Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke (born
November 6,
1970) is an
Academy Award nominated
American actor,
writer and
film director.
Hawke was born in
Austin, Texas to James Steven Hawke and Leslie Carole Green, who were students at the
University of Texas at the time of his birth, and separated three years later; Hawke's great-grandfather was the brother of Cornelius Williams, who was the father of well-known playwright
Tennessee Williams. At an early age, Hawke moved to
Princeton, New Jersey with his single mother, where he took acting classes at the McCarter Theatre and attended the West Windsor-Plainsboro High School (now
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South) and the
Hun School of Princeton. He first appeared in various high school performances, including
George Bernard Shaw's
Saint Joan.
At the age of fourteen he made his feature film debut in
Explorers (
1985). Hawke studied acting at the British Theatre Association in
England and at
Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh. He has twice enrolled in
New York University's English program and is one of the founding fathers and artistic director of Malaparte, a former
New York City theatre company. Malaparte productions included A Joke!; Wild Dogs; Good Evening; Sons and Fathers; It Changes Every Year; Veins and Thumbtacks; Hesh; and The Great Unwashed. He also attended the
Packer Collegiate Institute in
Brooklyn.
In
1988, Hawke was cast in a role in director
Peter Weir's
Dead Poets Society; the film's success was considered Hawke's breakthrough. He left school and appeared in
A Midnight Clear,
Alive,
Reality Bites,
Before Sunrise,
Gattaca,
The Newton Boys,
Great Expectations and many other movies. In
2001, he was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in
Training Day.
Hawke directed
Chelsea Walls and has written two novels,
The Hottest State (in
1996) and
Ash Wednesday (in
2002). In
2005, he received his first screenwriting
Oscar nomination for co-writing the
2004 film,
Before Sunset (a sequel to
Before Sunrise).
On
March 26,
2006 Hawke's personal business office in
New York City was destroyed by a fast-moving
fire. He was in the middle of directing and starring in a movie version of his first novel,
The Hottest State. The fire broke out in a newly renovated office on the second floor of the office building and the blaze quickly spread to the fifth floor. It destroyed Hawke's fourth-floor office and his
post-production studio. Master tapes and negatives from Hawke's film were being stored off-site and were reportedly not destroyed by the fire.
On
May 1, 1998, Hawke married actress
Uma Thurman. The couple had two children, daughter
Maya Ray (born
July 8, 1998) and son
Levon Roan (born
January 15, 2002). They separated in
July 2004 and divorced in
2005. Hawke began dating
Canadian model Jen Perzow before separation, but said the affair wasn't the cause of the split.[
1]
Hawke lives on a small peninsula located in Tracadie,
Nova Scotia. This land was purchased before his divorce from Thurman as a family retreat. He is currently in the process of buying a large nearby farm and converting it into a celebrity resort.
He is a Democrat.
His family includes father James Hawke, half-brothers Matt and Sam, and stepmother Gay. James is a high ranking official at
Conseco.
Ash Wednesday (
2002)
The Hottest State (
1996)
*
interview, 2004, Premiere Magazine*
interview, 7/04, About.com*
interview, 8/20/02, identitytheory.com*
interview, 8/06/02, Powell's.com*
interview, 2001, Tribute.ca*
interview, 12/08/00, The Guardian UK*
interview, 5/00, ContactMusic*
80sResource: Ethan Hawke*
Daily Ethan Hawke News* (http://www.hotelchelseablog.com Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog. A look at life inside the famed NYC Hotel.
