Texas-born Ethan Hawke made his inaugural film, Explorers (1984), at the age of 14. No flash-in-the-pan kid actor, Hawke studied acting with Princeton's McCarter Theatre, the British Theatre Association, and Carnegie-Mellon. While still in school, Hawke gave an excellent account of himself in the role of Tod Anderson in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. By the time he was 22, Hawke was more than prepared for his Broadway bow in Chekhov's The Seagull.