Maya Hawkehas proven many times that she is way more than just the daughter of two amazing actors. However, for theStranger Thingsstar, it is still hard to step out of the shadows of her parents Ethan Hawke and Uma Thruman, especially with social media’s recent obsession with the concept of nepo babies in Hollywood.
Hawke made her acting debut in the BBC’s 2017 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classicLittle Women, playing the legendary Jo March. One year later she made her cinematographic debut in Amanda Kramer’sLadyworld. In 2019, she began to make waves in Hollywood, appearing in Quentin Tarantino’sOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, Marc Meyers’Human Capitaland a number of other projects. More importantly, she joined the cast ofNetflix’s fantasy horror hitStranger Thingsfor its fourth season.
From that moment on, her career kept growing. This year only, she was part of the star-studded cast of Wes Anderson’sAsteroid City, and she will join Bradley Cooper on his upcoming filmMaestro. But her most important project for 2023 isWildcat, a movie directed by her father that she stars and produces.
As good as things look now for Hawke, getting to where she is has not been easy, since she had to face heavy criticism for being the daughter of two major stars.In a recent interview with Variety, the actress addressed the whole nepo baby argument, confessing she went through some dark moments due to negative comments, especially during the shooting of her latest film:
“I had moments of insecurity about it while we were shooting the movie. But the internet doesn’t have a lot of nuances. My dad has been a massive teacher for me, and we want to work together. We like being with each other.”
Related:Maya Hawke Has ‘Mixed’ Feelings About Her Stranger Things Character Having a Girlfriend in Season 5
Ethan Hawke Believes Criticism is Fair
Wildcatis written and directed byEthan Hawke, which of course gave people against nepo babies a lot to talk about. However, for the Academy Award-nominee the criticism is fair:
“If someone wants to criticize us for working together, that’s totally fair. You have to let people have their opinion. You just have to attempt to do a good job when you’re onstage.”
Wildcatis a biographical movie centered on the life of Flannery O’Connor, a famous novelist, writer of popular titles likeWise Blood,The Violent Bear It Away,A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories, andEverything That Rises Must Convergeamong others. The movie also stars Laura Linney, Philip Ettinger, Rafael Casal, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alessandro Nivola, Christine Dye, Willa Fitzgerald, and Maya’s brother Levon Hawke.
Maya Hawke still has another movie set to be release this year, which she stars in with her mother Uma Thruman.The Kill Roomis directed by Nicol Paone, and the cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Joe Manganiello, Dree Hemingway, Debi Mazar, Liv Morgan, and Larry Pine.
