Ethan Hawke
☼ Born on 6 December 1970, in Austin, Texas, USA
Biography
Ethan Green Hawke was born on November 6, 1970 in Austin, Texas, to Leslie Carole (Green), a charity worker, and James Steven Hawke, an insurance actuary. His parents were students at the University of Texas at the time but divorced when Ethan was 5 years old. His mother raised him alone for the next five years, moving around the country, until she remarried in 1981 and the family settled in Princeton Junction, New Jersey.
He attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School and then transferred to the Hun School of Princeton and it was while he was there that he began taking acting classes at the McCarter Theatre on the Princeton campus. His early ambition had been to be a writer, but as a result of the acting lessons and appearances in student productions he persuaded his mother to allow him to attend an audition for a role in a sci-fi adolescent adventure, Explorers (1985). He got the role (along with River Phoenix) but although the movie was favourably reviewed, it met with little commercial success which discouraged Hawke from pursuing further movie roles for several years.
He was admitted to the prestigious Carnegie-Mellon University to study theatre but his studies were interrupted when he won his break-through role opposite Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society (1989) and he did not complete his degree. He then appeared in numerous films before taking a role in the Generation X drama Reality Bites (1994) for which he received critical praise. He starred in the romantic drama
(click to expand)
Before Sunrise (1995), and its later sequels Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013).
His subsequent acting career was a mix of theatre work (earning a number of awards and nominations, including a Tony Award nomination for his role in "The Coast of Utopia" at the Lincoln Center in New York), and a mix of serious and more commercial movies, notably Gattaca (1997) (where he met his first wife, Uma Thurman) and Training Day (2001). His role as the father in the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014) earned him multiple award nominations, including the Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Meanwhile, he also wrote two novels: "The Hottest State" (1996) and "Ash Wednesday" (2002).
In the role of actor
Leave the World Behind (08/12/2023)
Two families must deal with the repercussions of an apocalyptic cyber attack in Leave the World Behind. Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) spontaneously decides to book a weekend getaway at a Long Island beach house with her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and two children Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans). However, in the middle of […]
Strange Way of Life (06/10/2023)
Two former lovers apart for 25 years reunite under unfortunate circumstances in Strange Way of Life. Silva (Pedro Pascal) rides from his ranch to the town of Bitter Creek, where he is reunited with Sheriff Jake (Ethan Hawke). The two haven’t seen each other for 25 years, since they were young gunslingers and secret lovers […]
The Black Phone (23/06/2022)
A teenager kidnapped by a serial killer receives phone calls from the ghosts of the killer’s victims in The Black Phone. Finney (Mason Thames) is a 13-year-old boy who is bullied at school and subjected at home to violent outbursts by his alcoholic father, Terrance (Jeremy Davies). One day, Finney is taken after school by […]
The Northman (18/04/2022)
A Viking prince seeks revenge against his murderous uncle in The Northman. In AD 895, Viking King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) returns home from battle to his Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) and young son Amleth. Shortly after participating in a coming-of-age ceremony for Amleth conducted by Heimir the Fool (Willem Dafoe), Aurvandil is betrayed and […]
First Reformed (01/06/2018)
A country priest has a crisis of faith in First Reformed. Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke) is the pastor of the First Reformed parish, a historic yet poorly attended Dutch Reform church. Toller is approached by Mary (Amanda Seyfried), a pregnant parishioner, who asks Toller to talk to her husband, an environmentalist, whose despair about the environment […]
First Reformed (16/09/2017)
A country priest has a crisis of faith in First Reformed. Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke) is the pastor of the First Reformed parish, a historic yet poorly attended Dutch Reform church. Toller is approached by Mary (Amanda Seyfried), a pregnant parishioner, who asks Toller to talk to her husband, an environmentalist, whose despair about the […]
In a Valley of Violence (18/07/2016)
A drifter seeks vengeance in an isolated mining town in In a Valley of Violence. Paul (Ethan Hawke) is an ex cavalry man, who is travelling with his dog Abby on the way to Mexico. Paul decides to take a shortcut through the town of Denton, where he has an violent encounter with psychotic deputy […]
Predestination – Toronto After Dark 2014 (22/10/2014)
From The Spierig Brothers (Daybreakers) comes the brain-twisting time travel thriller Predestination. There exists a government agency, headed by Mr. Robertson (Noah Taylor), whose agents travel through time to prevent crimes before they happen, while keeping interference with the overall timeline to a minimum. One of these agents, known only as The Bartender (Ethan Hawke), […]
Boyhood (18/07/2014)
12 years in the making comes director Richard Linklater’s chronicle of a young man’s life from childhood to college. Six year old Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) is a young boy, who lives with his divorced single mother Olivia (Patricia Arquette) and older sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), with the kids receiving regular visitations from their father […]
Before Midnight (16/06/2013)
When Richard Linklater first made the romance Before Sunrise in 1995, I don’t know if he expected that the film would turn into a series that tracked the progress of a romantic relationship over the decades. Before Midnight meets up with Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) 18 years after they first met on […]
Daybreakers (10/01/2010)
With the PG-rated vampires of the Twilight films, it’s good to see the return of a dark and violent vampire film. In this film, vampires have become the dominant species on the planet and the remaining humans are being harvested for their blood. Ethan Hawke plays a researching looking for a solution to the upcoming […]
2 Days in Paris (25/08/2007)
A couple months ago I saw romantic films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. In these films Hawke and Delpy had a seeming perfect connection with each other, with very little conflict. 2 Days in Paris, which was directed by Delpy, seems to be the complete opposite of that. In […]
In the role of director
Wildcat – TIFF 2023 (13/09/2023)
Ethan Hawke directs his daughter Maya in a biopic about author Flannery O’Connor in Wildcat. Flannery O’Connor (Maya Hawke) is a deeply Catholic aspiring writer from New York of the 1950s. While travelling to Kentucky to visit her mother Regina (Laura Linney), Flannery is diagnosed with Lupus, a condition that previously took the life of her […]