Ethan Hawke

Hawke was married to actress Uma Thurman from 1998 until their divorce, variously dated to 2004 or 2005. They have two children, Maya Hawke and Levon Hawke. Hawke has been married to Ryan Shawhughes Hawke since 2008, and they have two daughters, Clementine and Indiana.

Hawke's parents were Leslie Carole Green, a charity worker, and James Steven Hawke, an insurance actuary. After his parents divorced, his mother raised him and the family eventually settled in Princeton Junction, New Jersey.

Hawke began acting in school productions and studied at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. He made his film debut in Explorers (1985), appearing alongside River Phoenix, and later left Carnegie Mellon University after being cast in Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society (1989). As Todd Anderson, a timid student influenced by Robin Williams's English teacher, Hawke gained wider recognition.

He followed the film with roles in White Fang, Alive, and Reality Bites (1994), in which he played a philosophical young slacker opposite Winona Ryder. In Before Sunrise (1995), he began his long-running collaboration with director Richard Linklater and co-star Julie Delpy, returning for Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013).

Hawke played Vincent Freeman in Gattaca (1997), appeared in a contemporary adaptation of Hamlet (2000), and starred opposite Denzel Washington in Training Day (2001). His performance as rookie police officer Jake Hoyt earned him his first Academy Award nomination.

Hawke continued working with Richard Linklater in Tape (2001), The Newton Boys (1998), and Boyhood (2014). He also co-wrote Before Sunset and Before Midnight, receiving Academy Award nominations for the screenplays. Boyhood, filmed over 12 years, earned Hawke an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the central character's father.

His later screen work included playing jazz musician Chet Baker in Born to Be Blue (2015), a reverend facing a moral crisis in First Reformed (2017), and a former rock star in Juliet, Naked (2018). He co-wrote, produced, and directed Blaze (2018), a biographical film about folk musician Blaze Foley.

Hawke also appeared in The Good Lord Bird (2020), which he created and starred in, as well as The Northman, Moon Knight, Glass Onion, and Leave the World Behind. In Blue Moon (2025), he portrayed lyricist Lorenz Hart and received another Academy Award nomination.

Hawke co-founded the Malaparte Theater Company in New York City in 1991 and made his Broadway debut in The Seagull the following year. He later appeared in Henry IV, The Coast of Utopia, and a revival of Macbeth. His performance as Mikhail Bakunin in The Coast of Utopia earned him a Tony Award nomination, and he won an Obie Award for Blood from a Stone.

His stage work has also included True West, The Cherry Orchard, and The Winter's Tale. He directed the productions Things We Want, A Lie of the Mind, and Clive, and worked with director Sam Mendes on international theater tours.

Hawke directed the films Chelsea Walls and Seymour: An Introduction, a documentary about pianist Seymour Bernstein. He also directed the docuseries The Last Movie Stars, centered on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. As an author, he wrote The Hottest State (1996), Ash Wednesday (2002), Rules for a Knight (2015), and A Bright Ray of Darkness (2021).