Ethan Hawke
Born: November 6, 1970
Where: Austin, Texas
The actor first grabbed the attention as the student who stands on a desk and yells "Oh Captain, my captain" at Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society.
He was nominated for best supporting actor Oscar for Training Day and has also received plaudits for movies including Before Sunrise and Reality Bites.
His parents divorced when he was three years old and he settled in New Jersey with his mother after a long period of travelling.
He landed a role in his junior high school play of Meet Me In St Louis and this fuelled his thirst for acting.
In 1985 Hawke made his film debut in Joe Dante's Explorers.
After this, in 1989 he played Todd in Dead Poets Society and then embarked on his off-Broadway debut; a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Casanova in 1991.
In the same year Hawke co-founded Malaparte; a non-profit theatre group.
He subsequently appeared as Ted Danson's son in Dad and was the victim of a Mystery Date.
After playing a prospector in White Fang and he essayed a a WW2 infantry leader in A Midnight Clear and a rugby player stranded in the Andes in Alive.
For the latter role he lost 30lbs - a move that damaged his health, resulting in a damaged metabolism. He went on to costar with Jeremy Irons in Waterland and Albert Finney in Rich in Love.
Encouraging celebrity as a poster boy, he appeared in Reality Bites as well as starring in Richard Linklater's romance Before Sunrise with Julie Delpy.
In 1997 on the set of sci-fi thriller Gattaca he met and later married Uma Thurman and the couple had two children before subsequently divorcing.
Subsequent appearances included Great Expectations, Joe the King and Snow Falling on Cedars.
He reunited with Linklater to voice waking life and star in the gabfest Tape before playing alongside Denzel Washington in Training Day.
In 2004, he re-teamed with Delpy to shoot the superior sequel Before Sunset and starred in the thriller Taking Lives with Angelina Jolie.
Recent work includes Jean-Francois Richet's remake of John Carpenter's 1976 action thriller Assault on Precinct 13.
