Ethan Hawke

Ethan Green Hawke was born in Austin, Texas, on November 6th, 1970. Raised in New Jersey, his passion for acting started to show really early, precisely while in high school; at the young age of 15 he made his first film debut in the teen adventure “Explorers” (1985), with fellow fledging actor River Phoenix. In 1988 he began attending Canergie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to study drama but dropped out only after a few months to take a role as a prep student in Peter Weir’s drama “Dead Poets Society” (1989), a critical success starring Robin Williams as the protagonist which launched his career as an actor. By the age of 25, he had already starred in 15 motion pictures, including “Dad” (1989), “White Fang” (1991), an adaptation of Jack London’s novel, and “Mystery Date” (1991). In addition to his movie work, Hawke became an active participant in the New York theater community and a filmmaker in his own right. He made his off-Broadway debut in “Casanova”, a production of the New York Shakespeare Festival, and even started his own non-profit theatre company, Malaparte, in 1991. In 1993, Hawke wrote, directed and edited a short film, “Straight to One”, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. While starring in movies like “Reality Bites” (1994) and “Before Sunrise” (1995) as the romantic lead, Hawke remained active with Malaparte, making his theatrical debut with the company’s production of “Wild Dogs!” in 1994. He reappeared on the big screen in the 1997 sci-fi thriller “Gattaca”, starring Jude Law and Uma Thurman, with whom Hawke began a romance that led to marriage in May 1998. That same year, he co-starred with up-and-coming actress “Gwyneth Paltrow” in a modern-day remake of Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations”, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. In 2001, Hawke earned important recognition thanks to the Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the movie “Training Day”, a crime thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua. In 2002 he appeared in Frank Whaley’s “The Jimmy Show”, screened at Sundance Film Festival, and made his own feature directorial debut with “Chelsea Walls”, based on the Dylan Thomas poem “Under Milkwood.” In 2014 Hawke earned an Oscar nomination for “Before Midnight” (2013) in the category of Best Adapted Screenplay. He shared the nomination with actress, screenwriter and co-star Julie Delpy. That same year, he also co-starred in the acclaimed drama “Boyhood”, earning Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG nominations, and directed “Seymour – An Introduction” (2014), a documentary on the pianist Seymour Bernstein. Later, in the thriller movie “First Reformed” (2017), written and directed by Paul Schrader, Hawke performed the role of a tormented pastor in a small, historical church in the North of the State of New York, an interpretation which granted him an award as Best Male Lead in the 2019 Independent Spirit Awards.