Sam Holland: the chef, the cookbook, and the kitchens
Sam Anthony Holland is a British chef, food creator and cookbook author, born on 14 February 1999 in Kingston upon Thames. He trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine, worked at Gleneagles and the Michelin-starred Chez Bruce, and published his first cookbook with Penguin in August 2025.
He is also Tom Holland’s younger brother and Harry Holland’s twin, which is how most people arrive at his name. The cooking came first and stands on its own.
Sam Holland: quick facts
| Detail | What’s documented |
|---|---|
| Full name | Sam Anthony Holland |
| Born | 14 February 1999, Kingston upon Thames |
| Trained at | Leiths School of Food and Wine, London |
| Kitchens | Gleneagles; Chez Bruce, Michelin-starred |
| Cookbook | Sam Holland’s Kitchen Kickstart, Penguin, August 2025 |
| Following | Around 765,000 on Instagram, 683,000 on TikTok |
| Parents | Dominic Holland, comedian and author; Nikki Holland, photographer |
| Siblings | Tom, Harry (twin), Paddy Holland |
| Acting credits | Four, from 2012 to 2025 |
The cookbook
Sam Holland’s Kitchen Kickstart was published on 26 August 2025 by Penguin, running to 224 pages. The UK and US editions carry different ISBNs and it’s sold in hardback and ebook.
The pitch is narrow and sensible: simple, budget-conscious recipes for people cooking for themselves for the first time. Students, in other words, and anyone else who has just moved out and owns one pan. The publisher’s copy runs from a cheese sauce for mac and cheese through a hangover sausage and egg sandwich to a fifteen-minute Thai curry.
That is a real market and an unglamorous one, and it fits what he does online. His stated aim is giving younger cooks enough technique to eat well at home rather than order in.
How it was tested
The detail worth knowing is who did the testing.
Sam has said his brothers Tom and Harry acted as recipe testers, on the basis that if they could follow it, anyone could. He has described wanting the recipes to be idiot-proof.
Zendaya was involved too, and specifically in the vegetarian chapter, which Sam has said he is particularly proud of. She is plant-based, and while she was filming in one city and Tom was in another with nothing to do, Sam sent him the vegetarian recipes to work through. Tom reported back that they landed.
Tom marked the launch publicly, posting a photo of Sam holding the book in front of the Houses of Parliament and saying he had been working through the recipes himself.
The kitchens
This is the part that gets skipped, and it is the part that makes him a chef rather than a creator who cooks.
Leiths School of Food and Wine is one of the more serious professional cookery schools in the UK. Its diploma is a full-time, technique-heavy programme, not a weekend course.
Gleneagles is the Perthshire hotel, one of the best-known luxury properties in Scotland, with kitchens that run at hotel scale.
Chez Bruce in Wandsworth holds a Michelin star and has done for years. It is a working London restaurant kitchen with all that implies about hours and pressure.
He has said he found restaurant work unfulfilling and left it for something more approachable, which is a fairly common and rarely admitted trajectory. Plenty of trained chefs discover that the professional kitchen is a different job from cooking.
The Spider-Man job
One credit is not on any filmography.
During the filming of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Sam worked as his brother’s personal chef, preparing daily meals for cast and crew.
That is the detail that connects the two halves of his life, and it explains something about the cookbook. He learned to cook for a film unit, which is catering at volume for people with no time and varied requirements. Feeding students is a smaller version of the same problem.
His acting credits
He has four, and they are mostly family projects.
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | The Impossible | Kid in the Tent |
| 2015 | Tweet | Sam |
| 2020 | Roses for Lily | Charlie |
| 2025 | Never Stop Playing | Play TV news reporter |
The Impossible is the notable one. The Juan Antonio Bayona tsunami film gave Tom Holland his breakthrough, and Sam appears in it too, aged 13.
Three different Sam Hollands
Search results for this name mix at least three people, and two of them have substantial careers.
- Sam Holland the chef, the subject of this page.
- Sam Holland the crime novelist, which is a pseudonym used by the writer Louisa Scarr. Her Major Crimes series began with The Echo Man in 2022 and runs to The Killer in Room Five. Her books are published in fifteen countries, and she became the first author to win the Bronze Bat and then the Silver Bat in consecutive years at the Netherlands Thriller Festival. She also writes under her own name.
- Sam Holland the sports executive, a Syracuse graduate working in Boston on athlete brand deals and the creator economy.
None is related to the others.
What isn’t verified
- A net worth figure. Several pages publish one. He has book royalties, brand partnerships and social income, none of it disclosed his net worth.
- His relationship status. One page names a partner. No mainstream source carries it, and it is not repeated here.
- Follower counts as current. The 765,000 and 683,000 figures come from his publisher’s page and are a year old. They will have moved.
- Praise from named chefs. One source credits Gordon Ramsay with praising his work. It is plausible and it is single-sourced.
- Which specific restaurants beyond the two named. Only Gleneagles and Chez Bruce appear in his own publisher biography.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Sam Holland?
A British chef, food content creator and cookbook author, and Tom Holland’s younger brother.
Where did he train as a chef?
Leiths School of Food and Wine in London, followed by kitchen work at Gleneagles and Chez Bruce.
What is his cookbook?
Sam Holland’s Kitchen Kickstart, published by Penguin in August 2025, aimed at students and first-time cooks.
Is he Tom Holland’s twin?
No. His twin is Harry Holland. Tom is the eldest of the four brothers.
Was he really Tom Holland’s personal chef?
Yes, during the filming of Spider-Man: Far From Home, cooking for cast and crew.
Has he acted?
Four credits, including The Impossible in 2012 alongside his brother.
Is he the crime writer Sam Holland?
No. That is a pen name used by the novelist Louisa Scarr, and a different person entirely.
Conclusion
The framing every page reaches for is the famous actor’s brother who cooks. The order is the wrong way round.
He did a professional diploma, worked a Michelin kitchen and a Highland hotel, then decided restaurants were not for him. He built an audience over a million strong across two platforms and published a book about feeding yourself on a student budget. The Spider-Man connection is that he once fed the crew.
JacksonPadilla is a writer at Around Celebrities, covering celebrity families, relationships, biographies, and the stories behind the stars. With a focus on clear and engaging storytelling, Kole helps readers discover the people and connections beyond the spotlight.
