Although her Instagram bio hilariously claims she’s the daughter of Tony Hawk, Stranger Things star Maya Hawke is actually the product of absolute Hollywood icons Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. The 24-year-old actress has really made a splash since joining the cast of ST as the intriguing Robin in Season 3, and, apparently good ol’ dad is thrilled with where she is as an actress. The terrifying Black Phone star recently opened up about his daughter’s performance, gushing about her work on the show and also shared his own interesting personal connection to the Netflix series.
Parenthood has plenty of ups and downs, and seeing former babies become adults with their own lives and purposes can definitely be a huge up. As far as Ethan Hawke is concerned, seeing his daughter Maya Hawke come into herself and follow in his and his ex-wife Uma Thurman’s footsteps in Hollywood is seeming one of the high points of fatherhood. In an interview with ET, Hawke explained that he has immense admiration for Maya and can only sing her praises when it comes to the person she has become in adulthood. Here it is in his own loving words:
This is the biggest surprise that's happened to me in my life. What it's like to have a grown-up child and watch them turn into a human being that I really admire -- Maya is extremely fun to be around, passionate and serious and funny and playful, and I feel connected to Stranger Things.
It sounds like Maya Hawke shares a lot of personality traits with her on-screen character, Robin, who with Steve Harrington makes up one of the Stranger Things duos fans just can’t get enough of. Robin, like Hawke apparently, is both serious and funny/playful and just all around awesome, as the show’s Dustin Henderson would say.
In addition to feeling connected to the show through his daughter, Ethan Hawke, in the same interview, explained another interesting, unrelated connection to Stranger Things. It would seem that he’s a bit of an expert when it comes to a key date involving the Upside Down, and that's because said day is important for him. Here’s what he says in regards to his deep connection to the show:
A lot of people don't know this, but when the first upside down world took place, it actually took place on November 6th, 1983 in Hawkins, which was my 13th birthday, which was the year I made Explorers and started acting, so I feel somehow like this was meant to be for Maya, like, it was aligned in the stars.
While it’s a pretty off-the-wall coincidence, Ethan Hawke clearly believes in fate. It’s actually super sweet that he feels the show was meant for his daughter, especially since she shines so brightly in the role.
One other role that Maya Hawke could have practically been born for is Quentin Tarantino’s long-hoped-for Kill Bill 3. While there have been rumors of Hawke involvement alongside her mom, Uma Thurman, it doesn’t look like there's been any true movement on that front.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for a family reunion for one of Tarantino’s final films but, for right now, me and those with Netflix subscriptions will just have to be content with watching her in the recently released fourth season of Stranger Things. (And if you've seen it, ponder some of the major questions we have about Season 5.) We might not be able to enjoy the series with the same level of connection that Ethan Hawke has, but many of us can still definitely relate to the wonderful character that is Maya Hawke's Robin.
