Ethan (or Eitan, Eytan or Etan in Hebrew) is a male given name meaning strong, firm, and safe.

People[link]

For all people and fictional characters with the given name Ethan see Ethan (given name)

Places[link]

• Eitan, Israel
• Ethan, South Dakota
• Fort Ethan Allen (Arlington, Virginia)
• Neve Eitan, Israel

Fiction[link]

• Ethan of Athos, 1986 novel by Lois McMaster Bujold
• "Ethan Brand", 1850 short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Ethan Frome, 1911 novel by Edith Wharton

Other uses[link]

• Ethan Allen boating accident
• Ethan Allen class submarine, American class of ballistic missile submarines
  • USS Ethan Allen (SSBN-608), American submarine
• Ethan Allen Express, passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Rutland, Vermont
• Ethan Allen (furniture company), American furniture chain
• IAI Eitan, Israeli reconnaissance unmanned air vehicle
• USS Ethan Allen (1859), American Civil War warship
• Ethan (1911 film), a Tamil language film

See also[link]

• Eitan (disambiguation)
• Etan (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Ethan Jordan Bortnick (born December 24, 2000 in Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA) is a pianist, singer, composer, songwriter, actor, musician and one of the youngest philanthropists in the world.^[1]

History[link]

Ethan began playing a keyboard at the age of three and was composing music by the age of five. He has been featured on National and International television programs.^[2] He has helped raise record amounts of money for charities around the world, by performing, inspiring and educating.^[3][4] He has helped raise nearly $30 million by performing at charity benefits.^[5]

Television appearances[link]

On May 10, 2007, Bortnick's national television debut was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On this show, he met Cameron Diaz and Nelly Furtado.^[6]

In 2007 Bortnick also appeared on such shows as The Martha Stewart Show, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Access Hollywood, The Early Show.^[4]

On March 10, 2008, Bortnick appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for the second time. He appeared with Dominic Monaghan and Sheryl Crow.^[7]

On May 12, 2008, Bortnick appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The segment was titled "Oprah Presents the World's Smartest Kids". In the episode, Ethan told Winfrey that "We still have to stay humble."^[8]

On September 3, 2008, Bortnick appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, for the third time. He appeared with Billy Bob Thornton and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.^[9]

On October 11, 2008, Bortnick appeared on the Disney Channel, on the show Little Einsteins. Bortnick recorded music for the show and appeared, as himself, on the show.^[10]

On February 16, 2009, Bortnick appeared on the Australian television program Mornings with Kerri-Anne, where they surprised him by bringing out a koala. Bortnick instantly asked if the koala liked music, and jumped on the piano to perform a jazz piece for the koala.^[11]

On April 22, 2009, Bortnick appeared on Nickelodeon's show Yo Gabba Gabba as himself. Bortnick appeared on the Green episode, promoting Earth Day.^[12]

On May 13, 2009, Bortnick appeared on Canada AM and performed his song "Arctic Jazz".

On May 19, 2009, Bortnick appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for the fourth time. He appeared with Terry Bradshaw and Blink-182. Bortnick performed, singing and playing the piano, a song that he had written honoring Jay as "The King of Late Night." Bortnick wrote the music and lyrics to this tribute to Leno, as a present for his departure from the Tonight Show.

On October 26, 2010, Bortnick appeared on Good Morning America and performed his song "Arctic Jazz".^[13]

On October 27, 2010, Bortnick appeared on The Wendy Williams Show and performed a variation of the show's theme song.^[14]

On December 13, 2010 Bortnick appeared on The Fran Drescher Show performing and then being interviewed.^[15]

On December 24, 2010, Bortnick appeared on Fox and Friends Christmas Special. The show re-aired on December 25, 2010.^[15]

On March 1, 2011, Bortnick was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show as Oprah narrated an update on what Ethan has been doing. Ethan was picked as one of the Most talented kids from the last 25 years of her show. This show was part of the Farewell Season of Oprah.^[5]

On January 23, 2012, Bortnick appeared on Canada AM and performed his song "it's a Miracle" ^[16]

PBS National Television Concert[link]

At 9 Years old, Ethan became the Youngest artist to have his own National PBS Concert Special. The special runs 60 minutes and 90 minutes.^[17]

Ethan made his PBS concert special debut with "Ethan Bortnick and His Musical Time Machine", part of PBS special programming, in August 2010 on PBS stations across the USA. Filmed at the historic El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, Ethan Bortnick and His Musical Time Machine, puts Bortnick at center stage as he delivers a trip through music’s history from classical to pop and many genres in between. Disco queen Gloria Gaynor joined Ethan for a rendition of her anthem "I Will Survive", while legendary trumpeter Arturo Sandoval accompanies him on the Louis Armstrong classic "What a Wonderful World."

Other performances include the Beatles favorite "Let It Be" and Bortnick’s rowdy take on Little Richard’s "Good Golly Miss Molly." He also introduces the crowd to some of his original compositions, including "Arctic Jazz," a song that delivers an inspirational message to a jazz swing, and "PBS You're The Best," a song which he wrote especially for the network.^[18]

In the DVD version of this special, Ethan interviews Quincy Jones. Ethan spent an entire day with Quincy Jones, performing for him and asking him questions about music, life and the future. Quicy Jones stated "Ethan’s imagination and ability to create music from stories is unbelievable," says Quincy Jones. "With such special talent and expressive piano playing, he’s sure to go all the way."^[19]

Ethan's PBS Special was Produced by Mindfox Productions, AEG Live and Sun and Sky Entertainment.

Musical Director was Greg Phillinganes.^[17]

National Headlining Tour 2010/2011 (Musical Time Machine)[link]

At the age of 10, Ethan is the youngest Musician and entertainer to ever headline his own National tour.^[5]

Ethan created this 2 hour show himself, including the concept and the repertoire. The entire show (from start to finish) was led by Ethan Playing, singing, story telling, answering questions, and Emceeing the entire show himself.^[20]

Between October 5, 2010 and October 13, 2010 and then between January 14, 2011 - March 6, 2011, Bortnick Headlined his own National Tour, Performing 28 shows. Ethan's concerts covered Music from different time periods, his own compositions, Questions from the audience, Comedy, on the spot composing of songs (using audience ringtones) and each show was different. This tour was promoted by AEG Live.^[21]

Reviews of the show, received a 100% positive feedback rating on Ticketmaster with reviews such as "Ethan is a true showman", "Genius", "Uplifting", "Fantastic", "Ethan is a wonder","Fabulous","Incredible, Funny, Inspiring for all ages"^[22]

18 Concerts were sponsored by REMAX and the concerts benefited Children's Miracle Network. During the tour, Ethan stopped at local Children's hospitals to perform for the kids who could not come and see him on his tour, due to illness. Ethan also donated proceeds from his CD and T-Shirt sales to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and provided complimentary tickets to more than 100 children being treated at children’s hospitals and their families, in each city.^[23]

Some of the major cities that were included on this tour were New York in Times Square, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago Area, Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, Pittsburgh, PA, Detroit, Seattle, Denver, Kansas City, MO, Portland, Raleigh, NC, Orlando, Hollywood, FL,

Some of the Venues on this tour were Best Buy Theater, Cerritos Center, Keswick Theater, Belcourt Theater, Benaroya Hall, Paramount Theatre (Denver, Colorado), Midland Theatre, Royal Oak Music Theatre, Meymandi Concert Hall, Gwinnett Center for the Performing Arts, and many more.^[24]

Historical Concert in Las Vegas[link]

On July 22, 2011 and July 23, 2011, Ethan became the youngest Headline performer in Las Vegas. At 10 years old, Ethan made history at the Las Vegas Hilton as the youngest headliner in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Hilton Theater has a rich history of presenting such legendary icons as Elvis Presley who performed 837 sold-out shows, Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow and Barbra Streisand. Now, Ethan Bortnick made history again, performing 2 sold out concerts.^[25][26]

Reviews of the show were incredible, including a review by the Las Vegas Sun, stating "Ethan Bortnick’s show at the Hilton (on Friday) night was history-making. It was a sold-out crowd, and there was so much heart and soul, plus energy felt from the audience. It was a spectacular night, 90 minutes of pure entertainment.”^[25]

Another review stated "...his performance was flawless..." and "Ethan's fingers seemed to fly across the piano's keyboard and the next moment after each number he got up to speak to his audience... Anyone who heard Ethan's music and did not know that the entertainer was only 10 years old would have thought he was an exceptionally talented adult pianist."^[27]

Movies and film[link]

In September 2011, Ethan finished filming a Feature Film entitled "Anything is Possible". Ethan plays the leading role as Nathan,a young boy who's separated from his mother when she goes missing during a trip to Japan to help after the tsunami. The movie explores issues like homelessness, military family life and adoption. Ethan co-wrote the music with Grammy award winning songwriter and producer, Gary Baker (songwriter), and his team Matthew Craig and Rob Collier. It has been reported that Ethan will also score the entire film.^[28]

Ethan will become the youngest actor to co-write the soundtrack and play the leading role in a feature film.
Co-stars include Fatima Ptacek, Lacey Chabert, Jonathan Bennett (actor), and Kym Whitley.^[29]

Recorded album[link]

In August 2011, Ethan recorded in Muscle Shoals, AL, his first recorded album. The album is being produced by Grammy award winning songwriter and producer, Gary Baker (songwriter), and his team Matthew Craig and Rob Collier. This album is the soundtrack to the Film, Anything is Possible, where Ethan plays the leading role.^[30]

Melody Street[link]

Ethan is the host of Melody Street, a 22-minute musical-variety-show for preschoolers. Ethan and his five best friends, a band of animated musical instruments; Val Violin, Febe Flute, Timmy Trumpet, Heidi Horn and Sammy Snare, entertain kids with humor, songs, skits, interactive games, backstage dramas, celebrity musical guests, while teaching children about the beauty, joy and fun that stems from music.^[31]

Live performances[link]

On May 30, 2007, Bortnick opened Nelly Furtado's US tour at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. This was her first show in the United States on her tour.^[32]

On June 1, 2008, Bortnick performed a full concert with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, under the musical direction of Andrew Lane. He was 7 years old and was the youngest performer to ever perform as the piano soloist with the Naples Orchestra.^[33]

On October 4, 2008, Bortnick performed to raise money for the Miami Children's Hospital foundation's Diamond Ball and Concert, featuring Beyoncé Knowles, Smokey Robinson, and Gloria Gaynor at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, FL. A record $12 million was raised for the Foundation.^[34]

On September 15, 2008, Bortnick became the youngest co-host for the Chabad Telethon. With Bortnick co-hosting this live telethon, seen by millions of viewers, the telethon raised a record $8 million in one night.^[35][36]

On October 23, 2008, Bortnick performed for OneXOne to help raise money to help fight hunger, health issues and preserve the lives of children locally and globally. Matt Damon held an auction at the event with Ethan and Josh Groban. Other performers and celebrities included Santana, David Arquette, Josh Groban, and Wyclef Jean.

On January 6, 2009, Bortnick performed at a dinner hosted by Nancy Pelosi to honor the swearing in of the 111th United States Congress. Bortnick was the only performer the entire night.

On January 10, 2009, and January 11, 2009, Bortnick performed with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra under the musical direction of Andrew Lane. He was 8 years old and was the youngest performer to ever perform as the piano soloist with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra^[37]

On February 4, 2009, Bortnick performed at a fundraiser benefiting the Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation with chef Emeril Lagasse. Bortnick performed a song he wrote for Lagasse entitled "Bam — Kick It up a Notch" and presented the chef with the song’s lyrics.^[38]

On February 16, 2009, Bortnick performed in Sydney, Australia. The reaction and reviews were extremely favorable, with reviews stating "Within minutes Ethan... had the audience laughing with his wit and sense of timing.... He has a unique mix of charisma, talent and good sense of humour, and therefore it was phenomenal to see someone of that age able to play piano with such skill and also entertain the crowd.."^[39]

On March 3, 2009, Bortnick performed with his friend Mark Rivera, who has been a featured member of Billy Joel's band since 1982 and has toured the world with John Lennon, Peter Gabriel, Simon & Garfunkel, The Eagles, and was Ringo Starr's musical director. Bortnick and Rivera performed, the day after the kickoff of Billy Joel's and Elton John's Face-to-Face Tour. The performance was in an inner city school to inspire young kids not to get discouraged and find their special gift to the world. The reviews of this performance were as follows: "Ethan stole the show. He's not only an exceptional musical prodigy, but he's charming and self assured. He easily established a rapport with his audience and told jokes. He had the... school students spellbound with his charisma and poise.... After a few minutes on stage, I didn't think of him as a kid but a very short adult. His adult body language is uncanny.... It was amazing to watch him play with those tiny hands, stretching to form the chords. But he does it with ease and advanced facility with style."^[40]

On March 27, 2009 and March 28, 2009, Bortnick performed at Muhammad Ali's event to help raise money in the fight against Parkinson’s disease and other charities. This event was held over two nights. Bortnick performed both nights. Bortnick, after finding out about the event, composed and wrote a song for Muhammad Ali, entitled "The Champ". After performing the first night, Ali embraced Ethan and everyone began singing "The Champ" with Ethan on stage (unplanned). Forrest Whitaker, Josh Groban, Reba McEntire, David Foster, Jordin Sparks and many others went on stage and sang this to Ali.^[41]

On April 27, 2009, Bortnick performed at a private event at the Fontainebleau Hotel backed by members of Billy Joel's band. Bortnick performed with Mark Rivera, Tommy Byrnes, Chuck Burgi, Andy Cichon, and David Rosenthal. Other performers that night included Howie Mandel and Katy Perry.

On May 18, 2009, Bortnick performed for the 18th annual Society of Singers Ella Awards , honoring Herb Alpert and Lani Hall.^[42]

On July 12, 2009, Bortnick opened for Sir Elton John, Gladys Knight and Tony Bennett. This event was to raise money for the Starkey Hearing Foundation and was hosted by Billy Crystal.^[43]

On September 13, 2009, Bortnick performed at a private dinner to help raise funds for OneXOne. In attendance were President Bill Clinton, Matt Damon, Elvis Costello and many others. At the event, President Clinton said "Maybe if I get really lucky young Ethan Bortnick will play for me another song or two", which Bortnick did.^[44]

On September 16, 2009, Bortnick performed, as the sole entertainer, for the Annual Benefit Event of American Friends of Lubavitch, one of the premier evenings on the Washington Social calendar. Attendees included Ambassador Nancy Goodman Brinker,Congressman John Lewis, Senator Joe Lieberman, Senator Arlen Specter and many others. Reviews of Bortnick's performance said "... highlight of the evening was certainly the phenomenal entertainment by... Ethan Bortnick.... There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when he dedicated "G-d Bless America"...."^[45]

On October 12, 2009, Bortnick was the headline performer at Nokia Theater at LA Live. He is the youngest performer, at 8 years old, to Headline his own show at LA Live. His almost 2 hour show was backed by members of Billy Joel's band. Bortnick performed with Mark Rivera, Tommy Byrnes, Chuck Burgi, Andy Cichon, and David Rosenthal. Over 4,000 people were in attendance. This event was sponsored by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, and Ethan wrote a new composition for the group, which he performed, named "A Hug Song". The president of NAHC wrote a letter to Ethan with comments such as "..one of the best experiences of my life..", "your showmanship was second to none..","..could only be described as a tour de force..". The following day, as part of the NAHC events, Ethan dined with Colin Powell and a few other members of the NAHC.^[46]

On October 22, 2009, Bortnick performed for OneXOne to help raise money to help fight hunger, health issues and preserve the lives of children locally and globally. Ethan opened the show for such musical acts as Josh Groban, Santana, and Snow Patrol. During Ethan's performance, he dedicated a song he wrote, called "It's for the Kids". Others that enjoyed Ethan's performance were Charlize Theron, Jeremy Piven, Mia Hamm, Laila Ali and many more^[47]

On October 24, 2009. Bortnick opened for Josh Groban at a private event in San Francisco. Ethan performed for 45 minutes and then Josh performed.

On February 4, 2010, Bortnick opened for Jordin Sparks, Jason Derulo, Sam Moore, David Archuleta for a Super Bowl Party at Miami's Eden Roc Hotel, raising money for various children's charities.^[48]

on February 24, 2010, Bortnick performed at The Grammy Museum a solo show for students.^[49]

On April 16, 2010, Bortnick performed at the Children Mending Hearts Benefit. Joining Bortnick that evening were Ben Affleck, Five for Fighting, Aisha Tyler, Alyssa Milano and others.^[50]

On August 1, 2010, Bortnick performed live at the historic KCET studios during the pledge drive.

On November 13, 2010, Bortnick performed at the Delta Awards Ceremony for Children's Miracle Network. Ethan performed a song he wrote called "It's a Miracle".^[51]

On November 17, 2010, Bortnick performed in Sao Paulo, Brazil to a sold out crowd. Reviews were phenomenal in all Brazil media, including reviews such as "... the 9 year old piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick won the audience from the first moment, acting, playing and singing by himself.."^[52]

On November 27, 2010, Bortnick performed with Ben Folds and the Nashville Symphony to help raise funds for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Ben Folds said ""Yes, Ethan has perfect pitch and photographic memory, has performed with some of the worlds finest, has a repertoire of over 200 songs as well as his own compositions all at the age of nine," says Ben Folds. "But more than that I am struck by is his spirit – his natural wisdom and ability to inspire both musically and personally."^[19][53]

On December 9, 2010. Bortnick performed at the Haim Saban's IDF Fundraising dinner in Beverly Hills, opening for David Foster and Andrea Bocelli, with reviews that stated "But the most tender part of the night was when 9-year-old piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick took the stage to perform.."^[54]

On March 8, 2011, Bortnick performed at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas to raise money for the Remax and Childrens Miracle Ntwork Auction. He raised $105,000 in less than 10 minutes, auctioning off 3 private concerts to the highest bidders. This was a record amount for this event.^[55]

On April 2, 2011, Bortnick performed a concert for the Larry King foundation. Bortnick opened for Mary Blige.

On April 11, 2011, Bortnick opened the 27th National Space Foundation Symposium. It was attended by over 9,000 people in Colorado Springs, Colorado.^[56]

On May 28, 2011, Bortnick was one of the headliners of the 2011 Jacksonville Jazz Festival. He performed two, standing room only, headline shows at the festival. Other Headliners included Natalie Cole and Herbie Hancock^[57]

On August 23, 2011, Bortnick performed as the opening act for legendary songwriter and composer Marvin Hamlisch, in Montreal, Canada.^[58]

We are the World – 25 for Haiti[link]

On February 1, 2010 Ethan became the youngest artist to record with some 70 artists, the song We Are the World 25 for Haiti. This was the 25th anniversary of the original recording. Produced by Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie and others, this new recording will help the country of Haiti. Ethan, at age 9, was the youngest artist and recorded the song with the following artists Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Harry Connick Jr., Justin Bieber, Carlos Santana, Pink, Will.i.am, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, LL Cool J, Robin Thicke, Akon, Rob Thomas, Wyclef Jean, Jeff Bridges, Vince Vaughn, Jordin Sparks, Good Charlotte's Madden brothers, Tony Bennett, Josh Groban, Snoop Dogg, Jennifer Hudson, Keri Hilson, Jamie Foxx, Tyrese, Katharine McPhee, Sean Garrett, Brandy, Melanie Fiona, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton, Jason Mraz, Busta Rhymes, Nicole Scherzinger, Nicole Richie, Julianne Hough, Raphael Saadiq, Zac Brown Band, India.Arie, Randy Jackson, Musiq Soulchild, Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson, Fonzworth Bentley, Kid Cudi, Iyaz, Bizzy Bone, Nipsey Hussle, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, Trey Songz, Faith Evans, Mýa and Gladys Knight.^[59]

The song premiered Friday, February 12, during the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.^[60]

Radio/print[link]

Ethan has been interviewed by many local, national and international Radio Stations and Newspapers/Magazines. Some notable appearances are listed below:

On December 20, 2008, Bortnick was a guest on the NPR's Weekend Edition Program. Listeners wrote into NPR with comments such as "This interview was one of the most enjoyable of the year."^[61]

On February 12, 2010, Ethan was featured in Rolling stone in an article titled "Preview the New "We Are the World," Plus Meet Nine-Year-Old Singer Ethan Bortnick"^[62]

On August 1, 2010 Ethan was featured in the LIFE Section of the USA TODAY. With quotes such as "Ethan is as comfortable playing before a live TV audience in Hollywood, Calif., as he is noodling on his piano at home in Hollywood, Fla..... The little boy with the grown-up talent seems happily adjusted to his double life. Elfin, cheerful and self-assured, Ethan tackles music with fervor and focus."^[17]

On May 1, 2011 Ethan was Featured in the Keyboard Magazine In a section entitled "MAJORminor".^[63]

On July 22, 2011, Ethan was featured in the Las Vegas Review Journal, in the NEON Entertainment section.^[64]

Charities[link]

One of Bortnick’s strong desires is to help people with his music, especially children. Below are some examples of whom he has helped recently:
Children's Miracle Network
Miami Children’s Hospital
Friendship Circle of Washington
OneXone
Celebrity Fight Night (Muhammad Ali event)
The Starkey Hearing Foundation
Boys and Girls Club
American Heart Association
Kids in Distress
"Heart 4 Heart" Foundation
Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation
Lili Claire Foundation
Children in the Arts
Our Daily Bread Mission
Unicorn Children's Foundation
Free the Children
White Knight Foundation
We Are the World 25th Anniversary for Haiti

See also[link]

• List of composers
• Montessori method

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Ethan Bortnick at the Internet Movie Database
• Ethan on YouTube
• http://www.socialmiami.com/socialeyes/Miami-Childrens-Hospital-Gala.asp

Edith Wharton
Born	(1862-01-24)January 24, 1862 New York City, New York
Died	August 11, 1937(1937-08-11) (aged 75) Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, France
Occupation	Novelist, short story writer, designer
Spouse(s)	Edward Wharton (1885–1913)

Edith Wharton (/ ˈiːdɪθ ˈwɔːrtən/; born Edith Newbold Jones, January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937), was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.

Biography[link]

Early life and marriage[link]

Wharton was born to George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander in New York City. She had two brothers, Frederic Rhinelander and Henry Edward. The saying "Keeping up with the Joneses" is said to refer to her father's family.^[1] She was also related to the Rensselaer family, the most prestigious of the old patroon families. She had a lifelong friendship with her Rhinelander niece, landscape architect Beatrix Farrand of Reef Point in Bar Harbor, Maine, and often traveled with Henry James in Europe. Wharton combined her insider's view of America's privileged classes with a brilliant, natural wit to write humorous, incisive novels and short stories of social and psychological insight. She was well acquainted with many of her era's other literary and public figures, including Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1885, at 23 years of age, she married Edward (Teddy) Robbins Wharton, who was 12 years older. From a well-established Boston family, he was a sportsman and gentleman of the same social class and shared her love of travel, although they had little in common intellectually.^{[citation needed]} From the late 1880s until 1902, he suffered acute depression, and the couple ceased their extensive travel.^[2] At that time his depression manifested as a more serious disorder, after which they lived almost exclusively at The Mount, their estate designed by Edith Wharton. In 1908 her husband's mental state was determined to be incurable. She divorced him in 1913.^[2] Around the same time, Edith was overcome with the harsh criticisms leveled by the naturalist writers. Later in 1908 she began an affair with Morton Fullerton, a journalist for The Times, in whom she found an intellectual partner.^[3]

In addition to novels, Wharton wrote at least 85 short stories. She was also a garden designer, interior designer, and taste-maker of her time. She wrote several design books, including her first published work, The Decoration of Houses of 1897, co-authored by Ogden Codman. Another is the generously illustrated Italian Villas and Their Gardens of 1904.

Travels[link]

The Mount, 2006

In 1902 she built The Mount, her estate in Lenox, Massachusetts, which survives today as an example of her design principles. There, Edith Wharton wrote several of her novels, including The House of Mirth (1905), the first of many chronicles of the nature of old New York, and entertained the cream of American literary society, including her close friend, the novelist Henry James. Although she spent many months traveling in Europe nearly every year, The Mount was her primary residence until 1911. When living there and when traveling abroad, Wharton was usually driven to appointments by her longtime chauffeur and friend Charles Cook, a native of nearby South Lee, Massachusetts.^[4][5] When her marriage deteriorated, however, she decided to move permanently to France, living initially at 58 Rue de Varenne, Paris, in an apartment that belonged to George Washington Vanderbilt II.

Page from original manuscript of The House of Mirth, in Edith Wharton's hand

Helped by her influential connections to the French government, primarily through Walter Berry (then president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris), she was one of the few foreigners in France allowed to travel to the front lines during the First World War. Wharton described those trips in the series of articles Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort.

Throughout the war she worked tirelessly in charitable efforts for refugees and, in 1916 was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in recognition of her commitment to the displaced. The scope of her relief work included setting up workrooms for unemployed Frenchwomen, organizing concerts to provide work for musicians, opening tuberculosis hospitals and founding the American Hostels for Belgian refugees. In 1916 Wharton edited The Book of the Homeless, composed of writings, art, erotica and musical scores by almost every major contemporary European artist. When World War I ended in 1918 she abandoned her fashionable urban address for the delights of the country at the Pavillon Colombe in nearby Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt.

Wharton was a committed supporter of French imperialism, describing herself as a "rabid imperialist", and the war solidified her political conservatism.^[6] After World War I, she travelled to Morocco as the guest of the resident general, Gen. Hubert Lyautey and wrote a book In Morocco, about her experiences. Wharton's writing on her Moroccan travels is full of praise for the French administration and for Lyautey and his wife in particular.

After the war she divided her time between Paris and Hyères, Provence, where she finished The Age of Innocence in 1920.

In 1927 she purchased a villa, Castel Sainte-Claire, on the site of a 17th-century convent, in the hills above Hyères in Provence, where she lived during the winters and springs. She called the villa "Sainte-Claire du Chateau" and filled the garden with cacti and subtropical plants. She returned to the U.S. only once after the war, to receive an honorary doctorate degree from Yale University in 1923.

Photographic portrait of Edith Wharton

Later years[link]

The Age of Innocence (1920) won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for literature,^[7] making Wharton the first woman to win the award.

Wharton was friend and confidante to many gifted intellectuals of her time: Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau and André Gide were all guests of hers at one time or another. Theodore Roosevelt, Bernard Berenson, and Kenneth Clark were valued friends as well. But her meeting with F. Scott Fitzgerald is described by the editors of her letters as "one of the better known failed encounters in the American literary annals." She spoke fluent French (as well as several other languages), and many of her books were published in both French and English.

In 1934 Wharton's autobiography A Backward Glance was published. In the view of Judith E. Funston, writing on Edith Wharton in American National Biography, "What is most notable about A Backward Glance,', however, is what it does not tell: her criticism of Lucretia Jones [her mother], her difficulties with Teddy, and her affair with Morton Fullerton, which did not come to light until her papers, deposited in Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book Room and Manuscript Library, were opened in 1968."^[8]

Wharton's Le Pavilion Colombe,', Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, France

Death[link]

Edith Wharton died of a stroke in 1937 at the domaine Le Pavillon Colombe, her 18th-century house on Rue de Montmorency in Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, in the département of Seine-et-Oise (78), but now in Val d'Oise (95). The street is today called rue Edith Wharton.^[9][10] She is buried in the American Cemetery in Versailles, France.^[2]

Writing style[link]

Many of Wharton's novels are characterized by a subtle use of dramatic irony. Having grown up in upper-class pre-World War I society, Wharton became one of its most astute critics, in such works as The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence.

In addition to writing several respected novels, Wharton produced a wealth of short stories and is particularly well regarded for her ghost stories.

Books[link]

Adaptations[link]

Cinema[link]

« Although Edith Wharton's fiction was adapted for the cinema quite early in her career, references to films are comparatively scarce in her work »^[11]

• The House of Mirth (La Maison du Brouillard) , a 1918 silent film adaptation (6 reels) (of the 1905 novel) directed by French film director Albert Capellani, starring Katherine Harris Barrymore as Lily Bart. It is considered to be a lost film
• The Glimpses Of The Moon, a 1923 silent film adaptation (7 reels) (of the 1922 novel) directed for Paramount Studios by Allan Dwan, starring Bebe Daniels, David Powell, Nita Naldi and Maurice Costello. It is considered to be a lost film
• The Age of Innocence, a 1924 silent film adaptation (7 reels) (of the 1920 novel) directed for Warner Brothers by Wesley Ruggles, starring Beverly Bayne and Elliott Dexter. It is considered to be a lost film
• The Marriage Playground, a 1929 talking film adaptation (70 minutes) (of the 1928 novel The Children) directed for Paramount Studios by Lothar Mendes, starring rising star Fredric March in leading role (as Martin Boyne), Mary Brian (as Judith Wheater), Kay Francis (as Lady Wrench)...
• The Age of Innocence, a 1934 film adaptation (9 reels / circa 80–90 minutes) (of the 1920 novel) directed for RKO Studios by Philip Moeller, starring Irene Dunne and John Boles.
• Strange Wives, a 1934 or 1935 film adaptation (8 reels / 75 minutes) (of the 1934 short story Bread Upon the Waters) directed for Universal by Richard Thorpe, starring Roger Pryor (as Jimmy King), June Clayworth (as Nadja), Esther Ralston (as Olga)... It is considered to be a lost film
• The Old Maid, a 1939 film adaptation (95 minutes) (of the 1924 short novella) directed by Edmund Goulding starring Bette Davis.
• A 1944 film version of the 1911 novel Ethan Frome starring Joan Crawford was proposed but never came to fruition^[12]
• Ethan Frome (99 minutes) directed by John Madden and released in 1993,
• The Age of Innocence (138 minutes) directed by Martin Scorsese and released in 1993,
• The Reef (88 minutes) directed by Robert Allan Ackerman and released in 1999.
• The House of Mirth (140 minutes) directed by Terence Davies and released in 2000, starring Gillian Anderson as Lily Bart.^[13]

TV[link]

• Ethan Frome, a 1960 (CBS) TV US adaptation, directed by Alex Segal, starring Sterling Hayden as Ethan Frome, Julie Harris as Mattie Silver and Clarice Blackburn as Zenobia Frome. First Wharton adaptation on television.
• Looking Back, a 1981 TV US loose adaptation of two biographies of Edith Wharton: A Backward Glance, Wharton's own 1934 autobiography & Edith Wharton, a 1975 biography by R.W.B. Lewis (1976 Bancroft Prize-winner).
• The House of Mirth, a 1981 TV US adaptation, directed by Adrian Hall, starring William Atherton, Geraldine Chaplin and Barbara Blossom
• The Buccaneers, a 1995 BBC mini-series, starring Carla Gugino and Greg Wise^[13]

Theatre[link]

• "The House of Mirth" was adapted as a play in 1906 by Edith Wharton and Clyde Fitch^[14][15]
• "The Age of Innocence" was adapted as a play in 1928. Katharine Cornell played the role of Ellen Olenska.

In popular culture[link]

• In The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Edith Wharton (Clare Higgins) travels across North Africa with Indiana Jones in Chapter 16, Tales of Innocence.

• Edith Wharton is mentioned in the HBO television series Entourage in the third season's 13th episode: Vince is handed a screenplay for Wharton's The Glimpses of the Moon by Amanda, his new agent, for a film to be directed by Sam Mendes. In the same episode, period films of Wharton's work are lampooned by agent Ari Gold, who says that all her stories are "about a guy who likes a girl, but he can't have sex with her for five years, because those were the times!" Carla Gugino, who plays Amanda, was the protagonist of the BBC-PBS adaptation of The Buccaneers (1995), one of her early jobs.

• A musical version of The Glimpses of the Moon was presented in New York City in the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room in early 2008.

• Suzanne Vega's seventh studio release Beauty & Crime contains a song named "Edith Wharton's Figurines."

• "Edith Wharton's Journey" is a radio adaptation, for the NPR series Radio Tales, of the short story "A Journey" from Edith Wharton's collection The Greater Inclination.

• In an episode of the CW show Gossip Girl, "The Age of Dissonance", the cast star in a production of Wharton's The Age of Innocence.

• "Rosedale in Love" (2011) retells the story of "The House of Mirth" from the perspective of Lily's despised Jewish suitor Simon Rosedale.

References[link]

Footnotes[link]

Sources[link]

Further reading[link]

• The Letters of Edith Wharton (R. W. B. Lewis and Nancy Lewis, eds.) ISBN 0-02-034400-7, particularly the editorial introductions to the chronological sections, especially for 1902–07, 1911–14, 1919–27, and 1928–37, and the editorial footnotes to the letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald (8 June 1925)
• Novellas and Other Writings (Cynthia Griffin Wolff, ed.) (The Library of America, 1990) ISBN 978-0-940450-53-0, which contains her autobiography, A Backward Glance.
• Twilight Sleep (R. F.Godfrey, ed.) ISBN 0-684-83964-4
• Benstock, Shari (1994) No Gifts From Chance: a biography of Edith Wharton. New York: Scribner's ISBN 0-292-70274-4
• Lee, Hermione (2007) Edith Wharton. London: Chatto & Windus ISBN 0-7011-6665-7; New York: Knopf
• Lewis, R. W. B. (1975) Edith Wharton: a biography New York: Harper & Row ISBN 0-06-012603-5
• Lowry, Elizabeth (December 9, 2011). "What Edith Knew: Freeing Wharton from the Master's Shadow". Harper's Magazine 317 (1903): 96–100, 102. 
• Wolff, Cynthia Griffin (1977) A Feast of Words Oxford. ISBN 0-19-502117-7

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Edith Wharton

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Edith Wharton

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Edith Wharton

• Edith Wharton Collection Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
• The Mount: Estate and gardens designed by Edith Wharton
• The Edith Wharton Papers at the Lilly Library, Indiana University
• Edith Wharton Society
• Edith Wharton at C-SPAN's American Writers: A Journey Through History

Ethan Hawke
Hawke at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival
Born	Ethan Green Hawke (1970-11-06) November 6, 1970 (age 41) Austin, Texas, United States
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter and novelist
Years active	1984–present
Spouse	Uma Thurman (1998–2004) Ryan Hawke (2008–present)

Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role. He then appeared in such films as White Fang (1991), A Midnight Clear (1992), and Alive (1993) before taking a role in the 1994 Generation X drama Reality Bites, for which he gained critical acclaim. In 1995, he starred in the romantic drama Before Sunrise, and later in the 2004 sequel Before Sunset.

In 2001, Hawke was cast as a rookie police officer in Training Day, for which he received a Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. Other films have included the science fiction feature Gattaca (1997), the title role in Michael Almereyda's Hamlet (2000), the action thriller Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), and the crime drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007).

Hawke has appeared in many theater productions including The Seagull, Henry IV, Hurlyburly, The Cherry Orchard, The Winter's Tale and The Coast of Utopia, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination. He made his directorial debut with the 2002 independent feature Chelsea Walls. In November 2007 Hawke directed his first play, Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want. Aside from acting, he has written two novels, The Hottest State (1996) and Ash Wednesday (2002). Between 1998 and 2004, Hawke was married to actress Uma Thurman.

Early life[link]

Hawke was born in Austin, Texas, to Leslie (née Green), a charity worker, and James Hawke, an insurance actuary.^[1][2] His maternal grandfather, Howard Lemuel Green, served five terms in the Texas Legislature and was a minor-league baseball commissioner.^[3][4] Hawke's parents were students at the University of Texas at the time of his birth, and separated in 1974.^[1][5]

After the separation, Hawke was raised by his mother. The two relocated several times before settling in New York, where Hawke attended the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights.^[3] Hawke's mother remarried when he was 10 and the family moved to West Windsor Township, New Jersey,^[6] where Hawke attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South.^[3][5] He later transferred to the Hun School of Princeton, a secondary boarding school,^[7] from which he graduated in 1988.^[8]

In high school, Hawke aspired to be a writer, but developed an interest in acting. He made his stage debut at age 13, in a school production of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan,^[3][9] and appearances in West Windsor-Plainsboro High School productions of Meet Me in St. Louis and You Can't Take It with You followed.^[10] At Hun School he took acting classes at the McCarter Theatre on the Princeton campus,^[10] and after high school graduation he studied acting at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, eventually dropping out after he was cast in Dead Poets Society (1989).^[11] He twice enrolled in New York University's English program, but dropped out both times to pursue acting roles.^[9]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Hawke obtained his mother's permission to attend his first casting call at age 14.^[12] He secured his first film role in 1985's Explorers, in which he played alongside River Phoenix as an alien-obsessed schoolboy who builds a spacecraft with his friends.^[13] The film received favorable reviews^[14] but made poor box office revenues,^[15] a failure which Hawke has admitted caused him to quit acting for a brief period after the film's release. Hawke later described the disappointment as difficult to bear at such a young age, adding "I would never recommend that a kid act."^[11] His next film appearance was not until 1989's comedy drama Dad, where he played Ted Danson's son and Jack Lemmon's grandson.^[11]

In 1989, Hawke made his breakthrough appearance, playing shy student Todd Anderson opposite Robin Williams's inspirational English teacher in Dead Poets Society.^[5] The film was critically well-received;^[16] the Variety reviewer wrote "Hawke ... gives a haunting performance."^[17] With revenue of $235 million worldwide, the film remains Hawke's most commercially successful picture to date.^[18] Hawke later described the opportunities he was offered as a result of the film's success as critical to his decision to continue acting: "I didn't want to be an actor and I went back to college. But then the [film's] success was so monumental that I was getting offers to be in such interesting movies and be in such interesting places, and it seemed silly to pursue anything else."^[12]

Hawke's next film, 1991's White Fang, brought his first leading role. The film, an adaptation of Jack London's novel of the same name, featured Hawke as Jack Conroy, a Yukon gold hunter who befriends a wolfdog.^[19] According to The Oregonian, "Hawke does a good job as young Jack, being both physically robust but still boyishly naive. He makes Jack's passion for White Fang real and keeps it from being ridiculous or overly sentimental."^[20] Hawke then appeared in A Midnight Clear (1992), a well-received war film by Keith Gordon,^[21] and 1993's Alive, an adaptation of Piers Paul Read's 1974 book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors.^[22]

Critical success[link]

Hawke's next part, in the Generation X drama Reality Bites (1994) as Troy, a slacker who mocks the ambitions of his love interest (played by Winona Ryder),^[12][23] received critical acclaim. Film critic Roger Ebert called Hawke's performance convincing and noteworthy: "Hawke captures all the right notes as the boorish Troy."^[24] The New York Times noted, "Mr. Hawke's subtle and strong performance makes it clear that Troy feels things too deeply to risk failure and admit he's feeling anything at all."^[25] Nonetheless, the film was a surprise box office disappointment.^[23]

The following year Hawke again received critical praise, this time for his performance in Richard Linklater's 1995 drama Before Sunrise. The film follows a young American (Hawke) and a young French woman (Julie Delpy), who meet on a train and disembark in Vienna, spending the night exploring the city and getting to know one another.^[26] The San Francisco Chronicle praised Hawke and Delpy's performances: "[they] interact so gently and simply that you feel certain that they helped write the dialogue. Each of them seems to have something personal at stake in their performances."^[27]

Away from acting, Hawke directed the music video for the 1994 song "Stay (I Missed You)" by singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb.^[28] He also published his first novel in 1996, The Hottest State, about a love affair between a young actor and a singer. Hawke said of the novel, "Writing the book had to do with dropping out of college, and with being an actor. I didn't want my whole life to go by and not do anything but recite lines. I wanted to try making something else. It was definitely the scariest thing I ever did. And it was just one of the best things I ever did."^[12] The book met with a mixed reception. Entertainment Weekly said that Hawke "opens himself to rough literary scrutiny in The Hottest State. If Hawke is serious ... he'd do well to work awhile in less exposed venues, perhaps focusing on shorter stories and submitting them to little magazines."^[29] The New York Times thought Hawke did "a fine job of showing what it's like to be young and full of confusion", concluding that The Hottest State was ultimately "a sweet love story".^[30]

In Andrew Niccol's science fiction film Gattaca (1997), "one of the more interesting scripts" Hawke said he had read in "a number of years",^[31] Hawke played the role of a man who infiltrates a society of genetically perfect humans by assuming another man's identity in order to realize his dream of space travel. Although Gattaca was not a success at the box office^[18] it drew generally favorable reviews from critics,^[32] and Hawke's performance was critically well-received. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reviewer wrote that "Hawke, building on the sympathetic-but-edgy presence that has served him well since his kid-actor days, is most impressive".^[33] 1998 saw Hawke appearing in Great Expectations, a contemporary film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel,^[34] and collaborating for a second time with director Richard Linklater in The Newton Boys, based on the true story of the Newton Gang, a family of bank robbers from Uvalde, Texas.^[35]

In 1999 Hawke starred in Snow Falling on Cedars, in which he played a reporter named Ishmael Chambers, who, after being wounded in World War II, comes home to take over his family newspaper after his father's death.^[36] The film, based on David Guterson's novel of the same title, received ambivalent reviews and Entertainment Weekly concluded, "Hawke scrunches himself into such a dark knot that we have no idea who Ishmael is or why he acts as he does."^[37] He also appeared that year in Frank Whaley's directorial debut Joe the King (1999).

Hawke's next film role was in Michael Almereyda's 2000 film Hamlet, in which he played the title character. The film transposed the famous William Shakespeare play to contemporary New York City,^[38] a technique Hawke felt made the play more "accessible and vital".^[39] Salon reviewer wrote: "Hawke certainly isn't the greatest Hamlet of living memory ... but his performance reinforces Hamlet's place as Shakespeare's greatest character. And in that sense, he more than holds his own in the long line of actors who've played the part."^[40] In 2001, Hawke appeared in two more Linklater movies: Waking Life and Tape, both critically acclaimed.^[41][42] In the animated Waking Life, he shared a single scene with former co-star Julie Delpy continuing conversations begun in Before Sunrise.^[43] The real-time drama Tape, based on a play from Stephen Belber, took place entirely in a single motel room with three characters played by Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard and Uma Thurman.^[44] Hawke regarded Tape as his "first adult performance",^[45] a performance noted by Roger Ebert for its "physical and verbal acting mastery".^[46]

[edit] Training Day and after

Hawke's next role, and one for which he received substantial critical acclaim, came in Training Day (2001). Hawke played rookie cop Jake Hoyt, alongside Denzel Washington, as one of a pair of narcotics detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department spending 24 hours in the gang neighborhoods of South Los Angeles. The film was a box office hit, taking $104 million worldwide, and garnered generally favorable reviews.^[18][47] Variety wrote that Hawke's part "shows signs of coming to new life as a screen actor after somnolent turns in the likes of Snow Falling on Cedars. Hawke adds feisty and cunning flourishes to his part that allow him to respectably hold his own under formidable circumstances."^[48] Paul Clinton of CNN reported that Hawke's performance was "totally believable as a doe-eyed rookie going toe-to-toe with a legend [Washington]".^[49] Hawke himself described Training Day as his "best experience in Hollywood".^[12] His performance earned him Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.^[50][51]

Hawke at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

Hawke pursued a number of projects away from acting throughout the early 2000s. He made his directorial feature debut with Chelsea Walls (2002), an independent drama about five struggling artists living in the famed Chelsea Hotel in New York City.^[52] Upon its release, the feature received mixed reviews; The Los Angeles Times wrote that Hawke's directorial debut "has brought Nicolette Burdette's play to the screen with fluid grace and a perfect blend of dreaminess and grit",^[53] while The Boston Globe stated that his direction is not apparent in Chelsea Walls.^[54] The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.^[55] A second novel, 2002's Ash Wednesday, was better received and made the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction.^[56] The tale of an AWOL soldier and his pregnant girlfriend, between whose perspectives the narrative alternates,^[12] the novel attracted critical praise: The Guardian called it "sharply and poignantly written ... makes for an intense one-sitting read".^[57] The New York Times noted that in the book Hawke displayed "a novelist's innate gifts ... a sharp eye, a fluid storytelling voice and the imagination to create complicated individuals", but was "weaker at narrative tricks that can be taught".^[58] In 2003 Hawke made a television appearance, guest starring in the second season of the television series Alias, where he portrayed a mysterious Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent.^[59][60]

In 2004 Hawke returned to film, starring in two features, Taking Lives and Before Sunset. In Taking Lives opposite Angelina Jolie, he played a man who could identify a serial killer who had been assuming the identity of his victims.^[61] Director D. J. Caruso's decision to cast Hawke was based on the "vulnerability" he displayed in Training Day and believed he could do the same with his character.^[62] Upon release, Taking Lives received broadly negative reviews.^[63] Despite the film's reception, Hawke's performance was favored by critics; the Star Tribune noted that Hawke "plays a complex character persuasively".^[64] Before Sunset, the Linklater-directed sequel to Before Sunrise which Hawke co-wrote with Linklater and Delpy,^[65] was more successful, with a contributor of The Hartford Courant reporting that the three collaborators keep Hawke and Delpy's characters "iridescent and fresh", concluding that they are the most delightful and moving of all romantic movie couples.^[66] Hawke called it one of his favorite movies, a "romance for realists".^[67][68] Before Sunset was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Hawke's first screenwriting Oscar nomination.^[69]

Hawke at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

2005 saw Hawke star in the action thriller Assault on Precinct 13, a loose remake of John Carpenter's 1976 film of the same title, with an updated plot. Hawke played Sergeant Jake Roenick, a Detroit policeman working desk duty in a rundown police station.^[70] Assault on Precinct 13 received reasonable reviews; some critics praised the dark swift feel of the film, while others compared it unfavorably to John Carpenter's original.^[71] Hawke also appeared that year in the political crime thriller Lord of War, playing an Interpol agent chasing an arms dealer played by Nicolas Cage.^[72]

In 2006 Hawke was cast in a supporting role in the film Fast Food Nation, an adaptation by Linklater and Eric Schlosser of Schlosser's best-selling 2001 non-fiction book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.^[73] The same year Hawke directed his second feature, The Hottest State, based on his eponymous 1996 novel.^[74] The movie was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Venice International Film Festival^[75] and was released in theaters to a tepid reception in 2007.^[76]

Hawke then appeared alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney in Sidney Lumet's crime drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007).^[77] Hawke played an ex-husband in desperate need of child support who decides to rob his parent's jewelry store with his brother (Hoffman), with disastrous consequences. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised Hawke's performance, noting that he "digs deep to create a haunting portrayal of loss".^[78] USA Today called the movie "highly entertaining", describing Hawke and Hoffman's performances as excellent.^[79]

In 2008 Hawke starred with Mark Ruffalo in the crime drama What Doesn't Kill You.^[80] Despite the favorable reception,^[81] the film was not given a proper theatrical release due to the bankruptcy of its distributor.^[82] 2009 saw Hawke appear in two features: New York, I Love You, a romance movie comprising 12 short films,^[83] and Staten Island, a crime drama co-starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Seymour Cassel.^[84] The following year he starred as a vampire researcher trying to save humanity from extinction in the horror-thriller Daybreakers (2010).^[85][86] The feature received reasonable reviews,^[87] and earned $51 million worldwide.^[18] His next role was in Brooklyn's Finest, released in March 2010, as a narcotics officer who uses his position to steal drug money and administer vigilante justice.^[88] The film opened to a mediocre reception,^[89] yet his performance was well-received, with the New York Daily News concluding, "Hawke – continuing an evolution toward stronger, more intense acting than anyone might've predicted from him 20 years ago – drives the movie."^[90]

In a television adaptation of the Herman Melville novel Moby-Dick, Hawke played the role of Starbuck, the first officer to William Hurt's Captain Ahab.^[91] The two-part miniseries aired on Encore in August 2011.^[92] The same year he starred opposite Kristin Scott Thomas in Pawel Pawlikowski's The Woman in the Fifth, a "lush puzzler" about an American novelist struggling to rebuild his life in Paris.^[93][94] Hawke will next play a true crime writer in Scott Derrickson's horror-thriller Sinister,^[95] and appear in a cameo role in Total Recall (2012).^[96] It was announced that Hawke had signed on to Universal's futurist thriller Vigilandia^[97] and the Spierig brothers' science fiction film Predestination.^[98]

Stage career[link]

Hawke in 2008 at a screening for What Doesn't Kill You

Hawke has described theater as his "first love",^[99] a place where he is "free to be more creative".^[100] Hawke made his Broadway debut in 1992, portraying the playwright Konstantin Treplev in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull at the Lyceum Theater in Manhattan.^[101] The following year Hawke was a co-founder and the artistic director of Malaparte, a Manhattan theater company, which survived until 2000.^[6][102] Outside of the New York stage, Hawke made an appearance in a 1995 production of Sam Shepard's Buried Child, directed by Gary Sinise at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago.^[103] In 1999, he starred as Kilroy in the Tennessee Williams play Camino Real at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts.^[104]

Hawke returned to Broadway in Jack O'Brien's 2003 production of Henry IV,^[105] playing Henry Percy, also called Harry Hotspur. New York magazine wrote: "Ethan Hawke’s Hotspur ... is a compelling, ardent creation."^[105] Ben Brantley of the New York Times reported that Hawke's interpretation of Hotspur was "too contemporary for some tastes. It's hard to credit him as the embodiment of an older order of chivalry",^[106] but allowed "[He's] great fun to watch as he fumes and fulminates."^[106] In April 2005 Hawke starred in the Off-Broadway revival of David Rabe's dark comedy Hurlyburly.^[107] New York Times critic Ben Brantley praised Hawke's performance as the central character Eddie, reporting that "he captures with merciless precision the sense of a sharp mind turning flaccid".^[108] The performance earned Hawke a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor.^[109]

In November 2006, Hawke starred as Mikhail Bakunin in Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia, a nine-hour long production, at the Lincoln Center in New York.^[110] Reviewing the production the Los Angeles Times complimented Hawke's take on Bakunin, writing: "Ethan Hawke buzzes in and out as Bakunin, a strangely appealing enthusiast on his way to becoming a famous anarchist."^[111] The performance earned Hawke his first Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play.^[112] In November 2007 he directed Things We Want, a two-act play by Jonathan Marc Sherman, for the artist-driven Off-Broadway company The New Group.^[113] The play concerns four characters, three of whom are alcoholics.^[114] The production starred Paul Dano, Peter Dinklage, Josh Hamilton, and Zoe Kazan. The Variety reviewer wrote: "While Ethan Hawke uses the space confidently, he allows his talented cast to push mannered material further into self-consciousness."^[115] New York magazine praised Hawke's "understated direction", particularly his ability to "steer a gifted cast away from the histrionics".^[116]

The following year Hawke received the Michael Mendelson Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Theater.^[117] In his acceptance speech Hawke said "I don't know why they're honoring me. I think the real reason they are honoring me is to help raise money for the theater company. Whenever the economy gets hit hard, one of the first thing [sic] to go is people's giving, and last on that list of things people give to is the arts because they feel it's not essential. I guess I'm here to remind people that the arts are essential to our mental health as a country."^[117]

In 2009 Hawke appeared in two plays under British director Sam Mendes: as Trofimov in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, and as Autolycus in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.^[118][119] The two productions, launched in New York as part of the Bridge Project, went on a transatlantic tour in six countries from January to August.^[120] The Cherry Orchard won a mixed review from the New York Daily News, which wrote "Ethan Hawke ... fits the image of the 'mangy' student Trofimov, but one wishes he didn't speak with a perennial frog in his throat."^[121] Hawke's performance in The Winter's Tale earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.^[122]

In January 2010 Hawke directed his second play, A Lie of the Mind, by Sam Shepard on the New York stage.^[123] It was the first major Off-Broadway revival of the play since its 1985 premiere.^[124] Hawke said that he was drawn to the play's take on "the nature of reality",^[125] and its "weird juxtaposition of humor and mysticism".^[124] In his review for the New York Times, Ben Brantley noted the production's "scary, splendid clarity", and praised Hawke for providing his cast "with a mood-stirring mise-en-scène" and, moreover, for eliciting a performance that "connoisseurs of precision acting will be savoring for years to come".^[126] Entertainment Weekly commented that although A Lie of the Mind "wobbles a bit in its late stages", Hawke's "hearty" revival managed to "resurrect the spellbinding uneasiness of the original".^[127] The production garnered five Lucille Lortel Award nominations including Outstanding Revival,^[128] and earned Hawke a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play.^[129]

Hawke next starred in the Off-Broadway production of a new play, Tommy Nohilly's Blood from a Stone, from December 2010 to February 2011.^[130] The play, about the collapse of a blue-collar family, was not a critical success,^[131] but Hawke's portrayal of the central character Travis earned positive feedback; The New York Times said he was "remarkably good at communicating the buried sensitivity beneath Travis's veneer of wary resignation."^[132] A contributor from the New York Post noted it was Hawke's "best performance in years".^[133] Hawke won an Obie Award for his role in Blood from a Stone.^[134]

Hawke will return to the New York stage in early 2013 to star in and direct a new play, Clive by Jonathan Marc Sherman. The play, inspired by Bertolt Brecht's Baal, centers on the life of a dissolute songwriter in 1990s New York.^[135]

Personal life[link]

Hawke with wife Ryan at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival

On May 1, 1998, Hawke married actress Uma Thurman,^[136] whom he met on the set of Gattaca.^[11] Their relationship resulted in two children: daughter Maya and son Levon.^[137] The couple separated in 2003, amid allegations of Hawke's infidelity,^[138] and filed for divorce the following year.^[139] Hawke married for a second time in June 2008, wedding Ryan Hawke (née Shawhughes),^[140][141] who had briefly worked as a nanny to his and Thurman's children before graduating from Columbia University.^[142] They have two daughters, Clementine Jane and Indiana.^[143][144]

Hawke is a long-time supporter of the Doe Fund which helps homeless people obtain housing and employment.^[145] He has served as a co-chair of the New York Public Library's Young Lions Committee, one of New York's major philanthropic boards.^[146] In 2001 Hawke co-founded the Young Lions Fiction Award, an annual prize for achievements in fiction writing by authors under age 35.^[147][148] In November 2010, he was honored as a Library Lion by the New York Public Library.^[149]

Hawke lives in Chelsea, a Manhattan neighborhood in New York City,^[150] and owns a small island in Nova Scotia.^[151] Hawke is a relative of Tennessee Williams on his father's side: Cornelius Williams, father of Tennessee Williams, was Hawke's great-great-uncle.^[2] He supports the United States Democratic Party,^[152] and supported Bill Bradley, John Kerry and Barack Obama for President of the United States in 2000, 2004 and 2008, respectively.^{[153][154][155]}

Filmography[link]