Maya Hawke understands her privilege and the backlash that goes along with it. She is the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. She has chosen to follow their footsteps and work in the entertainment industry as an actor and singer.
She opened up to The Times about her life as a “nepo baby” in an interview that was published in May 2024. She is comfortable with who she is and the path she has chosen. She has even worked with her famous parents on projects.
Maya considers her family to be “the boring indie Kardashians.” Her brother, Levon Hawke, is also in the family business. Maya gushed about his talents. “He’s an incredible actor, writer and songwriter,” she stated. She also acknowledged the stigma of having another family member in the industry. “Yeah, it’s definitely, you know, a vomitorium,” she joked.
When asked if she deserved her success, she gave a thoughtful answer. “‘Deserves’ is a complicated word,” she explained. “There are so many people who deserve to have this kind of life who don’t, but I think I’m comfortable with not deserving it and doing it anyway.”
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Maya wanted to follow her heart and pursue acting, even though she knew she would have to deal with criticism because of it. “And I know that my not doing it wouldn’t help anyone,” she went on to say. “I saw two paths when I was first starting, and one of them was: change your name, get a nose job and go to open casting roles.” She chose to be herself.
Maya can handle the jokes and backlash that come her way because she is secure with both who she is and her relationship with her family. “It’s OK to be made fun of when you’re in rarefied air,” she explained. “It’s a lucky place to be. My relationships with my parents are really honest and positive, and that supersedes anything anyone can say about it.”
Maya had a small part in the 2023 film The Kill Room. She got to act with mom Uma for the first time. “I was excited to get to act with her for a day,” she stated. “I’d never really gotten to do that.”
That same year, dad Ethan directed her in a much larger role in the film Wildcat. Maya portrayed American short-story writer Flannery O’Connor. She had a great time working with her old man. “We were both being asked constantly if we were nervous to work with each other but we weren’t nervous, because I spent my whole life making art with that guy,” she gushed.
Maya has a bright future ahead of her. She lends her voice to the character of Anxiety in Inside Out 2 which hits theaters in June 2024. In 2025, the final season of Stranger Things will come out. Her third album, Chaos Angel, is now available on Mom+Pop.
