Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke
Hawke at the premiere of The Hottest State,
2007
Born
Ethan Green Hawke
November 6, 1970 (1970-11-06)
Austin, Texas, United States
Occupation Actor, Director, Writer
Years
active
1984–present
Spouse(s)
Uma Thurman (1998–2004)
Ryan Shawhughes
(2008–present)
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6,
1970) is an American actor, writer and film
director. He landed his first feature role in
the movie Explorers in 1985 opposite River
Phoenix. He then appeared in a supporting
role in the drama Dead Poets Society (1989),
which was considered to be Hawke’s break-
through role. He appeared in such films as
White Fang (1991), A Midnight Clear (1992),
and Alive (1993) before taking a role in the
1994 Generation X drama Reality Bites, for
which he received critical acclaim. In 1995,
he starred in Richard Linklater’s film Before
Sunrise. Hawke followed this by starring in
the 1998 films The Newton Boys and Great
Expectations.
Hawke played the title role in Michael
Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000). The following
year he was cast in a supporting role in the
film Training Day (2001), for which he re-
ceived a Screen Actors Guild and Academy
Award nomination in the category for Best
Supporting Actor. Since then, his films have
included the science fiction Gattaca (1997),
the Before Sunrise sequel Before Sunset
(2004), the action thriller Assault on Precinct
13 (2005), the political crime Lord of War
(2005) and the crime drama Before the Devil
Knows You’re Dead (2008).
Hawke has also appeared in numerous
theater productions including The Seagull,
Henry IV, The Cherry Orchard, The Winter’s
Tale and The Coast of Utopia, for which he
received a Tony Award nomination. He made
his directorial debut with the 2002 independ-
ent feature Chelsea Walls.
In November
2007, Hawke directed his first play, the two-
act Things We Want. Aside from acting, he
has written two novels, The Hottest State
(1996) and Ash Wednesday (2002).
Early life
Hawke was born in Austin, Texas, to Leslie
Carole (née Green) and James Steven Hawke,
a high-ran