the ring announcer for the entire event. During Night 1’s main event, an altercation between The Rock and Holton led to Roman Reigns spearing his cousin. In the Night 2 main event match between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, Holton intervened by attacking The Rock with a steel chair and executing a Moonsault through the announce table to take out Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso. Following WrestleMania XL, Holton made an appearance on Raw in a backstage segment involving The Rock. At the end of the night, he congratulated the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Cody Rhodes, in the ring among the others.

Personal life
Holton chose his stage name due to the difficulty Americans had in pronouncing his birth name and now always refers to himself by that name. The only time he used his birth name was during the filming and marketing of the Italian movie I Hate Summer released in 2020.

Holton has developed a father-son relationship with Robert Downey Jr. and is good friends with Jake Gyllenhaal and Benedict Cumberbatch. Dylan Sprayberry, Aramis Knight, and Sawyer Sharbino are counted among his closest friends.

In October 2014, he moved to the Unites States and lived with Dylan Sprayberry and his family in Beachwood Canyon, Los Angeles until October 2017. After turning 18 years of age, Holton spent 3 months in a rented property in the same district, with Sprayberry as housemate. In January 2018, he moved to Mount Olympus, Los Angeles, first with Sprayberry and later, in February 2021, alongside his future spouse, Saxon Sharbino. In February 2023, the couple moved to Toluca Lake, Los Angeles. In November 2023, Holton's sister, Sabrina, also moved to the United States in Beachwood Canyon, Los Angeles with her boyfriend Hero Fiennes Tiffin. His parents still live in the Province of Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy.

In March 2015, Holton successfully obtained peaceful emancipation from his parents, granting him legal adulthood under USA law at the age of 15. He subsequently dropped out of school duties in September of the same year to fully focus on his acting career.

Also in 2015, Holton started two YouTube channels. His main channel is called “Nathan Holton” where he posts various types of videos including regular vlogs, life updates and behind-the-scenes footage of his projects in both Italian and English. His second channel is called “GamePad Community” where he posts videos about video games such as reviews, news, walkthroughs and gameplays mainly in Italian. He also has a Twitch account.

In 2017, Holton began dating Saxon Sharbino who is also a cast member of Fear the Walking Dead and Wayne. In July 2021, Holton and Sharbino announced their engagement and were married on September 30, 2021. The wedding took place at the Webb Institute’s Stevenson Taylor Hall in Glen Cove, New York on Holton’s 22nd birthday.

In 2018, Holton became a U.S. citizen while retaining his Italian citizenship.

In March 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Holton and his family tested positive for COVID-19 while in Italy. His mother, a nurse working in a hospital turned Covid Center, was the source of the infection. Due to his cardiac disease, Holton announced on social media that he would take a break. In April 2020, he returned to social media after testing negative for the virus and traveling back to the US.

In April 2023, Holton legally changed his name from “Dario Veneziali” to “Nathan Jake Holton”. His middle name is a reference to his Teen Wolf character.

Health issues
Holton was born with a rare type of cardiac arrhythmia called inappropriate sinus tachycardia. He once suffered a slight syncope during the Teen Wolf panel at San Diego Comic-Con for season six in July 2016.

During the summer of 2023, Holton experienced significant weight loss, reaching a low of 125 lbs. Concerned fans and family noticed this change. In July, after feeling weak and unsteady for a couple of days, he sought medical attention at an urgent care facility, where he ultimately fainted. Holton was subsequently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Casting choices
Over the years, Holton has helped many child actors achieve fame by individually casting and scouting them instead of holding auditions. This led to the creation of the Twitter hashtag #holtonforcastingdirector in 2018. These children often refer to themselves as Holton’s Teen Titans and view him as a brotherly figure because he assists them with every role.