Driver was born in San Diego, California,[3] the son of Nancy Wright (née Sneedham), a paralegal, and Joe Douglas Driver.[4][5][6] His father's family is from Arkansas and his mother's family is from Indiana. His stepfather, Rodney G. Wright, is a minister at a Baptist church, and Driver was raised Baptist.[7][8] He has English, Irish, Scottish, German, and Dutch ancestry.[9] When Driver was seven years old, he moved with his older sister and mother to her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, and attended Mishawaka High School where he graduated in 2001.[10][11] Driver had a religious upbringing and sang in the choir at church.[12]
As a teenager, Driver described himself as a "misfit," telling M Magazine that he climbed radio towers, set objects on fire, and co-founded a fight club with his friends after being inspired by the film Fight Club.[13] After high school, and before his military service, Driver worked as a door-to-door salesman selling Kirby vacuum cleaners and as a telemarketer for a basement waterproofing company and Ben Franklin Construction.[14]
Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Driver joined the United States Marine Corps[15] and was assigned to Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines as an 81mm mortar man.[16] He served for two years and eight months with no deployments before breaking his sternum while mountain biking.[17] He was medically discharged. After leaving the Marine Corps, Driver attended the University of Indianapolis for a year, then transferred to the Juilliard School to study drama. Driver said that he was seen as an intimidating and volatile figure by his classmates, and struggled to fit into a lifestyle so different from the Marines.[13] He was a member of the Drama Division's Group 38 (2005–2009), along with his future wife Joanne Tucker. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2009.[18]
After graduating from Julliard, Driver began his acting career in New York City, appearing in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Like many aspiring actors, he occasionally worked as a busboy and waiter.[19] Driver also appeared in several television shows and short films. He made his feature film debut in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama J. Edgar in 2011.
Mainstream and critical success (2015–present)[edit]
In February 2014, Variety reported that Driver would play the villain, Kylo Ren, in J. J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).[24] On April 29, 2014, he was confirmed as a cast member.[25]The Force Awakens was released on December 18, 2015 to commercial and critical success.[26]Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian highlighted Driver's performance in his review of the film calling him "gorgeously cruel, spiteful and capricious... very suited to Kylo Ren's fastidious and amused contempt for his enemies' weakness and compassion."[27]
In 2016, Driver played a supporting role in Jeff Nichols' sci-fi thriller Midnight Special, which was released on March 18, 2016.[28][29] He also co-starred in Martin Scorsese's historical drama Silence (2016) as Father Francisco Garupe, a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit priest, alongside Andrew Garfield.[30][31] In preparation for his role, Driver lost almost 50 pounds in weight.[32]Jim Jarmusch's drama Paterson was Driver's final film of 2016, in which he played Paterson, a bus driver who writes poetry.[33] The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival and was released on December 28, 2016.[34][35] Driver's performance was acclaimed[36][37] and he received multiple nominations for Best Actor from critics associations, winning several, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor.[38]Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote "Driver's indelibly moving portrayal is so lived-in and lyrical you hardly recognize it as acting."[39] Paterson was included in many critics' top ten lists of best films of 2016.[40]
In 2017, Driver played a cameo in Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories as Randy, marking his third appearance in one of Baumbach's films. The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival and was released on October 13, 2017 on Netflix.[41] He also portrayed Clyde, a one-armed redneck veteran, in Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky, which was released on August 18, 2017.[42] He reprised his role as Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which was released on December 15, 2017.[43] His performance was positively received, with his character lauded as the best in the series: David Edelstein of Vulture wrote, "the core of The Last Jedi — of this whole trilogy, it seems — is Driver's Kylo Ren, who ranks with cinema's most fascinating human monsters."[44]
Driver married Joanne Tucker in June 2013.[52] They live together in Brooklyn, New York,[53] with their dog Moose, a Rottweiler-Pitbull mix.[54]
He is the founder of Arts in the Armed Forces (AITAF), a non-profit that performs theatre for all branches of the military, both in the United States and abroad.[55]
James Robert Jarmusch is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor, and composer. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing such films as Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Dead Man (1995), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Broken Flowers (2005), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), and Paterson (2016). Stranger Than Paradise was added to the National Film Registry in December 2002. As a musician, Jarmusch has composed music for his films and released two albums with Jozef van Wissem.
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer. After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in many Hollywood feature films that combined have grossed over $2 billion at the box office.
Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach is an American filmmaker. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Squid and the Whale (2005) and is known for making dramatic comedies. He has also written and directed the films Frances Ha (2012), While We're Young (2014), Mistress America (2015), and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017).
Mads Mikkelsen
Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen, is a Danish actor. Originally a gymnast and dancer, he began acting in 1996. He rose to fame in Denmark as Tonny the drug dealer in the first two films of the Pusher film trilogy, and in his role as the brash yet sensitive policeman, Allan Fischer, in Peter Thorsboe's Danish television series Rejseholdet (2000–03).
Star Wars sequel trilogy
The Star Wars sequel trilogy is the third and final set of three films in the Star Wars franchise, an American space opera created by George Lucas. It is being produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The trilogy is to consist of episodes VII through IX, and chronologically follows Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983). Lucas had planned a sequel trilogy as early as 1976, but had cancelled it by 1981 and produced only the first six episodes. The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm in late 2012 and announced plans to produce the sequel films.
Oscar Isaac
Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada is an American actor and musician. He has played lead film roles in the comedy-drama Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination, the crime drama A Most Violent Year (2014), and the science fiction thriller Ex Machina (2015), in which he played Nathan Hamlet Bateman. In 2006, he portrayed Saint Joseph, husband of Mary, in The Nativity Story. He also portrayed José Ramos-Horta, former president of East Timor, and co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize in the Australian film Balibo for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Balibo is about the story of War correspondent Roger East and the young Jose Ramos-Horta who travel to East Timor to investigate the murders of the Balibo Five in 1975.
Jon Bernthal
Jonathan Edward Bernthal is an American actor.
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. is an American actor, producer, and director. He is a recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Cecil B DeMille Award, AFI Life Achievement Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and has been nominated for six BAFTA Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Frances Ha
Frances Ha is a 2012 American black and white comedy-drama film, directed by Noah Baumbach and written by Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. Gerwig also plays the title role. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2012, and began a limited release on May 17, 2013. It was released by IFC Films.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a 2017 American space opera film written and directed by Rian Johnson. It is the second installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and the eighth installment of the main Star Wars film franchise, following The Force Awakens (2015). It was produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film's ensemble cast includes Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Frank Oz in returning roles, with Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro joining the cast. It features the first posthumous film performance by Fisher, who died in December 2016, and the film is dedicated to her memory. The plot follows Rey as she receives Jedi training from Luke Skywalker, in hopes of turning the tide for the Resistance in the fight against Kylo Ren and the First Order, while General Leia Organa, Finn, and Poe Dameron attempt to escape a First Order attack on the dwindling Resistance fleet.
Kylo Ren
Kylo Ren is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he is portrayed by Adam Driver. "Kylo Ren" is the chosen name of Ben Solo, the son of original Star Wars trilogy characters Han Solo and Leia Organa. Though trained by his uncle Luke Skywalker as a Jedi, he has been seduced to the dark side of the Force by Supreme Leader Snoke and aspires to be as powerful as his grandfather, Darth Vader, and create a new order in the galaxy separate from the legacies created by Luke and the Jedi Order. Kylo Ren is also the master of the Knights of Ren, as well as a commander and later the supreme leader of the First Order, an organization spawned from the fallen Galactic Empire. He is featured in The Force Awakens media and merchandising and appears in the film's sequel, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).
Supreme Leader Snoke
Supreme Leader Snoke is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a CGI character voiced and performed by Andy Serkis. Introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Snoke is the Supreme Leader of the First Order, a military junta resurrected from the fallen Galactic Empire, which seeks to reclaim control of the galaxy. Powerful with the Force, he seduces Ben Solo to the dark side by telling him that he can be the next Darth Vader, and Solo serves him as the commander Kylo Ren.
Rey (Star Wars)
Rey is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise portrayed by English actress Daisy Ridley. First appearing as the main character in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Rey is a scavenger who was left behind on the planet Jakku when she was a child, and later becomes involved with the Resistance's conflict with the First Order when her solitary life is interrupted by BB-8, the droid of ace Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, and a runaway Stormtrooper named Finn.
The Meyerowitz Stories
The Meyerowitz Stories is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed and written by Noah Baumbach. The film stars Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Elizabeth Marvel and Emma Thompson, and follows a group of dysfunctional adult siblings trying to live in the shadow of their father.
Paterson (film)
Paterson is a 2016 drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film stars Adam Driver as a bus driver and poet named Paterson, and Golshifteh Farahani as his wife who dreams of being a country music star and opening a cupcake business.
General Hux
General Armitage Hux is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. First introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he is portrayed by Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson. He is a ruthless commander in a power struggle with Kylo Ren for the First Order leadership, and being exceeded only by Supreme Leader Snoke. The character first featured in The Force Awakens media and merchandising, and returned in the film's sequel, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
List of awards and nominations received by Adam Driver
Adam Driver is an American actor. His breakthrough came in 2012 when he was cast in HBO comedy-drama series Girls (2012–2017), receiving three consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and a nomination for a Critics' Choice Television Award. The supporting role in Tracks earned him a Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination in Film Critics Circle of Australia. The same year he was awarded by Venice Film Festival a Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in Hungry Hearts.
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