Ethan Hawke

Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, director, and novelist born on November 6, 1970 (51 years). He was raised in New Jersey and made his long-feature debut at age 15 in Joe Dante’s Explorers (1985). The story that follows two teenagers in love with sci-fi movies didn't do well at the box office, probably due to a rushed release. Nonetheless, Hawke’s performance was approved by the critics. The second film Hawke took was as a prep school student in Dead Poets Society (1989), starring Robin Williams as the fascinating English teacher. Hawke dropped out of Carnegie Mellon University to work on the film; fortunately for him, the film was a critical success. 

Hawke’s interest in acting grew in high school, where he made his stage debut at age 13 at The McCarter Theatre of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan. He also performed in several high school productions and took acting classes at the McCarter Theatre on the Princeton campus. After the failure of his first film, he took a break from acting until his breakthrough appearance in Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society paved the way for better opportunities. 

Hawke married actress Uma Thurman on May 1, 1998, but the couple parted ways in 2005 amid allegations of Hawke’s infidelity. They have two children, Maya (1998) and Levon Roan Thurman Hawke (2002). Hawke remarried in 2008 to Ryan Shawhughes. Interestingly, she had briefly worked as a nanny to his and Thurman’s children before graduating. Naturally, there were speculations about their relationship, but Hawke quickly dismissed them “my (first) marriage disintegrated due to many pressures, none of which were remotely connected to Ryan”. He has two daughters with Ryan as well. 

Hawke has been professionally acting for nearly 40 years now, and he is still around today. A four-time Oscar nominee and a bonafide movie star still wears his trademark goatee and lopsided grin but is perpetually mistaken to be Mark McGrath, the “Sugar Ray” band member. People confuse him so often that he ends up signing autographs for McGrath. 

Besides his blockbuster moneymakers like Before sunrise, Training day, and Sinister, he has also directed four films, written three novels, and co-founded a theatre company. In 2022, Hawke has found himself on a Marvel set as Arthur Harrow in Moon Knight, a Disney plus production. However, he is in disbelief and concern, “you want everybody to like it. That’s all anyone is concerned about: are they going to like it?". Thankfully for Hawke, the verdicts have been good on that one.