Ethan Hawke Discusses Career at New Yorker Festival

The actor spoke with critic Emily Nussbaum at the magazine's twenty-seventh annual festival.

Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Documentary

Empty theatre stage with two wooden chairs angled toward each other under a warm spotlight, dark velvet backdrop and rows of unoccupied seats in shadow. — Actor Ethan Hawke spoke with critic Emily Nussbaum at the New Yorker Festival about a career spanning Dead Poets Society, Boyhood, and his fifth Oscar nomination for Blue Moon. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Actor Ethan Hawke spoke with Emily Nussbaum at the twenty-seventh annual New Yorker Festival, reflecting on a career that includes Dead Poets Society, Training Day, and Boyhood. The conversation comes as Hawke earns recognition for his lead performance in Blue Moon, his fifth Academy Award nomination.

Why it matters

The appearance highlights Hawke's long collaboration with director Richard Linklater, with whom he has made nine movies, and his continued work across film and television. It offers a retrospective look at an actor whose career spans several decades of American cinema.

Hawke has made nine movies with Richard Linklater and received his fifth Academy Award nomination for Blue Moon, a figure that places him among frequently recognized performers of his generation. The festival conversation did not include disclosed box office or viewership figures, and the source does not detail how his recent projects performed commercially.

The players

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke is an American actor known for Dead Poets Society, Training Day, and Boyhood, and a frequent collaborator with director Richard Linklater.

Emily Nussbaum

Emily Nussbaum is a television critic and the theatre critic for The New Yorker, known for her criticism of contemporary television.

The details

Hawke, who plays the lyricist Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon, discussed his work with Nussbaum, the magazine's theatre critic. He also currently stars in the TV crime drama The Lowdown and in The Weight, a film about a Depression-era road gang co-starring Russell Crowe.

Last year: Blue Moon was released and earned Hawke his fifth Academy Award nomination.
Twenty-seventh annual New Yorker Festival: Hawke spoke with Emily Nussbaum.

Industry Dynamics

Hawke's dual presence in a major film and a TV crime drama reflects the continued movement of established film actors into streaming and television projects. His recent work with Richard Linklater and his Academy Award recognition position him within a long-running pattern of mid-career actors sustaining prestige film careers alongside television.

Viewers can currently watch Hawke in The Lowdown on TV, and The Weight features him alongside Russell Crowe. The source does not specify release platforms or dates for The Weight.

The takeaway

Hawke's career shows how sustained collaboration with a single director can anchor an actor's work across decades. Readers interested in his films can compare his early roles with his recent Academy Award-nominated performance.