1985–1993: Early years and breakthrough With his mother's permission, Hawke attended his first casting call at age 14 and was cast in
Joe Dante's
Explorers (1985), playing a misfit schoolboy alongside
River Phoenix. The film received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office, leading Hawke to step away from acting for a time. He later described the experience as difficult to handle at such a young age, remarking, "I would never recommend that a kid act". The film was critically and commercially successful and won the
BAFTA Award for Best Film. Reflecting on the impact of its success, Hawke later said, "I didn't want to be an actor and I went back to college. But then the film's success was so monumental that I was getting offers to be in such interesting movies and be in such interesting places and it seemed silly to pursue anything else." In 1991, Hawke co-founded
Malaparte, a Manhattan-based theater company that operated until 2000. His first leading role came with
Randal Kleiser's film
White Fang (1991), an adaptation of
Jack London's
novel of the same name, in which he portrayed a young
Klondike gold prospector who befriends a
wolfdog. A writer for
The Oregonian appreciated how he kept the film from "being ridiculous or overly sentimental", while
Roger Ebert praised how he was "properly callow at the beginning and properly matured at the end"; Hawke himself later called it the "single best experience of my acting life". In
A Midnight Clear (1992), his character leads a group of American soldiers during
World War II, tasked with capturing a small squad of German troops
stationed in the Ardennes forest in France. Hawke made his
Broadway debut in 1992, portraying the playwright Konstantin Treplev in
Anton Chekhov's
The Seagull at the
Lyceum Theater in
Manhattan. He then played
Nando Parrado, one of the survivors of the
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crash in the
Andes, in the survival drama
Alive (1993), adapted from
Piers Paul Read's
1974 non-fiction book.
1994–2000: Established leading man '' (1995) marked the first of Hawke's nine film collaborations with director
Richard Linklater (pictured).|alt=Linklater, neutrally looking at the camera In 1993, actress
Winona Ryder offered Hawke a leading role in
Ben Stiller's
Generation X drama
Reality Bites (1994). Hawke was reluctant to accept the offer due to his dislike of the characters, but he reconsidered it because he admired Ryder and appreciated the script. The film grossed $41 million on a budget of $11 million and later became a
cult classic; of Hawke's performance,
Owen Gleiberman said he had "suddenly grown up into a magnetic performer". With
Reality Bites, Hawke attained
celebrity status and became known as an
alternative heartthrob, a perception fueled by his blue eyes, well-defined jaw,
goatee, and tousled hair. His portrayal of a disillusioned musician in the film led to him being strongly associated with the character and deemed the
poster boy of Generation X, The first installment of the
Before film trilogy,
Before Sunrise follows an American man (Hawke) and a French woman (Delpy) who meet on a train and disembark together in
Vienna.
The Hollywood Reporter retrospectively called it "one of cinema's most sustained explorations of love and the passage of time". Hawke directed the music video for
Lisa Loeb's US
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "
Stay (I Missed You)"; Loeb was then a member of Hawke's theater company.
Spin magazine named the video its Video of the Year in 1994. Hawke appeared in a 1995 production of
Sam Shepard's
Buried Child, directed by
Gary Sinise at the
Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. In 1996 he published his first novel, titled
The Hottest State, which tells the story of a love affair between a young actor and a singer. He described writing the book as both the "scariest [... but also] one of the best things I ever did."
The New York Times thought Hawke did "a fine job of showing what it's like to be young and full of confusion", concluding
The Hottest State was ultimately "a sweet love story". Hawke called his script in
Andrew Niccol's science fiction film
Gattaca (1997) "one of the more interesting" ones he had read in "a number of years". In it, he played the role of a man who infiltrates a society of genetically perfect humans by assuming another man's identity. Ebert called him a good choice for the lead role, stating that he "combin[es] the restless dreams of a 'Godchild' with the plausible exterior of a lab baby". Hawke criticized the film's time of release, stating that "nobody gave a shit about anything but
Titanic for about nine months after[...] particularly another romance". He collaborated with Linklater once again on
The Newton Boys (1998), based on the true story of the
Newton Gang. The film saw generally negative reception;
Rotten Tomatoes' consensus said the "sharp" cast made up for "the frustrations of a story puzzlingly short on dramatic tension". In 1999, he starred as Kilroy in the
Tennessee Williams play
Camino Real at the
Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. That year, Hawke starred in
Snow Falling on Cedars, adapted from
David Guterson's
novel of the same name. Set in the 1950s, he played a young reporter who covers the murder trial of a fisherman. The film received a tepid response, with
Entertainment Weekly commenting that "Hawke scrunches himself into such a dark knot that we have no idea who [his character] Ishmael is or why he acts as he does". Hawke's next film role was in
Michael Almereyda's
Hamlet (2000), in which he played the
titular character. The adaptation set
William Shakespeare's play in contemporary New York City, a choice Hawke said made the story feel more "accessible and vital".
2001–2006: Training Day and further Linklater films In 2001, Hawke appeared in two more Linklater films:
Waking Life and
Tape, both critically acclaimed. In the animated
Waking Life, he shared a single scene with former co-star Delpy continuing conversations begun in
Before Sunrise. The
real-time drama
Tape, based on a play by
Stephen Belber, took place entirely in a single motel room with three characters played by Hawke, his
Dead Poets Society co-star
Robert Sean Leonard and his wife
Uma Thurman. Hawke then portrayed rookie cop Jake Hoyt alongside
Denzel Washington, as part of a pair of narcotics detectives from the
Los Angeles Police Department spending a day in the gang-infested neighborhoods of
South Los Angeles, in
Training Day (2001). The film saw favorable critical reception;
Paul Clinton of
CNN described Hawke's performance as "totally believable as a doe-eyed rookie going toe-to-toe with a legend [Washington]". Hawke later called
Training Day his "best experience in Hollywood". Hawke explored several projects outside of acting in the early 2000s. He made his directorial debut with
Chelsea Walls (2002), an independent drama about five struggling artists living in New York City's
Hotel Chelsea. That same year, he published his second novel,
Ash Wednesday (2002), which appeared on
The New York Times Best Seller list. Centered on an
AWOL soldier and his pregnant girlfriend, while James noted that Hawke showed "a novelist's innate gifts[...] a sharp eye, a fluid storytelling voice and the imagination to create complicated individuals", though it found him "weaker at narrative tricks that can be taught". Returning to Broadway, he played
Henry Percy (Hotspur) in
Jack O'Brien's 2003 production of
Henry IV.
Ben Brantley, writing in
The New York Times, opined that Hawke's interpretation of Hotspur might be "too contemporary for some tastes", but allowed "great fun to watch as he fumes and fulminates". Hawke returned to film in 2004 with two releases: the psychological thriller
Taking Lives and the romantic drama
Before Sunset. Upon release,
Taking Lives received broadly negative reviews, though Hawke's performance as a serial killer who takes on the identities of his victims was favored by a critic from the
Star Tribune, who said that he played the "complex character persuasively". He then reunited with Linklater for
Before Sunset, the second installment of the
Before trilogy. Co-written by Hawke, Linklater and Delpy, the film follows a young man and woman who reunite in Paris nine years after meeting in Vienna. A
Hartford Courant writer remarked that the screenwriting collaboration between the three "[kept] Jesse and Celine iridescent and fresh, one of the most delightful and moving of all romantic movie couples". Hawke called it one of his favorite films, a "romance for realists".
Before Sunset was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Hawke starred in the 2005 action thriller
Assault on Precinct 13, a loose remake of
John Carpenter's 1976
film of the same name with an updated storyline. He played a police sergeant who must band together with criminals to defend a police precinct from a siege by corrupt cops. While numerous critics found it inferior to the original, they enjoyed Hawke's performance, with
Jami Bernard from
New York Daily News stating that Hawke and co-star
Laurence Fishburne made the film work, "supported by a mostly strong cast". In 2006, he directed his second feature film,
The Hottest State, based on his 1996 novel of the same name. It saw poor reception from critics, largely for being too self-conscious and overly pretentious. From November 2006 to May 2007, Hawke starred as
Mikhail Bakunin in
Tom Stoppard's trilogy play
The Coast of Utopia, an eight-hour-long production at the
Lincoln Center Theater in New York. The performance earned Hawke a
Tony Award nomination for the
Best Featured Actor in a Play.
2007–2012: Continued acclaim '' in 2007 Hawke starred alongside
Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Marisa Tomei, and
Albert Finney in the crime drama ''
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), the final direction of Sidney Lumet. Hawke prepared for his role by working closely with Lumet during a two-week rehearsal period, which allowed the cast to make creative decisions before filming began. On-set, Lumet intentionally pitted Hawke and Hoffman against each other to heighten the tension. In Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'', Hawke played the younger brother of a debt-ridden broker who entices him into a plan to rob their parents' bank, but the scheme goes awry.
USA Todays
Claudia Puig deemed the film "highly entertaining", describing Hawke and Hoffman's performances as excellent, while
Peter Travers, writing for
Rolling Stone, stated that Hawke "[dug] deep to create a haunting portrayal of loss". In November 2007, Hawke directed
Things We Want, a two-act play by
Jonathan Marc Sherman, for the artist-driven
off-Broadway company
the New Group.
New York praised Hawke's "understated direction", particularly his ability to "steer a gifted cast away from the histrionics".
Peter Brunette named Hawke's performance a "personal best", and
New York Times critic
Manohla Dargis wrote that he "holds [the viewer] with a physically expressive performance that telegraphs each byroad of his character's inner world". and
Staten Island, a crime drama in which he co-starred alongside
Vincent D'Onofrio and
Seymour Cassel. in 2009 To prepare for his role as a vampire
hematologist in the science fiction horror film
Daybreakers (2009), Hawke studied "the greats" of past cinematic vampire performances, including
Willem Dafoe's portrayal in
Shadow of the Vampire (2000). He traveled to Australia to film
Daybreakers, which was directed by
The Spierig Brothers. The film fared well both critically and commercially, grossing $51million on a $20million budget. Hawke's next role, reuniting him with his
Training Day director
Antoine Fuqua, was ''
Brooklyn's Finest, in which he portrayed a corrupt narcotics officer. Although the film—released in the US in 2010—opened to mediocre reception, his performance garnered praise from critics, including a New York Daily News'' reviewer who remarked, "Hawke—continuing an evolution toward stronger, more intense acting than anyone might've predicted from him 20 years ago—drives the movie." It marked the first major off-Broadway revival of the play since its 1985 debut. Hawke was attracted to the play's exploration of "the nature of reality" and its "weird juxtaposition of humor and mysticism".
Entertainment Weekly commented that although
A Lie of the Mind "wobbles a bit in its late stages", Hawke's "hearty" revival managed to "resurrect the spellbinding uneasiness of the original". The production garnered five
Lucille Lortel Award nominations, including one for
Outstanding Revival, and earned Hawke a
Drama Desk Award nomination for
Outstanding Director of a Play. In the
2011 television adaptation of
Herman Melville's
Moby-Dick, Hawke played the role of
Starbuck, the first officer to
William Hurt's
Captain Ahab. He then starred opposite
Kristin Scott Thomas in
Paweł Pawlikowski's
The Woman in the Fifth, a "lush puzzler" about an American novelist struggling to rebuild his life in Paris. In 2012, Hawke appeared in the horror genre for the first time, playing a true crime writer in
Scott Derrickson's
Sinister, written along with
C. Robert Cargill. Before the US release of
Sinister, Hawke said that he had previously been hesitant about horror films because they often do not require strong acting performances. However, he mentioned that the producer of
Sinister,
Jason Blum, with whom Hawke had a background in theater, approached him with an offer involving a script that featured both a "great character and a real filmmaker".
2013–2018: Boyhood and career expansion in 2013 Hawke reunited with director Linklater and co-star Delpy for the third installment of the
Before trilogy, titled
Before Midnight (2013). The film follows a couple, his and Delpy's characters, who spend a summer vacation in Greece with their children.
Before Midnight received critical acclaim, with one from
Variety naming the scene in the hotel room "one for the actors' handbook". The film earned Hawke, Linklater, and Delpy another Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Hawke next starred in the horror-thriller
The Purge (2013), set in a future America where all crime is legal for one night each year. Despite mixed reviews, the film opened atop the box office on its opening weekend with a $34million debut. In early 2013, Hawke starred in and directed the play
Clive, written by Jonathan Marc Sherman and inspired by
Bertolt Brecht's
Baal. Hawke prepared for his role as a former racecar driver in
Getaway (2013) by attending a one-day driving school at the
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where he learned high-performance driving techniques such as
180-degree spins and
e-brake maneuvers. The film was critically panned. He played the
title role in a Broadway production of
Macbeth at the Lincoln Center Theater in late 2013.
The Hollywood Reporter critic David Rooney criticized the "disharmonious acting styles led by Hawke's underpowered take on [his] role". Released in mid-2014, Linklater's
Boyhood follows the life of an American boy from age six to eighteen, with Hawke portraying his father. The film became the best-reviewed release of 2014 and was named best film of the year by numerous critics' associations. Hawke later admitted that the film's widespread acclaim came as a surprise, recalling that when he first joined the project, it felt less like a "proper movie" and more like "a radical '60s film experiment or something". He earned several nominations for his performance, including the Academy Award,
BAFTA,
Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. Hawke reunited with the Spierig brothers for the science fiction thriller
Predestination (2014), in which he played a time-traveling agent on his final assignment. Writing for
Vulture,
David Edelstein wrote how he enjoyed Hawke's "low-key, solemn, enigmatic" performance. He next reunited with his
Gattaca director Andrew Niccol for
Good Kill (2014), a contemporary war drama. In his "best screen role in years" according to Rooney, Hawke portrayed a drone pilot grappling with a troubled conscience. He made his documentary debut with
Seymour: An Introduction, which premiered at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was conceived after a dinner party attended by both Hawke and its subject, classical pianist
Seymour Bernstein.
Seymour: An Introduction is a profile of Bernstein, who later said that, although he was normally a private person, he was unable to decline Hawke's request to make the film because the actor was "so endearing". in 2018 Hawke had two films premiere at the
2015 Toronto International Film Festival, both of which were well received. In
Robert Budreau's drama
Born to Be Blue (2015), he portrayed jazz musician
Chet Baker, focusing on the artist's turbulent late-1960s comeback and struggle with heroin addiction. He also starred in
Rebecca Miller's romantic comedy ''
Maggie's Plan as an anthropologist and aspiring novelist, alongside Greta Gerwig and Julianne Moore. That same year, he appeared in the coming-of-age drama Ten Thousand Saints and the psychological thriller Regression opposite Emma Watson. In November 2015, Hawke published his third book, Rules for a Knight'',
written as a letter from a 15th-century father to his four children reflecting on moral values and personal integrity. In
Ti West's western
In a Valley of Violence, he played a drifter who seeks revenge in a small frontier town ruled by a ruthless
marshal—a performance that critics praised. In 2016, Hawke took on two unpleasant roles in succession, first playing the abusive father of a promising young baseball player in
The Phenom, and then the stern husband of
Maud Lewis—portrayed by
Sally Hawkins—in
Maudie. While some critics commended his surprising range, others argued that Hawke was "miscast" as a harsh figure. He reunited with
Training Day director Antoine Fuqua and co-star Denzel Washington for
The Magnificent Seven (2016), a remake of the
1960 western film of the same name. In the film, Hawke played a former
Confederate sharpshooter struggling with
PTSD from the
American Civil War. In the US, the film grossed $34.7 million in its opening weekend, topping the box office. Also in 2016, Hawke narrated the interactive short film
Invasion!, which earned him and his co-creators a
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive – Original Daytime Content, and released his fourth book,
Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars, which chronicles the
conflicts between the Apache and the US. Hawke starred in
Paul Schrader's drama
First Reformed (2017) as a former military chaplain tormented by the death of his son, whom he had encouraged to join the armed forces, while grappling with the looming threat of
climate change. Critics, including
Slates K. Austin Collins, praised his performance, calling it "extraordinarily well-tuned" and stating that "every ounce of likability, vulnerability, angry cynicism and ineptitude [in his career] seems to be summed up here". Hawke had two films premiere at the
2018 Sundance Film Festival. In
Juliet, Naked, a romantic comedy adapted from
Nick Hornby's 2009
novel of the same name, he played an obscure rock musician whose eponymous album drives the plot.
Blaze, his third direction, is a biographical film about the obscure country musician
Blaze Foley and was selected for the festival's main competition.
2019–present: Mainstream popularity Hawke returned to Broadway in the revival of Shepard's
True West, which began previews in December 2018, opened in January 2019, and closed two months later. Critics disparaged the lack of synergy between him and co-star
Paul Dano. In 2019, Hawke appeared in Vincent D'Onofrio's feature film directorial debut,
The Kid, in which he portrayed a
sheriff hunting the outlaw
Billy the Kid.
Bilge Ebiri said that his "melancholy stoicism" in the role "fail[ed] to convey much of an inner life". Hawke then produced and starred in
Adopt a Highway (2019), which received mixed reviews that nonetheless appreciated his performance. He portrayed a failed actor in
Hirokazu Kore-eda's first English-language film,
The Truth (2019), which opened the
76th Venice International Film Festival.
Entertainment Weekly described Hawke as "brilliantly cast", while
Alonso Duralde said that he had managed to play an "untalented, struggling" actor "without delving into condescension". In 2020, Hawke portrayed inventor and engineer
Nikola Tesla in the biopic
Tesla. For the role, he drew inspiration from both Tesla's own writings and singer
David Bowie, who had played Tesla in
The Prestige (2006). He and author
Mark Richard adapted
James McBride's novel
The Good Lord Bird (2013) into a
2020 miniseries produced by Blum, with Hawke starring as
abolitionist John Brown. Hawke had developed an interest in the American Civil War and its contemporary ramifications while filming
The Magnificent Seven and learning about the
legal battles about the display of the Confederate flag in South Carolina. as well as a
Writers Guild of America Award nomination for
Television: Long Form – Adapted along his co-writers. Hawke collaborated again with Blum, Cargill, and Derrickson on the supernatural horror film
The Black Phone (2021), portraying a masked
serial killer of children. Up to that point, Hawke had avoided playing villains for fear of being
typecast by audiences.
The Black Phone was commercially successful, grossing $161.4 million. Released in February 2021, Hawke's third novel and fifth book, titled
A Bright Ray of Darkness, drew direct inspiration from his real-life experiences.
Ron Charles described it as a "witty, wise and heartfelt novel about a spoiled young man growing up and becoming, haltingly, a better person". Hawke traveled to Ireland to film
Robert Eggers's
Viking epic
The Northman (2022) as part of its
ensemble cast. Owen Gleiberman appreciated the quality of "squalid humanity" brought by Hawke in his portrayal of King
Aurvandill, and
Justin Chang wished that he had been given more screen time. He next starred in the
comedy-drama film
Raymond & Ray (2022), portraying along with
Ewan McGregor two half-brothers. The film received mixed reviews, but Hawke and McGregor's performances were praised; a critic from the Roger Ebert website said that "only Hawke [had] the rough edges" that were needed for the film. Although Hawke had previously criticized
superhero films, His portrayal of Harrow was inspired by psychiatrist
Carl Jung and cult leader
David Koresh. while
Variety said that Hawke and Isaac had managed to bring novelty to the
Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hawke starred in the
apocalyptic psychological thriller film
Leave the World Behind (2023), portraying along with
Julia Roberts a married couple living in Brooklyn.
Caryn James described the pair as "convincing" in their roles, adding that Hawke "easily [slid] into his character". Critics appreciated the chemistry between Hawke and co-star
Pedro Pascal. Meanwhile, he directed three biographical works: the six-part documentary
The Last Movie Stars (2022) about actors
Paul Newman and
Joanne Woodward;
Wildcat premiered at the
50th Telluride Film Festival to mixed reviews. a biopic in which Hawke starred as lyricist
Lorenz Hart reflecting on himself on the opening night of the musical
Oklahoma!. Linklater had shared the draft with Hawke over a decade earlier, while
NBC News described it as a career highlight. It earned him nominations for the
Academy Award,
BAFTA,
Golden Globe, and
Actor Award for Best Actor. Later that year, Hawke reprised his role from
The Black Phone in its sequel,
Black Phone 2, which grossed $132 million.
Frank Scheck said that Hawke "deliver[ed] one for the ages", He then portrayed an investigative journalist in the crime drama series
The Lowdown (2025). Critics identified the role as one in a series of Hawke's portrayals of self-righteous heroic characters driven to extremes that included his performances in
First Reformed and
The Good Lord Bird;
The New Republic added that Hawke had been able to reiterate the
archetype in a "striking variety of ways" across different genres. He then starred in the historical film
The Weight, which premiered at the
2026 Sundance Film Festival. Hawke is set to reprise his role from
The Lowdown in its second season and star in a film adaptation of
Monte Reel's book
The Last of the Tribe (2010) and a television adaptation of
Richard Price's novel
The Whites (2015). He has stated that he and Linklater have been working on a period film set in the 19th century. ==Acting style and reception==