Ethan Hawke
Acting • Born 1970-11-06
Biography
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role. He then appeared in such films as White Fang (1991), A Midnight Clear (1992), and Alive (1993) before taking a role in the 1994 Generation X drama Reality Bites, for which he gained critical acclaim. In 1995, he starred in the romantic drama Before Sunrise, and later in its sequel Before Sunset (2004). In 2001, Hawke was cast as a rookie police officer in Training Day, for which he received a Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. Other films have included the science fiction feature Gattaca (1997), the title role in Michael Almereyda's Hamlet (2000), the action thriller Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), and the crime drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007). Hawke has appeared in many theater productions including The Seagull, Henry IV, Hurlyburly, The Cherry Orchard, The Winter's Tale and The Coast of Utopia, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination. He made his directorial debut with the 2002 independent feature Chelsea Walls. In November 2007 Hawke directed his first play, Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want. Aside from acting, he has written two novels, The Hottest State (1996) and Ash Wednesday (2002). Between 1998 and 2004, Hawke was married to actress Uma Thurman.
Filmography
160 credits
Before Sunrise
Movie • 1995
Jesse
Before Sunset
Movie • 2004
Jesse
Dead Poets Society
Movie • 1989
Todd Anderson
Training Day
Movie • 2001
Jake
Gattaca
Movie • 1997
Vincent Freeman
The Phoenix Portal
Movie • 2005
Ben Crandall (archive footage)
Snow Falling on Cedars
Movie • 1999
Ishmael Chambers
Lord of War
Movie • 2005
Jack Valentine
Hamlet
Movie • 2000
Hamlet
Reality Bites
Movie • 1994
Troy Dyer
Taking Lives
Movie • 2004
James Costa
Dad
Movie • 1989
Billy
A Midnight Clear
Movie • 1992
Will Knott
Alive
Movie • 1993
Nando Parrado
Tape
Movie • 2001
Vin
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Movie • 2007
Hank Hanson
Tonight at Noon
Movie
Lefty
Fast Food Nation
Movie • 2006
Pete
White Fang
Movie • 1991
Jack Conroy
Assault on Precinct 13
Movie • 2005
Sergeant Jake Roenick
Great Expectations
Movie • 1998
Finnegan Bell
Brooklyn's Finest
Movie • 2010
Det. Sal Procida
Staten Island
Movie • 2009
Sully
Explorers
Movie • 1985
Ben Crandall
The Newton Boys
Movie • 1998
Jess Newton
What Doesn't Kill You
Movie • 2008
Paulie
Before the End
Movie • 2020
Self - Jesse
Daybreakers
Movie • 2010
Edward Dalton
Leave the World Behind
Movie • 2023
Clay Sandford
Mystery Date
Movie • 1991
Tom McHugh
Joe the King
Movie • 1999
Len Coles
The Woman in the Fifth
Movie • 2011
Tom Ricks
Sinister
Movie • 2012
Ellison Oswalt
Boyhood
Movie • 2014
Dad
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
Movie • 2012
(archive footage)
The Jimmy Show
Movie • 2002
Ray
Chelsea on the Rocks
Movie • 2008
Self
Getaway
Movie • 2013
Brent Magna
Waterland
Movie • 1992
Matthew Price
Before Midnight
Movie • 2013
Jesse
The Purge
Movie • 2013
James Sandin
Rich in Love
Movie • 1992
Wayne Frobiness
Turn Every Page - The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb
Movie • 2022
Self
The Manufacturing of 'Fast Food Nation'
Movie • 2007
Self
Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Moon Knight
Movie • 2022
Self - Arthur Harrow
Predestination
Movie • 2014
The Bartender
White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf
Movie • 1994
Jack Conroy (uncredited)
10,000 Saints
Movie • 2015
Les Horn
Good Kill
Movie • 2015
Commandant Tom Egan
Dead Poets: A Look Back
Movie • 2006
Cymbeline
Movie • 2014
Iachimo
Regression
Movie • 2015
Bruce Kenner
Strange Way of Life
Movie • 2023
Jake
Search and Destroy
Movie • 1995
Roger
Invasion!
Movie • 2016
Voice of the Cosmos (voice)
Floundering
Movie • 1994
Jimmy
Black Phone 2
Movie • 2025
The Grabber
New York, I Love You
Movie • 2008
Writer
Welcome Nowhere
Movie • 2013
Narrator
In a Valley of Violence
Movie • 2016
Paul
pollyDAYS
Movie • 2003
Self
Maggie's Plan
Movie • 2016
John Harding
Luna Moth (Performance Film)
Movie • 2022
Self
Lion's Den
Movie • 1988
Chris
The Magnificent Seven
Movie • 2016
Goodnight Robicheaux
Born to Be Blue
Movie • 2015
Chet Baker
Maudie
Movie • 2016
Everett Lewis
The Hottest State
Movie • 2007
Vince
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Movie • 2022
Efficient Man
Seymour: An Introduction
Movie • 2015
Self
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Movie • 2017
Jolly the Pimp
21 Years: Richard Linklater
Movie • 2014
Self - Actor
Answering the Call: Behind the Scenes of The Black Phone
Movie • 2022
Self
The Last of the Tribe
Movie
William Phelan
The Phenom
Movie • 2016
Hopper Sr.
Blue Moon
Movie • 2025
Lorenz Hart
Willie Nelson 90: Long Story Short
Movie • 2023
Self
Stockholm
Movie • 2019
Lars Nystrom
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
Movie • 2012
Pat (voice)
All You Zombies: Bringing 'Predestination' to Life
Movie • 2015
Self
Juliet, Naked
Movie • 2018
Tucker Crowe
The Space in Between
Movie • 2017
Self
First Reformed
Movie • 2018
Pastor Ernst Toller
The King
Movie • 2018
Self
24 Hours to Live
Movie • 2017
Travis Conrad
At Sundance
Movie • 1995
Self
The Kid
Movie • 2019
Sheriff Pat Garrett
Blaze
Movie • 2018
Radio DJ
Tesla
Movie • 2020
Nikola Tesla
Starring Austin Pendleton
Movie • 2016
Self
The Truth
Movie • 2019
Hank
Chattanooga Strong
Movie • 2015
Narrator
Cut Throat City
Movie • 2020
Jackson Symms
Adopt a Highway
Movie • 2019
Russell Millings
Let's Dance
Movie • 2018
Segment: "Table Manners"
Quiz Show
Movie • 1994
Don Quixote Student (uncredited)
Directed by Sidney Lumet: How the Devil Was Made
Movie • 2008
Self
The Making of Daybreakers
Movie • 2010
Self
After Before
Movie • 2017
Self
Waking Life
Movie • 2001
Jesse
Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny
Movie • 2016
Self
Chelsea Walls
Movie • 2001
Sam (voice) (uncredited)
All the Love You Cannes!
Movie • 2002
Self
The Northman
Movie • 2022
King Aurvandil War-Raven
Revolver
Movie
Zeros and Ones
Movie • 2021
JJ / Justin
The Guilty
Movie • 2021
Sgt. Bill Miller (voice)
Twelve Years
Movie • 2015
Self
The Black Phone
Movie • 2022
The Grabber
The Velocity of Gary
Movie • 1999
Nat
One Last Thing...
Movie • 2005
Earl Jameison (uncredited)
Waiting for Godot
Movie • 2021
Vladimir
Raymond & Ray
Movie • 2022
Ray
The Weight
Movie • 2026
Samuel Murphy
She Dances
Movie • 2026
Brian
Hippies
Movie
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Total Recall
Movie • 2012
Hauser (long version only)
Before Sunrise: Behind the Scenes
Movie
Before Sunset: Behind the Scenes
Movie • 2005
Paul Schrader: Man in a Room
Movie • 2020
Inside the Actors Studio
TV • 1994
Self
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self
Alias
TV • 2001
James Lennox
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
The View
TV • 1997
Self
Moon Knight
TV • 2022
Arthur Harrow
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV • 1992
Self
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self - Guest
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
TV • 1993
Self - Guest
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Moby Dick
TV • 2011
Starbuck
Explained
TV • 2018
Narrator (voice)
Shakespeare Uncovered
TV • 2012
Self
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV • 2014
Self - Guest
Talking with Chris Hardwick
TV • 2017
Self
Batwheels
TV • 2022
Batman (voice)
Reservation Dogs
TV • 2021
Rick Miller
The View
TV • 1997
Self - Guest
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
Self - Guest
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
TV • 2014
Self - Guest
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
TV • 2009
Self - Guest
The Good Lord Bird
TV • 2020
John Brown
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self - Guest
The Purge
TV • 2018
James Sandin
Real Time with Bill Maher
TV • 2003
Self
Off Camera with Sam Jones
TV • 2014
Self
Conan
TV • 2010
Self
GQ Presents: Iconic Characters
TV • 2018
Self
Great Performances
TV • 1971
Self
Desus & Mero
TV • 2019
Self - Illustrious Guest
The Lowdown
TV • 2025
Lee Raybon
Bo' Selecta!
TV • 2002
Self
My Generation
TV • 2024
Narrator
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
TV • 2014
Self
Vietnam: The War That Changed America
TV • 2025
Self - Narrator (voice)
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self - Guest
The Kelly Clarkson Show
TV • 2019
Self
The American Revolution
TV • 2025
Anthony Wayne / John Andrews (voice)
Variety & CNN Actors on Actors
TV • 2025
Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self