Maya Hawke

Maya Hawke is an American actor and musician whose screen debut came as Jo March in the BBC’s 2017 adaptation of *Little Women*. Born in New York City on July 8, 1998, she is the daughter of actors Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. Her parents met while working on the 1997 film *Gattaca*. Hawke studied acting at Juilliard but left when she was cast as Jo, the aspiring writer at the center of Louisa May Alcott’s novel.

Her best-known role is Robin Buckley in Netflix’s *Stranger Things*. Hawke joined the series in its third season, released in 2019. Robin works alongside Steve Harrington, played by Joe Keery, at the Scoops Ahoy ice-cream shop in Starcourt Mall. Their attempt to decode a Russian message draws them into the season’s central mystery. Robin’s conversation with Steve about her sexuality became one of the season’s defining character moments, and Hawke returned for the fourth season.

In Quentin Tarantino’s *Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood*, also released in 2019, Hawke played Flowerchild, a member of the Manson Family who leaves before the film’s climactic confrontation. She later starred opposite Andrew Garfield in Gia Coppola’s *Mainstream* and played Eleanor in the 2022 revenge comedy *Do Revenge*, alongside Camila Mendes. Her work in 2023 included June Douglas, a teacher in Wes Anderson’s *Asteroid City*, and Jamie Bernstein in *Maestro*, Bradley Cooper’s film about conductor Leonard Bernstein and his family.

Hawke took on another literary figure in *Wildcat*, directed by her father. The film follows writer Flannery O’Connor as she develops stories shaped by her Catholic faith and her experience of illness. Hawke plays O’Connor and several characters from her fiction. In Pixar’s 2024 film *Inside Out 2*, she voiced Anxiety, a new emotion that arrives as Riley enters adolescence.

Alongside acting, Hawke has released three studio albums: *Blush* in 2020, *Moss* in 2022 and *Chaos Angel* in 2024. Her songs include “To Love a Boy,” “Thérèse” and “Missing Out.” Music has given her a different kind of authorship from the screen roles for which she first became widely known: rather than interpreting Jo March, Robin Buckley or Flannery O’Connor, she writes and performs material under her own name. Her career has moved between television, independent films, major studio releases and recording without leaving behind the character-driven work that marked her debut. From Jo’s ambition to Robin’s quick wit, those parts show the range of stories in which audiences have encountered her.