Maya Hawke's parents, Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, were a little hesitant about her pursuing acting, but now are her biggest cheerleaders.
And Maya Hawke worked alongside her famous father to record a song together. The father-daughter duo released a cover of Willie Nelson’s “We Don’t Run,” which will be included in the country icon’s celebratory vinyl collection, “Light in the Attic & Friends.”
“This song is off Willie Nelson’s brilliant album 'Spirit,' which has been a mainstay in our home since it was released in 1996. Everybody needs a good anthem song. This is one of the best,” Ethan Hawke stated in the YouTube description.
Ethan and Maya Hawke also posted the cover art on their Instagram, which featured a throwback photo of him and a child Maya Hawke.
"Thank you so much @lightintheatticrecords for inviting me and my dad to cover one of our favorite Willie Nelson songs as part of their collection, Light in the Attic & Friends,'" the "Stranger Things" star wrote, sharing that the album, which includes more covers from other famous stars, will be released on Nov. 24.
The single comes a month after the two posed together and did an interview with Variety where Maya Hawke, 25, poked fun at her dad for flirting with singer and entrepreneur Rihanna courtside at Madison Square Garden.
"I've been caught by the paparazzi openly flirting with Rihanna," Ethan Hawke, 52, told the publication in an interview posted to YouTube.
"Openly trying to," Maya Hawke interrupted.
"Trying to flirt," Ethan Hawke said, correcting himself. "So that's been a family shame, so you're really touching a nerve."
"No, it's family pride," Maya Hawke said — because if you can't be proud of your dad for shooting his shot with one of the biggest stars on the planet, what can you be proud of him for?
While Ethan Hawke's flirt fail might be something of a touchy subject, he certainly won't let it keep him from taking Maya Hawke to see Rihanna — if the singer ever tours again.
"We did have an amazing year where we went to Madonna, Taylor (Swift) and Adele, and it was (a) highly educational, very motivational year for me — some very good fathering," Maya Hawke said.
"Yeah, that was a good year," Ethan Hawke reminisced.
"We gotta go see Rihanna next," Maya Hawke said.
"Yeah, we gotta go see Rihanna," her proud dad responded.
Who are Maya Hawke's parents?
If flirting fails are part of the Hawke family pride, so are the family members' acting careers. Maya Hawke’s mother, Uma Thurman, is a successful actor with star roles in iconic films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill.”
Ethan Hawke has also starred in award-winning films like "Training Day," "Boyhood" and "The Black Phone." Maya Hawke has become a Gen Z "it" girl in her own right and after appearing in "Stranger Things," "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and "Asteroid City."
Most recently, the father-daughter collaborated on "Wildcat," a biographical drama about American novelist Flannery O’Connor directed by Ethan Hawke and staring Maya Hawke.
Ethan Hawke credits his daughter for having the idea for the film.
“Put simply, I’m a nepo dad!” Ethan told Variety. “And I’m not embarrassed about it.”
Maya Hawke is hesitant about the term "nepo dad" or "nepo baby," after online discourse criticizing celebrities for having an unfair advantage entering the entertainment industry because they have famous parents.
“I had moments of insecurity about it while we were shooting the movie,” Maya Hawke said. ”But the internet doesn’t have a lot of nuances. My dad has been a massive teacher for me, and we want to work together. We like being with each other.”
“If someone wants to criticize us for working together, that’s totally fair," Ethan Hawke adds. "You have to let people have their opinion. You just have to try to do a good job when you’re onstage.”
What Uma Thurman Has Said About Her Daughter
Uma Thurman gave birth to Maya Hawke on July 8, 1998, two years after Thurman met Ethan Hawke on the set of the movie "Gattaca."
Thurman and Ethan Hawke were married in 1998, had their son, Levon Hawke, in 2002, and eventually divorced in 2005.
Though her parents split, Maya Hawke has said she has a great relationship with both her mom and dad, who were equally hesitant to have their daughter join the entertainment industry.
“They were wary of the public life side of acting and the difficulties of that. They also tried to protect me from falling into acting,” Maya Hawke told The Guardian in 2021. “They wanted to ensure I had a strong enough backbone, my own passion for it and work ethic. They didn’t want to cart me along every red carpet or have me do bit-parts in their movies.”
Maya Hawke said that once it was clear that she wanted to choose acting as a profession, her parents were "very supportive."
In 2019, Thurman posted a photo of her daughter on Instagram, praising her for a job well done for her role on "Stranger Things."
"My victorious loving mermaid daughter," Thurman wrote in the caption. "A weekend of triumph on 'Stranger Things.' Congratulations beloved @maya_hawke."
While supportive, Thurman has also been open about the reasons why she was initially hesitant to have her daughter enter the entertainment industry, telling Access Hollywood in a taped interview that "it's a complicated career" and very "public facing."
"She's a sensitive person, and I think any protective parent would be anxious for their child to go into the public arena — not because they want to be in the public arena but because they're so creative. You wish they'd find any other way to be creative.
"But she is, in the end, such a brilliant actress," she added. "Obviously there's nothing else she would have ever done."
Thurman also opened up about what made it possible for her to "warm up" to the idea of her daughter being an actor.
"Oh, just her talent. Her talent was so big, it's what she had to do. I think she knew more than me already."
What Ethan Hawke Has Said About His Daughter
Ethan Hawke has been incredibly supportive of his daughter, Maya Hawke, often praising her in public and acknowledging that he even turns to his daughter for advice.
In a 2022 Instagram Live with the father-daughter duo now posted on YouTube, Ethan Hawke said Maya Hawke has "lapped" her famous parents.
“For years, you’ve had to tag along with paparazzi following after your mother and I, and now, you’ve usurped us," the proud dad told his daughter.
And after working with his daughter in “The Good Lord Bird,” Ethan Hawke told Seth Meyers in an interview that Maya Hawke was something of an inspiration on set.
“She’s got ideas, and she has a grace that she gave the show that I didn’t know we needed so badly,” he said at the time. "I really wanted Maya to play this part and I was kind of scared to bring it up with her and I was scared to bring it up with Showtime ... then 'Stranger Things' came out.
"It all just kind of fell into place, and they were glad to have her, I was glad to have her and she was happy to be there," he added.
The proud dad said he has been working with Maya Hawke since she was a little girl, adding that "she's a really gifted young woman and she always has been."
"She's always been gifted and we've always had an easy dialogue about art," he added. "One of the things that was most difficult about her being on set was asking myself: 'Am I the actor I told her I was?'"
In a 2022 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Hawke described his daughter as "really smart" and someone who has "been through a lot in her life."
“It’s not easy growing up with parents with paparazzi following them around," he said at the time. "It’s not exactly the ride that some people might think it is.”
