Adam Driver

Adam Douglas Driver (born November 19, 1983) is an American actor of stage, screen and television. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and graduating from the Juilliard School, he has appeared in several Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Since 2012, he has appeared in the HBO series Girls, for which he has received two nominations for the Emmy Award. He has also appeared in such films as J. Edgar (2011), Lincoln (2012), Frances Ha (2012) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).

Early life

Driver was born in San Diego, California, and moved to the town of Mishawaka, Indiana, where he was raised, when he was seven years old. His parents are Nancy (Needham) Wright, a paralegal, and Joe Douglas Driver. His father's family is from Arkansas and his mother's family is from Iowa. His stepfather is a Baptist minister; his stepmother works for the Arkansas State Library in Little Rock. Driver had a religious upbringing, and sang in choir at church. He attended Mishawaka High School, where he graduated in 2001. He appeared in several high school plays and was an accomplished singer in the school's choir.

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Driver joined the United States Marine Corps. He served for two years and eight months before suffering an injury during a training exercise, and was medically discharged before he could deploy to Iraq. After leaving the Marines, he attended the University of Indianapolis for a year before transferring to the Juilliard School to study drama, where he was a member of the Drama Division's Group 38, along with his future wife Joanne Tucker.

Career

Following his graduation from Juilliard in 2009, Driver began acting in New York City, appearing in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions, while occasionally working as a busboy and waiter. He was cast in Lena Dunham's series Girls in 2012, as her character's love interest, Adam Sackler. He has also appeared in small roles in J. Edgar (2011) and Lincoln (2012). On November 21, 2013, Driver was announced to be joining the cast of Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special. On January 13, 2014, Driver was added to the cast of Martin Scorsese's film, Silence.

In late February 2014, Variety reported that Driver would play a villain in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. On April 29, 2014, he was confirmed as a cast member.

On 6 September 2014, Driver won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 71st Venice International Film Festival for portraying a despaired father in Hungry Hearts, a film by Italian director Saverio Constanzo.

Personal life

Driver married his longtime girlfriend, Joanne Tucker, on June 22, 2013. He runs a non-profit organization, Arts in the Armed Forces, which stages performances for military personnel. He considers John Cassavetes to be the model for the type of creative life he would like to emulate.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

References

External links

• Adam Driver at the Internet Movie Database
• Adam Driver: Theatre Credits - broadwayworld.com
• New York Times article "No Combat Duty but Plenty of Curtain Calls" By Erik Piepenburg
• Interview magazine article "Adam Driver, Boy Among Girls" By Keely Weiss
• W Magazine article "Adam Driver: Manning Up" By Vanessa Lawrence
• Playbill article "Playbill.com's Brief Encounter With Adam Driver" By Robert Simonson
• Juilliard article with Adam Driver by Molly Yeh