Maya Hawke’s Famous Parents: Everything To Know About Her Folks Uma Thurman & Ethan Hawke
‘Stranger Things’ star Maya Hawke comes from Hollywood royalty. Here’s what to know about her mom, Uma Thurman, and her dad, Ethan Hawke.
Maya Hawke, 23, is the daughter of two Hollywood icons. Uma Thurman, 52, and Ethan Hawke, 51, welcomed Maya on July 8, 1998. Her parents met on the set of Gattaca in 1997, married in 1998, and, unfortunately, divorced in 2005. Maya has a brother, Levon Hawke, 20, plus half-siblings from Uma and Ethan’s respective relationships after they split. Maya has followed in her parents’ footsteps by becoming an actress, with her most notable role being Robin in Netflix’s Stranger Things. She’s reflected on working in the industry with famous parents before, telling WWD in 2019, “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. 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.”
Uma and Ethan have openly expressed how proud they are of their talented daughter. Ethan celebrated his daughter’s breakout performance in Stranger Things after season 3’s premiere in 2019, writing on Instagram, “But Ladies & Gentleman, get to know MAYA HAWKE. She’s the real thing.” Here’s everything you need to know about Maya’s famous parents.
Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman is an extremely famous actress, producer, and fashion model. She started her career as a model, before transitioning into film roles. She had her breakthrough in 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons. Years later, Uma starred as Mia Wallace in Quentin Tarantino‘s Pulp Fiction, which earned her nominations at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. Uma also played The Bride in the Kill Bill films, which brought her two more Golden Globe nominations. Her other notable films include Batman & Robin, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, and The House That Jack Built. She’s also starred on Broadway in The Parisian Woman and on television in HBO’s Hysterical Blindness, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a TV Film in 2002.
Uma has been married twice. She met Gary Oldman on the set of State of Grace and they married in 1990, only to get divorced two years later. Uma and Ethan fell in love of the set of the 1997 sci-fi film Gattaca, directed by Andrew Niccol. They got married on May 1, 1998, welcoming Maya just two months later. Their son Levon was born on January 15, 2002. Unfortunately, Uma and Ethan split up in 2003, and their divorce was finalized two years later. Months after, Uma opened up about her divorce in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. “It’s extremely hard, and it’s hard on the whole family,” Uma said. “You’re a family, and then you’re not a family in the same way. Our marriage failed. I should take full responsibility for the failure of my own marriage. Blaming anybody doesn’t make you feel any better.”
In 2007, Uma started dating French financier Arpad Busson. They got engaged in June 2008 but called off the wedding the following year, only to reconcile shortly after. Uma and Arpad welcomed a daughter, Luna, in July 2012, two years before they split for good. The exes entered into a brutal years-long custody battle that Uma ultimately won in early 2017. Uma likes to keep her youngest daughter out of the spotlight.
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke is a famous actor, writer and director. His film debut was in 1985’s Explorers, which was followed by his breakthrough performance in Dead Poets Society opposite Robin Williams. Ethan’s films Training Day, Before Sunset, Before Midnight, and Boyhood each secured him Academy Award nominations, making him a four-time Oscar nominee. Ethan’s also appeared in numerous Broadway productions and received a Tony Award for Coast of Utopia in 2007. In television, Ethan most recently starred as Arthur Harrow in the Marvel series Moon Knight alongside Oscar Isaac. Ethan has a few projects coming out soon, including Knives Out 2 and Leave the World Behind.
Ethan has been married two times, first to Uma from 1998 to 2003. He admitted that getting married when he was 27 was an attempt to get a hold on his life as an actor. “Success when you’re young is really overwhelming. The world felt out of control. And I wanted to stop it from spinning so fast. I thought marriage would decrease my variables or something. I was absolutely wrong,” he told Elle. Ethan also previously explained how his life was negatively impacted by his divorce, which occurred around the time of his first Oscars nomination. “I got divorced and my personal life fell apart,” he told GQ in a 2018 profile. “When you’re depressed, it’s really easy to see everything that is fake about other people and life, and I just started seeing all that. How phony celebrity was, how phony everything is.”
Ethan has been married to film producer Ryan Shawhughes, 40, since 2008. The relationship drew tons of attention, because before the pair had gotten romantically involved, Ryan had been a nanny to Ethan and Uma’s kids. However, Ethan has denied that an affair ever took place. “There were never any scandalous thoughts or actions back then. In the years that followed, my marriage disintegrated due to many pressures, none of which were remotely connected to Ryan,” he said in a 2009 interview with The Guardian. Ethan and Ryan share two daughters, Clementine Jane Hawke, 14, and Indiana Hawke, 11.