In the movies, the character Peter Parker is known as “your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.” And who is best friend to this friendly superhero? That would be Ned Leeds, Parker’s high school chum, wingman and more importantly, the confidante who knows his secrets.

Since 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” Ned has been portrayed by Honolulu native Jacob Batalon. He emerged from obscurity, just three years after graduating from Damien High School with vague ambitions of a career in music, to become one of the franchise’s most beloved stars, justifiably accused of stealing scenes from his fellow big-named actors by fans and critics alike.

Batalon will reappear as Ned on screens nationwide on Thursday in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the third film in the blockbuster franchise. For Batalon, the fame the series has brought him is represented by a simple facet of modern life.

“It’s kind of evolved from kind of ‘being known,’ to being on EVERYONE’S phone,” said Batalon, who admits to having “a good amount” of famous names on speed-dial himself.

Calling from London, where he was on a press junket for the film, Batalon was excited about the film’s opening, which brings back Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Zendaya as Parker’s girlfriend, MJ. Trailers of the film also reveal a number of villains from previous iterations of Marvel’s “Spider-­Man” franchise, including Dr. Octopus, the Green Goblin and the Sandman. They surface as the result of Peter’s efforts to erase people’s knowledge of his identity as Spider-Man.

Batalon was tight-lipped about his character’s journey in the film — secrecy is typical for blockbuster releases — but he said filmgoers will see new aspects to Ned, who in previous “Spider-­Man” films has fulfilled a “Lord of the Rings’ ” Samwise Gamgee-type role to Parker, always there in the clutch. Ned also displayed a romantic side in “Spider-­Man: Far from Home,” where he has a girlfriend.

“For Ned, it’s really just a big adventure that he has no idea what he’s getting into,” he said of the new film. “Ned and MJ become (Parker’s) team behind the computer, and it’s a really, really crazy ride. He gets to do things that I feel like are pretty unexpected, and I feel like that’s a pretty big deal.”

Batalon’s path to stardom was laid on a foundation of mostly “luck” and “just kind of happened on its own,” he said. But a lot of hard work went into it as well.

He had originally intended to study music, taking music theory courses at Kapiolani Community College. But studying chord structures and musical forms had no appeal to him.

“I felt like I was trying hard to force myself into something I wasn’t really putting my heart into,” he said. “Being an amateurish musician, I feel like I didn’t understand the point of it.”

He made a few short film clips of himself singing and doing monologues, and then went to a talent convention in Los Angeles.

“These conventions cost a lot of money, and usually they’re a scam,” he said, but he met people who were actually interested in finding someone to promote. They helped him get into the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, whose graduates include Matthew Fox of “Lost.”

As one might expect, the transition was a huge culture shock. Honolulu was “the most city I was used to,” he said. “Going from that to New York, where it’s basically a world city, I think it really forced me to learn things that I feel like I was being ignorant about — understanding that not everyone was ‘family,’ but in a good way, that everyone was on their own grind, doing their own thing and trying to make it on their own, that’s what really enthralled me as well.”

With only one credit to his name, for “North Woods,” a horror film by fellow conservatory student Anthony Raus, he landed the role of Ned after a series of screen tests. His chemistry with Holland, then known mostly for starring in “Billy Elliot the Musical,” was immediately apparent. The two were constantly joking during filming — “We laughed and talked so much it’s almost a hassle for us to work together,” he said — and when asked by director Jon Watts, easily came up with the multistep handshake featured in the film.

“It turned into a cult thing,” he said. “Everybody was obsessed with this handshake that we came up with in about two minutes.”

“We talk a lot of trash to each other all the time, and he’s really happy for me,” Batalon said, “and I’m so, so happy for him.”

Batalon enjoys playing the role because it allows him to relive some of the innocence of his younger, carefree days in Hawaii. He is the youngest of seven children, and as the “baby” of the family he thinks he was given some latitude in pursuing his dreams. “My mom, she enjoys going to the openings,” he said. “I’m sure she talks about me all the time.”

Although he’s only 25, he talks about his Hawaii days almost as if they were decades in the past, reflecting on “the wistfulness, the hopefulness of not knowing what’s next or what to do. I feel like in my adult life, I’m pretty much moving upward and I feel really lucky to be in that position.”

Batalon’s career path is taking him in new directions. He played another sidekick in the 2019 film “The True Don Quixote,” taking on the Sancho Panza role in the modern-day ^­reboot of the Cervantes classic, and revived his romantic side with an appearance in 2018’s “Every Day” with one of his “Spider-­Man” costars, Angourie Rice. The actor also starred in the holiday romantic comedy “Let It Snow,” which was released by ­Netflix in 2019.

A major step forward will be his appearance in the title role in “Reginald the Vampire,” a series in production for the SyFy network.

Batalon said he’s quickly learning that there’s a lot more at stake when you’re in the starring role of a show.

“In terms of my performance, I find that I need to tap into things quicker, and more manageably, in a way that I can perform well and not tire myself out,” he said, referring to getting into character and the faster pace of filming for a TV series.

“Trying to dive into different emotions and really trying to capture this character has really taught me how to perform better on set. It goes a lot faster and you don’t get to see playback at all really. So you really have to trust yourself and your director.”

On a more personal note, Batalon received a positive response to the announcement of his recent weight loss, accomplished during the spring and summer through diet and exercise. He’d developed some bad eating habits as a youth and thought he would eventually “get over it,” but with his initial success, he started to overindulge again and packed on some pounds. The “darkness” of the pandemic motivated him to lose the weight, he said. (Fans need not worry that Ned will look different in the new “Spider-Man” film — the weight loss will be covered up through costuming, Batalon said.)

“I promised myself I would get healthy,” he said. “The days became weeks, and the weeks became months, and before I knew it I had lost 112 pounds. It was really just seeing myself progress every day, and relishing that.”

Now a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lives with his girlfriend — no one we would know, he said — Batalon has hopes of exploring business opportunities outside of acting.

“There’s a lot of things I want to invest in, things that I want to make for myself,” he said. “Obviously the industry is giving me these avenues, just to think about these ideas. Right now I feel like I’m building up my cache.”