American actor, film director and author Ethan Hawke made his debut in 1985 with the science fantasy film Explorers (1985). He then had his breakthrough performance in the 1989 drama film Dead Poets Society opposite Robin Williams. He starred in the 1990s films White Fang (1991) and its sequel (1994); Reality Bites with Winona Ryder (1994), Gattaca with Uma Thurman (1997), and Great Expectations with Gwyneth Paltrow (1998). He co-starred alongside Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013). He and Delpy also co-wrote the screenplay with Linklater for the last two films.
During the 2000s, Hawke starred in numerous blockbuster films including Training Day opposite Denzel Washington (2001), Taking Lives with Angelina Jolie (2004), Lord of War with Nicolas Cage (2005), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead with Philip Seymour Hoffman (2007), and Brooklyn's Finest with Richard Gere (2009). He co-starred, wrote and directed the 2006 film The Hottest State , based on his 1996 novel of the same name. In 2012, Hawke starred in the supernatural horror film Sinister (2012) and the next year he starred in The Purge with Lena Headey, the first installment in The Purge franchise. He teamed up again with Linklater for the film Boyhood , which was released in 2014 but production began in 2002 and finished in 2013, with Linklater's goal to make a film about growing up. Hawke played Mason Evans Sr., the father to the main character. The following years, Hawke co-starred in the films Maggie's Plan (2015), Born to Be Blue (2015), The Magnificent Seven (2016), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), Juliet, Naked (2018), The Black Phone (2021) and The Northman (2022).
Hawke created, co-wrote and starred as John Brown in the Showtime limited series The Good Lord Bird (2018), and directed the HBO Max documentary series The Last Movie Stars (2022). He starred in the Marvel television miniseries Moon Knight (2022) as Arthur Harrow.
In addition to his film work, Hawke has appeared in many theater productions, making his Broadway debut in 1992 in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull , and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 2007 for his performance in Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia . In 2010, Hawke directed Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind , for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play. In 2018, he starred in the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Sam Shepard's play True West alongside Paul Dano.
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1985 | Explorers | Ben Crandall | ||
1988 | Lion's Den | Chris | Short film | |
1989 | Dead Poets Society | Todd Anderson | ||
1989 | Dad | Billy Tremont | ||
1991 | White Fang | Jack Conroy | ||
1991 | Mystery Date | Tom McHugh | ||
1992 | Waterland | Mathew Price | ||
1992 | A Midnight Clear | Will Knott | ||
1993 | Rich in Love | Wayne Frobiness | ||
1993 | Alive | Nando Parrado | ||
1994 | Straight to One | N/A | Short film; writer, director and producer only | |
1994 | Quiz Show | Don Quixote student | Uncredited cameo | |
1994 | Reality Bites | Troy Dyer | ||
1994 | Floundering | Jimmy | ||
1994 | White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf | Jack Conroy | Uncredited cameo | |
1995 | Before Sunrise | Jesse Wallace | ||
1995 | Search and Destroy | Roger | ||
1997 | Gattaca | Vincent Freeman | ||
1998 | Great Expectations | Finnegan 'Finn' Bell | ||
1998 | The Newton Boys | Jess Newton | ||
1999 | The Velocity of Gary | Nat | ||
1999 | Joe the King | Len Coles | ||
1999 | Snow Falling on Cedars | Ishmael Chambers | ||
2000 | Hamlet | Hamlet | ||
2001 | Waking Life | Jesse Wallace | ||
2001 | Tape | Vince | ||
2001 | Training Day | Detective Jake Hoyt | ||
2001 | Chelsea Walls | Sam (voice) | Uncredited; also director | |
2002 | The Jimmy Show | Ray | ||
2004 | Taking Lives | Martin Asher / James Costa | ||
2004 | Before Sunset | Jesse Wallace | Also writer | |
2005 | Assault on Precinct 13 | Sergeant Jake Roenick | ||
2005 | Lord of War | ATF Agent Jack Valentine | ||
2005 | One Last Thing... | Earl Jameison | Uncredited cameo | |
2006 | The Hottest State | Vince | Also writer and director | |
2006 | Fast Food Nation | Pete | ||
2007 | Before the Devil Knows You're Dead | Hank Hanson | ||
2008 | What Doesn't Kill You | Paulie McDougan | ||
2008 | Chelsea on the Rocks | Himself | Documentary | |
2008 | New York, I Love You | Writer | ||
2009 | Brooklyn's Finest | Detective Sal Procida | ||
2009 | Staten Island | 'Sully' Halverson | ||
2009 | Corso: The Last Beat | Narrator / Himself | Documentary | |
2009 | Daybreakers | Edward Dalton | ||
2011 | The Woman in the Fifth | Tom Ricks | ||
2012 | Total Recall | Carl Hauser | Director's cut only | |
2012 | Sinister | Ellison Oswalt | ||
2012 | Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God | Pat (voice) | Documentary | |
2013 | Before Midnight | Jesse Wallace | Also writer | |
2013 | The Purge | James Sandin | ||
2013 | Getaway | Brent Magna | ||
2014 | Boyhood | Mason Evans Sr. | ||
2014 | Predestination | Agent Doe | ||
2014 | Cymbeline | Iachimo | ||
2014 | Good Kill | Major Tommy Egan | ||
2014 | Seymour: An Introduction | Himself | Documentary; also director | |
2015 | Ten Thousand Saints | Les Keffy | ||
2015 | Maggie's Plan | John Harding | ||
2015 | Born to Be Blue | Chet Baker | ||
2015 | Regression | Bruce Kenner | ||
2016 | In a Valley of Violence | Paul | ||
2016 | The Phenom | Hopper Gibson Sr. | ||
2016 | Invasion! | Cosmos (voice) | Short film | |
2016 | Maudie | Everett Lewis | ||
2016 | The Magnificent Seven | 'Goodnight' Robicheaux | ||
2017 | Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets | 'Jolly' The Pimp | ||
2017 | First Reformed | Reverend Ernst Toller | ||
2017 | 24 Hours to Live | Travis Conrad | ||
2017 | Dark | Narrator | Uncredited | |
2018 | Juliet, Naked | Tucker Crowe | ||
2018 | Blaze | Radio DJ | Cameo; also writer, director and producer | |
2018 | Stockholm | Kaj Hansson / Lars Nystrom | ||
2019 | The Kid | Pat Garrett | ||
2019 | Adopt a Highway | Russell Millings | Also producer | |
2019 | The Truth | Hank | ||
2020 | Tesla | Nikola Tesla | ||
2020 | Cut Throat City | Jackson Symms | ||
2021 | Zeros and Ones | JJ | ||
2021 | The Guilty | Sergeant Bill Miller (voice) | ||
2021 | The Black Phone | The Grabber | ||
2022 | The Northman | King Aurvandill | ||
2022 | Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery | Efficient Man | Cameo | |
2022 | Raymond & Ray | Ray | ||
2023 | Strange Way of Life | Jake | Short film | |
2023 | Wildcat | — | Writer, director and producer only | |
2023 | Leave the World Behind | Clay Sandford | ||
TBA | Tonight at Noon† | Lefty | Post-production | |
† | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | Alias | CIA Agent James L. Lennox | Episode: "Double Agent" | |
2007 | Robot Chicken | Godzilla Junior / Jason | Voice, episode: "Squaw Bury Shortcake" | |
2011 | Moby Dick | Starbuck | Miniseries | |
2019 | The Purge | James Sandin | Episode: "7:01am" | |
2020 | The Good Lord Bird | John Brown | Lead role; also creator, writer and executive producer | |
2022 | Moon Knight | Arthur Harrow | Main role | |
2022 | The Last Movie Stars | Himself | Documentary series; also director | |
2022–present | Batwheels | Batman | Main voice role [3] | |
2023 | Reservation Dogs | Rick Miller | Episode: "Elora's Dad" |
Year | Title | Role | Venue | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Casanova | Young Casanova | The Public Theater | ||
1992–1993 | The Seagull | Konstantin Treplev | Lyceum Theatre | ||
1993 | Sophistry | Xavier 'Ex' Reynolds | Playwrights Horizons | ||
1999 | Camino Real | Kilroy | Williamstown Theatre Festival | ||
2001 | The Late Henry Moss | Ray Moss | Peter Norton Space | ||
2003–2004 | Henry IV | Henry Percy | Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway | ||
2005 | Hurlyburly | Eddie | Acorn Theatre | ||
2006–2007 | The Coast of Utopia | Michael Bakunin | Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway | ||
2007 | Things We Want | N/A | Acorn Theatre | Director only | |
2009 | The Cherry Orchard | Peter Trofimov | BAM Harvey Theater | ||
2009 | The Winter's Tale | Autolycus | The Old Vic / International tour | ||
2010 | A Lie of the Mind | N/A | Acorn Theatre | Director only | |
2011 | Blood From a Stone | Travis | Acorn Theatre | ||
2012 | Ivanov | Nikolai Ivanov | Classic Stage Company | ||
2013 | Clive | Clive | Acorn Theatre | Also director | |
2013–2014 | Macbeth | Macbeth | Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway | ||
2019 | True West | Lee | American Airlines Theatre, Broadway |
Joel Daniel Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively known as the Coen brothers, are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Their most acclaimed works include Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Many of their films are distinctly American, often examining the culture of the American South and American West in both modern and historical contexts.
Hamlet, also known as Hamlet 2000, is a 2000 American drama film written and directed by Michael Almereyda, set in contemporary New York City, and based on the Shakespeare play of the same name. Ethan Hawke plays Hamlet as a film student, Kyle MacLachlan co-stars as Uncle Claudius, with Diane Venora as Gertrude, Liev Schreiber as Laertes, Julia Stiles as Ophelia, Steve Zahn as Rosencrantz, Bill Murray as Polonius, and Sam Shepard as Hamlet's father.
Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, filmmaker, composer, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa (1990), Voyager (1991), Three Colours: White (1993), the Before trilogy, An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), and 2 Days in Paris (2007).
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, author and film director. He made his film debut in Explorers (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in Dead Poets Society (1989). Hawke starred alongside Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy from 1995 to 2013. Hawke received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Training Day (2001) and Boyhood (2014) and two for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). Other notable roles include in Reality Bites (1994), Gattaca (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Maggie's Plan (2015), First Reformed (2017), The Black Phone (2021) and The Northman (2022).
Waking Life is a 2001 American animated film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams and lucid dreams, consciousness, the meaning of life, free will, and existentialism. It is centered on a young man who wanders through a succession of dreamlike realities wherein he encounters a series of people who engage in insightful philosophical discussions.
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); and the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016).
Before Sunrise is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The first installment in the Before trilogy, it follows Jesse and Céline as they meet on a Eurail train and disembark in Vienna to spend the night together.
Before Sunset is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, from a story by Linklater and Kim Krizan. It is the first film by Warner Independent Pictures. The sequel to Before Sunrise (1995) and the second installment in the Before trilogy, Before Sunset follows Jesse (Hawke) and Céline (Delpy) as they reunite nine years later in Paris.
A Lie of the Mind is a play written by Sam Shepard, first staged at the off-Broadway Promenade Theater on 5 December 1985. The play was directed by Shepard himself with stars Harvey Keitel as Jake, Amanda Plummer as Beth, Aidan Quinn as Frankie, Geraldine Page as Lorraine, and Will Patton as Mike. The music was composed and played by the North Carolina bluegrass group the Red Clay Ramblers.
True West is a play by the American playwright Sam Shepard, which follows the sibling rivalry between estranged brothers Austin and Lee, who have reconnected. It is set in California, about 20 miles outside of Los Angeles in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley, at their mother's home.
Alessandro Antine Nivola is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival among others.
Boyhood is a 2014 American epic coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke. Filmed from 2002 to 2013, Boyhood depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans Jr. (Coltrane) from ages six to eighteen as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents. Richard Linklater's daughter Lorelei plays Mason's sister, Samantha.
2 Days in Paris is a 2007 romantic comedy-drama film written, co-produced, edited, composed, and directed by Julie Delpy, and stars Delpy, Adam Goldberg and Daniel Brühl. It was followed by the 2012 sequel 2 Days in New York.
Stephen Belber is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. His plays have been produced on Broadway and in over 50 countries. He directed the film adaptation of his Broadway play, Match, starring Patrick Stewart,. He also wrote and directed the film Management, starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson and wrote the HBO film O.G., starring Jeffrey Wright, Theothus Carter, and William Fichtner. Belber was an actor and associate writer on The Laramie Project,, as well as a co-writer of The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later.
Shelby Shook Gaines is an American composer, musician, and writer. He is the son of novelist Charles Gaines and artist Patricia Ellisor Gaines.
Before Midnight is a 2013 American romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. The sequel to Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004), it is the third installment in the Before trilogy. The film follows Jesse (Hawke) and Céline (Delpy), now a couple, as they spend a summer vacation in Greece with their children.
Cymbeline is a 2014 American crime thriller film written, produced, and directed by Michael Almereyda, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo, and Dakota Johnson.
The Before trilogy consists of three American romance films directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Beginning with Before Sunrise (1995), and continuing with two sequels, Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). The films were all written by Linklater, along with Kim Krizan on the first film, and with Hawke and Delpy on the last two.
Blaze is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Ethan Hawke based on the life of country musician Blaze Foley. The screenplay by Hawke and Sybil Rosen was adapted from the memoir Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze by Rosen. It stars musician Ben Dickey as Foley. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the United States on August 17, 2018, by IFC Films.
Raymond & Ray is a 2022 comedy-drama film written and directed by Rodrigo García. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Ethan Hawke, Maribel Verdú, and Sophie Okonedo.