Tom Holland went undercover at New York high school

Tom Holland went undercover at a New York high school to prepare for his role as Spider-Man.

The 20-year-old British actor is the latest star to play teenager Peter Parker, the geeky high school nerd who transforms into the web-slinging superhero, and to prepare for his role in the new movie, Spider Man: Homecoming, he revealed during a Facebook Live Q& A he went undercover at a school in the Bronx for a few days.

"No one knew who I was or what I was doing. I had a fake name and fake accent,” Holland said. “I went to a school (in London) where you had to wear a suit and tie, and it’s all boys. For me, it was the first time I was in a classroom with girls. It was a really strange experience. It was really fun."

While he tried to remain tight-lipped about his real identity, he did eventually tell a few students he was going to play Spider-Man after being rumbled by a sceptical classmate, who asked, "What’s your deal, man? Why do you go to our school? This is a science school, you can’t just enroll...’”

"I started doing an English accent and I was like, ‘I have a secret. I’m actually Spider-Man.’ She was like, ‘Dude, you’re nuts. You are literally the craziest guy I’ve ever met in my life.’”

Despite revealing his secret identity, Holland said his experience as an undercover student was successful, as it helped him understand Peter Parker: "If Peter Parker went up in his school and was like, ‘I’m Spider-Man,’ everyone would be like, ‘Nah dude, no you’re not. No, no, no, no'," he said.

During the Q&A on Friday (09Dec16), Tom was also asked what it was like to try on the iconic red and blue spandex outfit for the first time for this year's (16) Captain America: Civil War. Holland confessed he was initially disappointed, because the suit wasn't ready in time

"I wore my stunt double’s suit," he added. "He’s bigger than me; he’s about 5 inches taller than me, a bit bulkier than me. I put it on, it felt pretty good, but when I opened up the mirrors, it was like saggy and it looked like a really sad version of Spider-Man. It was not the most heroic Spider-Man you’ve seen.

"It definitely looked cool, and now that it fits, it looks great. But on the day, I was very disappointed," Holland explained.

Spider Man: Homecoming is released in July (17).