NEW YORK: Holland dug into his musical theater roots, and his acrobatic skills, to land the role of the next Spider-Man.

The 19-year-old played Billy Elliott on London’s West End so when he was preparing an audition tape, he put his physical abilities to good use.

“I basically did a somersault into frame and a somersault out of frame and I was like, ‘They may never see this but if they do I need them to know that I’ve got some gymnastics abilities and stuff,’” the actor said during a recent interview. “And every tape I sent in I always did a little acrobatic demo to try and convince them to give me the role,” he said, laughing.

Holland spoke about the breakout role while promoting “In the Heart of the Sea,” opening Dec. 11, a Ron Howard sea survival film based on a non-fiction book of the same name.

Landing the role as one of Marvel’s marquee superheros was the realization of a dream for the young actor, who was asked by an interviewer years ago which super hero he would want to play if he got the chance.

“I of course said Spider-Man. I said I would like to do the reboot after Andrew Garfield. I don’t think Andrew Garfield had even made his second film yet. I always wanted to play this character and when I found out that they were re-casting the role I rang up my agent and I said, ‘Just get me a self- tape. Please let me send something so that they can see me.’“

Holland makes his debut as Peter Parker and his alter ego Spider-Man in the next “Captain America” movie, out next year. He will then lead his own “Spider-Man” film.