So far, Ethan Hawke has been nominated for one Oscar in the Supporting Actor category, for Training Day, for which his co-star, Denzel Washington, won his secon Oscar.
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,” is a phrase a young Ethan Hawke took to heart while filming “Dead Poets Society,” the Academy Award winning drama which launched his career. Twenty five years, and several Tony(r) and Oscar (r) nominations later, he has emerged a multifaceted artist, challenging himself as a novelist, screenwriter and director, while earning world acclaim for his brave and nuanced roles.
Hawke has collaborated with filmmaker Richard Linklater on multiple occasions, including “Fast Food Nation;” “Waking Life;” “The Newton Boys” and “Tape.” Their most recent collaboration, “Boyhood,” will premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and will screen in competition at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival. Marking their most celebrated project, Hawke starred opposite Julie Delpy in the critically acclaimed film “Before Sunrise” and its two sequels “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight.” The trio co-wrote the screenplay for “Before Sunset,” and in 2004, they went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Adapted Screenplay, a Writers Guild Award nomination for Adapted Screenplay and an IFP Spirit Award nomination for Best Screenplay.
Following a critically acclaimed debut at Sundance in 2013, “Before Midnight” was released by Sony Pictures Classics. In addition to starring in the film, Hawke once again collaborated with Linklater and Delpy on the screenplay. Peter Travers of “Rolling Stone” says of the film “Whatever a modern love story is, ‘Before Midnight’ takes it to the next level. It’s damn near perfect.” The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a BFCA Critics Choice Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Writers Guild Award for Adapted Screenplay, and an IFP Spirit Award nomination for Best Screenplay. Hawke, Linklater and Delpy were honored with the Louie Treize Genius Award for achievement in cinematic works for the “Before” films at the BFCA Critics Choice Awards.
Hawke also recently starred in James DeMonaco’s “The Purge” alongside Lena Headley. Made on a budget of only $3 million dollars, “The Purge” became Ethan’s largest box office opening weekend ever grossing over $34.5 million dollars.
Tapping into the pop culture zeitgeist with Ben Stiller’s 1994 comedy “Reality Bites,” Hawke has starred in over forty films, including; “Explorers;” “Dad;” “White Fang;” “Waterland;” “Alive;” “Rich In Love”; “Gattaca;” “Great Expectations;” “Hamlet;” “Assault on Precinct 13;” “Taking Lives;” “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “What Doesn’t Kill You,” “Brooklyn’s Finest,” “Woman in the Fifth,” and “Sinister.” In 2002, Hawke received Academy Award(r) and Screen Actors Guild(r) Supporting Actor nominations for his work in Antonie Fuqua’s “Training Day” opposite Denzel Washington.
Hawke recently reteamed with writer-diretor Michael Almereyda on William Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline.” Hawke stars in the contemporary-set romance set against the backdrop of a war between dirty cops and drug-dealing bikers, in what’s being described as “Sons of Anarchy” meets Romeo and Juliet. Additionally, he recently wrapped “Predestination” for Sony which was directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. Other upcoming projects in production include Andrew Niccol’s “Drones” and Shari Spring Berman & Robert Pulcini’s “Ten Thousand Saints.”
Behind the lens, in 2001, Hawke made his directorial debut with his drama “Chelsea Walls.” The film tells five stories set in a single day at the “Chelsea Hotel” and stars Uma Thurman, Kris Kristofferson, Rosario Dawson, Natasha Richardson, and Steve Zahn. Additionally, he directed Josh Hamilton in the short film “Straight to One,” a story of a couple, young and in love, living in the Chelsea Hotel. Hawke also recently directed a documentary about famed piano composer Seymour Bernstein that will be released in 2014.
In 1996, Hawke wrote his first novel, The Hottest State, published by Little Brown and now in its nineteenth printing. In his sophomore directorial endeavor, Hawke adapted for the screen and directed the on-screen version of “The Hottest State” and also directed a music video for the film. In 2002, his second novel, Ash Wednesday, was published by Knopf and was chosen for Bloomsbury’s contemporary classics series. In addition to his work as a novelist, Hawke wrote an in-depth and celebrated profile of icon Kris Kristofferson for Rolling Stone in April 2009.
At the age of twenty one, Hawke founded Malaparte Theater Co., which remained open for more than five years giving young artists a home to develop their craft. The next year in 1992, Hawke made his Broadway debut in The Seagull. Additionally, he has appeared in Henry IV alongside Richard Easton; Buried Child (Steppenwolf); Hurlyburly for which he earned a Lucille Lortel Award Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor and Drama League Award Nomination for Distinguished Performance (The New Group); Tom Stoppards The Coast of Utopia for which he was honored with a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play and Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performance (Lincoln Center); the inaugural season of The Bridge Project’s double billings of The Cherry Orchard and A Winter’s Tale; for which garnered Hawke a Drama Desk Award Nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Old Vic); and Scott Elliott’s Blood From A Stone (The New Group) which garnered him a 2011 Obie Award. Also for theatre, in 2007, Hawke made his Off-Broadway directing debut with the world premiere of Jonathan Marc Sherman’s dark comedy, Things We Want. In 2010, Hawke directed Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind, for which he received a Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play; as well as recognition in the New York Times and The New Yorker top ten lists of the leading theatre productions in 2010. In 2012, he starred in Chekov’s Ivanov for the Classic Stage Company. In 2013, he directed and starred in Clive, the stage adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s Baal, by Marc Sherman for The New Group. Hawke recently finished a successful run in Lincoln Center Theatre’s production of Macbeth in the title role.
For television, Hawke most recently appeared in the television adaption of “Moby Dick” that aired on Encore. He starred alongside William Hurt as the stalwart and experienced first officer Starbuck, the only member of the crew who dares to oppose Captain Ahab (William Hurt).
Hawke resides in New York and is married with four children.
