Ethan Hawke Biography

Hawke was born on November 6, 1970, in Austin, Texas, USA, to Leslie, a charity worker, and James Hawke, an insurance actuary. His parents separated in 1974 and he was raised in New York by his mother.

His mother remarried when he was 10 and they moved to New Jersey where he attended ‘West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South’ and graduated from ‘Hun School of Princeton,’ a secondary boarding school, in 1988.

After making his stage debut at age 13 in a school production of Bernard Shaw's ‘Saint Joan,’ he went on to appear in many school productions. At ‘Hun School,’ he took acting classes at the ‘McCarter Theatre.’

After high school graduation, he studied acting at ‘Carnegie Mellon University’ in Pittsburgh, but dropped out to act in ‘Dead Poets Society.’ He enrolled and dropped out of New York University's English program.

Hawke debuted in ‘Explorers’ in 1985, playing an alien-obsessed schoolboy alongside River Phoenix. The film’s commercial failure disappointed him. His other early films include ‘Dad’ and ‘White Fang.’ He played the leading role in the latter.

Theater was his "first love," and he made his Broadway debut in 1992, portraying the famous playwright Konstantin Treplev in Anton Chekhov's ‘The Seagull’ at the ‘Lyceum Theater’ in Manhattan.

In 1992, he co-starred in ‘Midnight Clear,’ a film directed by Keith Gordon. The film received positive reviews. In 1993, he played ‘Nando Parrado’ in ‘Alive,’ a survival drama film based on Piers Paul Read’s book.

He starred alongside Winona Ryder and Ben Stiller in Stiller’s directorial debut ‘Reality Bites,’ a 1994 romantic comedy-drama film. It was well-received and is regarded as a cultural touchstone for Gen X-ers.

In Richard Linklater's 1995 drama ‘Before Sunrise,’ he played an American who meets a young French woman on a train. They disembark and spend the night exploring Vienna and getting to know each other.

In Andrew Niccol’s 1997 sci-fi film ‘Gattaca,’ he played the role of a man who infiltrates a society of genetically perfect humans by assuming another man's identity. The film was critically appreciated but failed commercially.

He starred alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert De Niro, Anne Bancroft, and Chris Cooper in ‘Great Expectations,’ a 1998 contemporary film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel of the same name. The film was directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

‘Before Sunset’ (2004) was a sequel to ‘Before Sunrise.’ Director Linklater shared the screenplay credit with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy for which the trio received an ‘Oscar’ nomination.

In 2005, he starred in the Off-Broadway revival of David Rabe's dark comedy ‘Hurlyburly.’ He played the central character ‘Eddie,’ which earned him a ‘Lucille Lortel Award’ nomination for ‘Outstanding Lead Actor.’

‘Assault on Precinct 13,’ a 2005 action thriller film, starred Hawke and Laurence Fishburne. This loose remake of John Carpenter’s film of the same name had an updated plot and was an average success.

From 2006 to 2007, he starred as ‘Mikhail Bakunin’ in Tom Stoppard's trilogy play ‘The Coast of Utopia’ at the ‘Lincoln Center Theater’ in New York. He earned his first ‘Tony Award’ nomination for his performance.

In 2007, he starred alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney in the crime drama film ‘Before the Devil Knows You're Dead,’ which was directed by Sidney Lumet. Hawke’s performance was lauded by critics.

In 2009, he appeared in two plays: Chekhov's ‘The Cherry Orchard, where he played ‘Trofimov,’ and Shakespeare's ‘The Winter's Tale,’ in which he portrayed ‘Autolycus.’ He earned a ‘Drama Desk Award’ nomination for the latter.

In 2010, he directed his second play ‘A Lie of the Mind’ by Sam Shepard. A ‘New York Times’ review praised Hawke for eliciting a memorable performance.

Between 2008 and 2012, he appeared in films like ‘New York, I Love You,’ ‘Daybreakers,’ ‘Sinister,’ ‘Staten Island,’ and ‘Brooklyn's Finest.’

In 2013, he appeared in the horror-thriller ‘The Purge,’ which narrates the story of future America where crime is legal for one night of the year. The film saw the biggest opening of his career. The same year, he was also seen in the movie ‘Before Midnight,’ the third part of the trilogy.

 From December 2010 to January 2011, Hawke played the central character of ‘Travis’ in Tommy Nohilly’s play ‘Blood From a Stone’ for which he earned an ‘Obie Award.’ The following year, he was cast to play the titular role in Chekov’s ‘Ivanov.’

He returned to Broadway in 2013 with Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth,’ in which he played the title role, at the ‘Lincoln Theatre.’ The same year, he was also seen in the production of ‘Clive,’ which he directed.

He starred alongside Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane in the 2014 coming-of-age drama ‘Boyhood.’ Directed by Richard Linklater, the movie was filmed over a period of 12 years. It received accolades from many critics and enjoyed commercial success. The movie also brought Hawke his second nomination at the ‘Oscars’ for ‘Best Supporting Actor.’

The same year, he was also seen in other movies like ‘Predestination,’ ‘Cymbeline,’ ‘Good Kill,’ and ‘Seymour: An Introduction.’ ‘Seymour: An Introduction’ was his documentary directorial debut about the classical musician Seymour Bernstein.

 From 2015 to 2017, he appeared in movies like ‘Born to be Blue,’ ‘Maggie’s Plan,’ ‘Regression,’ ‘Maudie,’ ‘The Phenom,’ and ‘The Magnificent Seven.’ His portrayal of an anguished father, who loses his son, in the 2017 drama film ‘First Reformed’ was critically acclaimed.

From 2018 to 2019, the versatile actor was seen in movies like ‘Juliet, Naked,’ ‘Stockholm,’ ‘The Kid,’ and ‘The Truth.’ He returned to Broadway in 2019 for the revival of the play ‘True West,’ which was selected as critic’s pick in ‘New York Times.’

In 2020, he played the popular futurist ‘Nikola Tesla’ in Michael Almereyda's biographical drama film 'Tesla.' The film was premiered on January 27, 2020 at the 'Sundance Film Festival.'

Hawke’s breakthrough performance came in 1989 when he played a shy student opposite Robin Williams in ‘Dead Poets Society.’ Collecting $235 million worldwide, it remains his most commercially successful film.

In ‘Training Day,’ a 2001 crime thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua, he starred alongside Denzel Washington. A box office hit, it grossed more than $104 million worldwide.

‘Before Midnight’ was the third film of the ‘Before’ series. It featured Hawke and Julie Delpy. Apart from grossing $23,251,930, it also received many accolades for its screenplay.

Hawke shared an ‘Oscar’ nomination for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ for ‘Before Sunset’ and ‘Before Midnight.’ He was also nominated for the ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’ for ‘Training Day’ and ‘Boyhood.’

Hawke married actress Uma Thurman in 1998. The couple divorced in 2004. They have two children - Maya and Levon.

He married Ryan in 2008 and they have two daughters: Clementine Jane and Indiana.

This actor once said, “The theater, for me, has always been a place where I'm free to be more creative, a place to sharpen my tools.”

According to Hawke, he is often mistaken for Mark McGrath from the band ‘Sugar Ray,’ so often that he signs autographs as ‘Mark McGrath.’ Interestingly, Mark McGrath is often mistaken for Ethan Hawke.