Hawke was born on July 8, 1998, in New York City, the older of two children born to actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. Her parents met on the set of Gattaca, married in May 1998, and divorced in 2005. Hawke's brother was born in 2002. She also has two half-sisters by her father's second wife, Ryan Shawhughes. She has another half-sister from her mother's ex-fiancé, financierArpad Busson. On her father's side, Hawke is a great-great-grandniece of playwright Tennessee Williams. On her mother's side, she is a granddaughter of Buddhist scholar Robert A. F. Thurman and model BaronessNena von Schlebrügge. Schlebrügge's mother, Birgit Holmquist, was also a model, having posed for Axel Ebbe's statue Famntaget, currently in Smygehuk in Sweden. Hawke has dyslexia, which resulted in her changing schools frequently during her primary education before she was finally enrolled at Saint Ann's School, a private school in Brooklyn, New York that emphasizes artistic creativity and does not grade work. The artistic environment eventually led her to acting. Hawke also took part in summer studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and the renowned Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York. She attended the performing arts schoolJuilliard for one year before being forced to drop out after accepting her role in Little Women.
Career
Modeling
Like both her mother and grandmother, Hawke modelled for Vogueat the beginning of her career. She was also chosen as the face of the British fashion retailer AllSaints's 2016/2017 collection. In 2017, she starred as one of several faces in a video campaign for Calvin Klein's underwear range, directed by Sofia Coppola.
Acting
Hawke was Sofia Coppola's choice to play the title role of The Little Mermaid in Universal Pictures's planned live-action adaptation. However, the producers preferred the better-known Chloë Grace Moretz. This and other conflicts ultimately led to Coppola leaving the project. However, Moretz eventually dropped out as well. In 2017, Hawke made her acting debut as Jo March in the BBC miniseries adaptation of Little Women. Hawke's breakout role came through her co-starring performance as Robin Buckley in the third season of Netflix's Stranger Things, which was released in 2019. Hawke, as Robin, spent most of her scenes with Joe Keery's character of Steve Harrington as co-workers at a local ice-cream parlor before stumbling onto a larger mystery, creating a popular and critically favored pair of characters for the season. Also that summer, Hawke played Linda Kasabian in Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In October 2018, it was announced that Hawke will star in Gia Coppola's sophomore film, Mainstream.
Music
In August 2019, Hawke released her first two singles, "To Love a Boy" and "Stay Open". The songs were written and recorded by Hawke and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Jesse Harris. Hawke performed a series of headlining gigs around New York City in early 2020, her first ever solo live performances as a musician. In each of these shows. Hawke was supported by Benjamin Lazar Davis, Tōth, Will Graefe and Nick Cianci respectively. On March 18, 2020 Hawke released the first single "By Myself" and announced her debut album titled Blush. The album's second single, "Coverage", was released on April 22, 2020, before its music video directed by Maya's father Ethan Hawke was released on the 28th. Initially set for release on June 19, 2020, Blush was delayed to August 21, 2020 amid the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Hawke wrote, "I feel like this is not a time for self-promotion. It is a time for activation, education and self-examination."
