After watching Stranger Things 3 on July 4, all you’re going to be talking about is Maya Hawke! Maya plays Robin, one of Steve Harrington’s coworkers at the Hawkins mall ice cream shop, Scoops Ahoy, and it’s safe to say that she’s the breakout star of the show’s third season. Before binging all eight episodes of the Netflix show today, learn more about this 20-year-old superstar, her famous family, and (what can be legally said about) her Stranger Things role:
1. She plays Robin in Stranger Things 3. Information about Robin’s new character is closely guarded by Netflix, but their description of the Scoops Ahoy employee slash Steve (Joy Keery) , Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Erica (Priah Ferguson)’s partner in crime is that she’s: “an alternative girl who is equal parts sharp and playful. Bored with her mundane day job, she just wants a little excitement in her life… and gets more than she bargained for when she uncovers a dark secret in Hawkins.”
HollywoodLife actually just sat down with Priah for an EXCLUSIVE interview, and she had nothing but good things to say about working with Maya. “When Maya Hawke joined, it was really fun on set, but she also gave good advice, like ‘always stay kind,'” she said.
2. She’s the daughter of acting royalty. If the last name didn’t give it away, Maya is the daughter of actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. Her parents met on the set of Gattaca in 1997, married in 1998, and, unfortunately, divorced in 2005. Fun fact: Maya is also the great-great-grandniece of legendary playwright Tennessee Williams. How cool is that? Maya reflected on becoming an actress while having famous parents, in an interview with our sister site, WWD. “It makes [for] more expectations and it makes it so that people doubt your intentions and your ability, and your place, but the truth is that you just have to work hard and hopefully you learn your place,” she said. “And there are all kinds of ways that it helps you get a foot in the door, but you’re going to get booted out the door if, once you’re in, you suck.”
3. She started acting in 2017. While acting was her passion growing up, Maya got her first film role in 2017, starring as Jo March in the BBC miniseries adaptation of Little Women. She starred in the film Ladyworld before getting her big break with Stranger Things. After this, she has a role in Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, as well as roles in the films Human Capital and Mainstream. She was actually director Sofia Coppola‘s pick to play Ariel in the live-action The Little Mermaid, but the studio signed Chloe Grace Mortez. The project eventually fell through.
4. She’s also a model. And it runs in the family! Maya’s maternal grandmother is Swedish model Nena von Schlebrügge, and maternal great-grandmother was model Birgit Holmquist, who posed for sculptor Axel Ebbe, for the famed nude statue Famntaget in Sweden. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Maya modeled for Vogue at the beginning of her career. She was also the face of AllSaints‘ 2016/2017 collection, and starred in a video campaign for Calvin Klein underwear in 2017.
5. Music is her “joy project.” Maya said in her WWD interview that “I’m not trying to say I’m an awesome musician or anything like that — I’m not. But I love music and I love lyrics and songwriting and I feel like it’s the way…people aren’t that interested in poetry these days, but lyrics are a way to present poetry to the world where they know how to take it in and how to absorb it.” She recently performed at NYC’s Rockwood Music Hall, so she must be more awesome than she thinks!