And have a nice night.
Maya Ray Thurman Hawke was born in New York City
on July 8th, 1998.
She's the daughter of Uma Thurman
and Ethan Hawke,
who met in 1997
on the set of dystopian science fiction film
Gattaca.
Congratulations, Jerome.
Thank you.
A year later, they were married,
and Maya was born two months after that.
Despite her superstar heritage,
Maya was initially reluctant to go into showbusiness.
Her epiphany came
during her last year of high school.
She was considering doing an English degree,
but eventually realised it wasn't for her,
telling Worldwide Daily in 2019,
she felt more "alive and capable" in theatre.
She also told Elle
that performance feels as natural
as "swimming or breathing".
Like her mother, Maya started off modelling.
Hawke was chosen to be the face
of AllSaints' 2016 campaign,
and also featured in a series
of Calvin Klein videos directed by Sofia Coppola.
Off the back of this,
Hawke became Coppola's first choice
to star in her live-action adaptation
of The Little Mermaid,
which sadly never materialised.
Hawke's breakthrough came in 2017
with the BBC's three-part adaptation of Little Women,
directed by Vanessa Caswill
and based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott.
She plays Jo March,
the principal character in the coming-of-age classic,
which chronicles the lives of four sisters
on their path to adulthood.
Sticky!
I used them to mop up some lemonade I spilled
at Sally's birthday dance.
Jo is smart, creative and confident,
a natural fit for Hawke,
but she also has a deeper significance for the actor.
I can't help that I like boys' clothes
and work and manners.
Being born a girl is the most disappointing thing
that ever happened to me.
Hawke has dyslexia,
making reading and writing a challenge.
And in an interview with Elle,
she revealed that the character Jo
gave her the drive
to pursue her love for reading and writing,
even when her condition made it difficult.
In fact, the part was so important to her
that she had to drop out of Julliard,
a world-class performing arts conservatory
in New York,
in order to take the role.
After that, Maya featured as Romy in 2018's Ladyworld,
directed by Amanda Kramer,
an all-female take
on the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies,
in which eight girls
find themselves trapped in a house
after an earthquake.
Maya plays Romy, the loner of the group,
a physically demanding role
in a challenging, conceptual film.
Bigger roles were to follow.
In 2019,
she featured in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,
Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning epic
about the last days of the golden age of cinema.
Maya plays Flower Child,
a character based on a real-life member
of the Mason family,
Linda Kasabian,
who famously got cold feet
and didn't participate in the murders.
Wait a minute.
Uh, shit.
Sorry, I forgot my knife in the car.
Can I go back and get it?
-Yeah, sure. -Okay.
Hawke admits to having known Tarantino
her whole life,
but she nevertheless had to go through
the audition process to land the role,
although she realised
that she probably had a subtle advantage.
And apparently Tarantino is keen to work with her again.
The director has said he'd love to cast Hawke
alongside her mother
if he ever gets around to making Kill Bill 3,
with Thurman reprising her role as The Bride
and Hawke playing her daughter Bebe.
And in the summer of 2019,
Hawke made her Netflix debut
as Robin Buckley in Stranger Things season 3.
-You are oh-for-six, Popeye. -Yeah.
Yeah, I can count.
You know that means you suck?
Robin is sarcastic, direct
and unconcerned with her image,
the perfect foil to her Scoops Ahoy workmate
and high school heartthrob Steve.
How many children are you friends with?
Their burgeoning,
often caustic on-screen relationship
is critically acclaimed.
And it led to one of the season's highlights:
Robin's famous coming out scene.
Do you remember what I said about Click's class?
About me being jealous, and, like, obsessed?
Yeah.
It isn't because I had a crush on you.
It's because
she wouldn't stop staring at you.
Mrs. Click?
Tammy Thompson.
I wanted her to look at me.
Hawke has said this was one of her favourite parts
of the series to shoot,
with both her and Joe Keery
pouring their hearts into the scene.
It was also one of the most complicated,
requiring numerous takes,
giving them multiple camera angles.
And her least favourite bit?
Spending ages tied to a chair
during the truth serum scene.
Would now be a good time
to tell you that I don't like doctors?
2019 was a busy year for Hawke.
She also featured in Human Capital,
directed by Mark Meyers,
a complex, slow-burn family drama
that leads to an explosive conclusion.
Hawke plays Shannon Hagel,
a high school senior who's in a failing relationship
with the son of a hedge fund manager,
with critics praising the rawness and sincerity
of her performance.
I don't like anyone over the age of 25.
Not content with modelling and acting,
Maya also kicked off her music career
in the same year.
Her first two singles,
"To Love a Boy" and "Stay Open",
were written and recorded by Hawke
and Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter
Jesse Harris.
In March 2020,
Hawke released the first single, "By Myself"
from her debut album Blush.
The album's second single, "Coverage",
was released in April 2020.
And the music video was directed by dad Ethan.
The full album was released in August the same year.
More television followed in 2020.
She guest-starred as Annie Brown
in The Good Lord Bird,
a historical miniseries
about John Brown's attack on American slavery.
The part of Brown was played by her father Ethan,
who also exec-produced the series.
We stand at a moment that may change the world.
And later that year,
she got her first lead film role in Mainstream,
directed by Gia Coppola, niece of Sofia.
Maya plays Frankie,
an aspiring artist who spends her days
aimlessly strolling Los Angeles,
making videos to entertain her tiny YouTube audience.
And I posted it on YouTube and it's doing really well.
Like, really, really, really well,
and it's already got, like, 2,000 views.
And in 2021,
she appeared in Adam Leon's Italian Studies,
a shadowy examination of an amnesiac writer
lost in New York.
And that brings us up to date
with Hawke's role as Heather
in Fear Street: Park One - 1994,
a breathless slasher movie
based on the R.L. Stine books
which channels the resurgent,
self-referential horror films of the 90s.
Jesus Christ!
Ryan, what the hell, dude?
Do you have a favourite Maya Hawke role?
And are you excited to see Robin again
in season 4 of Stranger Things?
Let us know in the comments.
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