Ethan Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, writer and film director.

Born in Austin, Texas, Hawke moved to Princeton, New Jersey at an early age, where he took acting classes at the McCarter Theatre. He first appeared in various high school performances, e.g. in George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan.

At the age of fourteen he made his feature film debut in Explorers (1985). Afterward, Hawke studied acting at the British Theatre Association in England and at the 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 New York City theatre company.

In 1988, Hawke was offered a role in Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society and his part as Todd Anderson was his breakthrough. He left school and appeared in A Midnight Clear, Alive, Reality Bites, Before Sunrise, Gattaca, The Newton Boys, Great Expectations and in many other movies. In 2001 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Training Day.

Hawke has recently directed Chelsea Walls and has written two novels, The Hottest State (1996) and Ash Wednesday (2002).

On May 1, 1998 he married actress Uma Thurman with whom he has two children, daughter Maya Ray (born July 8, 1998) and son Levon (born January 15, 2002). They separated in 2004 amid tabloid rumours of a relationship between Thurman and Quentin Tarantino on the set of Kill Bill and his own infidelity with an unknown woman. In 2005, along with his co-writers, he received his first screenwriting Oscar nomination for Before Sunset (a sequel to Before Sunrise).

Filmography

• Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
• Before Sunset (2004)
• Corso: The Last Beat (2002)
• Chelsea Walls (2001)
• The Jimmy Show (2001)
• Training Day (2001)
• Tape (2001)
• Waking Life (2001)
• Tell Me (2000)
• Hamlet (2000)
• Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)
• Joe the King (1999)
• The Velocity of Gary (1998)
• The Newton Boys (1998)
• Great Expectations (1998)
• Gattaca (1997)
• Search and Destroy (1995)
• Before Sunrise (1995)
• Floundering (1994)
• Reality Bites (1994)
• Rich in Love (1993)
• Alive (1993)
• Waterland (1992)
• A Midnight Clear (1992)
• White Fang (1991)
• Mystery Date (1991)
• Dead Poets Society (1989)
• Dad (1989)
• Explorers (1985)

External links