 Holder performed at several London theatres including the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and Bristol Old Vic.His first major film role was as the effeminate dancer Marcus in Ted Kotcheff's film "Two Gentlemen Sharing" (1969), which told the story of interracial relations in swinging London.John Boorman then cast him as the black preacher in the comedy film "Leo the Last" (1970), also about race relations, which was set in a Notting Hill slum in West London.