Do you remember him as Todd Anderson in Dead Poets Society (1989), or as Jesse Wallace in Before Sunrise (1995), or as Mason in Adolescence (2014)? You surely remember him in “Gathaka”, considered by the audience as one of the most meaningful films of our time.
He is always remembered because in every incarnation he seems like the “real” person behind his character.
He is Ethan Hawke.
The acting profession requires not only talent, but also a lot of knowledge and life experience.
Ethan Hawke is one of the most educated actors in the world – he graduated from three universities – New York University, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Texas at Austin.
His broad culture unfolded not only in the acting profession, but also made him famous as a writer, screenwriter and director. Hawke co-starred in and wrote and directed the movie Fast Food Nation. In 2013, the film “Before Midnight”, for which he was also the screenwriter, received two nominations for the screenplay – “Oscar” for the best adapted screenplay and the Satellite nomination for the best adapted screenplay.
The following year – 2014, for his role as Mason in the film “Adolescence”, the actor received successive nominations for the “Oscar” – for the best supporting male role, nominations for the BAFTA Award for the best actor in a supporting role and a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Ethan Hawke, in a still from the movie “Training Day”
Ethan Hawke was born on November 6th, 1970 and has more than brilliantly realized his 52. There is no prospect of “retiring” as he threatened some time ago.
His first major role was in 1985 in the film The Explorers, where he played alongside River Phoenix. Many remember him in “White Tooth” (1991), “Night Resistance” (1992), “Alive” (1993), “Bits of Reality” (1994), “Before Sunrise” (1995), “Gattaka” (1997), “The Newton Brothers” (1998), “Great Expectations” (1998) and others.
He received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film “Training Day”.
His directorial debut was with the film “Chelsea Walls” (2002).
He is the author of two novels – “The Warmest State” (1996) and “Ash Wednesday” (2002). He is also the director of many theater plays.
Hawke was the husband of Uma Thurman, whom he met during the shooting of the film “Gattaka” in 1996. They have two children – a daughter named Maya (b. 1998) and a son named Levon (b. 2002). The couple separated in 2003, but their divorce was finalized in 2005.
Three years later, Hawke married Ryan Shawhuys, his children’s former nanny, with whom they now share a production company. They have two daughters – Clementine Jane (b. 2008) and Indiana (b. 2011).
In this year, the news came out that Ethan Hawke is preparing a promising crime series “The Whites”. One critic called it “another Hawke challenge”. Indeed, he’s been surprising us ever since he was a youngster in director Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society, after which he’s played a whole range of character roles, including a detective.
Ethan Hawke has had a brilliant career for more than three decades, but in an interview he shared that he would like to spend at least three days off work with his family. His daughter Maya Hawke is already having her star moment with the Netflix hit “Stranger Things.”
Hawke is proud of all four of his children and has vowed never to give them advice and… to fix his teeth. According to him, his crooked teeth made his face “more human”. This was seen by some as a “gauntlet thrown down” by Hollywood, where they preferred the artificial look as “more presentable”.
Hawke responded to the criticism in a very convincing way: “I was watching the Oscars on TV a few years ago and they all looked like they were made from a mold. They looked so artificial. And then crazy Sean Penn came on stage and I was like, ‘Here’s a human creature,” says the actor in his interview.
With that, Hollywood completely refused to contradict him. Hawke has made it clear that he doesn’t want to be part of the “perfect crowd.”
What Ethan Hawke says:
I don’t consider myself very talented.
I would not like to be talked about as a symbol of a whole generation, especially because this generation is still too young.
Always do things in the best possible way, no matter what you do, what profession you have…
People always ask me how I choose my characters. Well, it is very difficult to answer this question. It is difficult at all to give such explanations related to the psyche of a person. It is very difficult! And this is a misleading question, too personal in some respects.
I think most people are good at more things than the world gives them the opportunity to deal with.
All this tabloid trash is a kind of luxury tax I pay for all the good things I do in my life.
The truth is, I never wanted to be a movie star and I was quite aware of that.
Emmy MARIANSKA
