The Lowdown

Journalist and self-proclaimed “truthstorian," "Lee," portrayed by Ethan Hawke, has an obsession with the truth that is always getting him into trouble.

Career Highlights

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may" is a phrase a young Ethan Hawke took to heart while filming Dead Poets Society, the iconic film that launched his career. Over the past 40 years, Hawke has become a multifaceted, critically acclaimed artist—an actor, writer, director, producer and best-selling novelist—earning five Academy Award nominations, both as an actor and a writer.His most recent Academy Award nomination marks his first for Actor in a Leading Role, on behalf of his ninth collaboration with filmmaker Richard Linklater, the feature film Blue Moon. In the film, Hawke delivers a career-defining performance as the famed lyricist Lorenz Hart, part of the once-famed songwriting team Rodgers &amp; Hart, starring opposite Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley and Bobby Cannavale. Hawke's portrayal has also earned him BAFTA, SAG Actor, Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Gotham Award nominations, and critics prizes from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics, London Critics Circle and dozens more. The film, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, was released by Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S. in October 2025.Hawke currently stars in and executive produces the FX series, The Lowdown, from creator Sterlin Harjo, whom Hawke collaborated with on the penultimate episode of Harjo's groundbreaking series Reservation Dogs. For The Lowdown, Hawke has received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series and career-best reviews for his performance as citizen journalist Lee Raybon, a self-proclaimed Tulsa "truthstorian" whose obsession with the truth is always getting him into trouble. For its first season, now streaming on Hulu, The Lowdown was named to countless Best of 2025 lists and honored as one of AFI's Television Programs of the Year. The second season, which will debut Oct. 14, adds new cast members Tommy Lee Jones and Betty Gilpin.Hawke stars alongside Russell Crowe in the independent feature The Weight. Directed by Padraic McKinley, the film is set in Oregon 1933 and follows Hawke's battle-scarred character Samuel Murphy, who takes a dangerous job smuggling a fortune in gold across the wilderness to save what remains of his family. The Weight premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival and was released in theaters by Vertical on Sept. 18.His expansive onscreen filmography includes his Oscar-nominated performances in Training Day and Boyhood, his Independent Spirit and Gotham Award-winning performance in First Reformed, his multi-award-nominated and Peabody-winning work in Showtime's limited series The Good Lord Bird, plus Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Gattaca, Reality Bites, Maudie, The Northman, Sinister, The Purge, The Black Phone, Leave the World Behind, Great Expectations, White Fang, Marvel's Moon Knight, Pedro Almodóvar's short film Strange Way of Life and the celebrated Before trilogy (*Before Sunrise* and its sequels Before Sunset and Before Midnight), for which he received two writing Oscar nominations alongside his collaborators Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater.As a filmmaker, Hawke's directing credits include the narrative features Chelsea Walls, The Hottest State, Blaze and the Flannery O'Connor biopic Wildcat. His nonfiction directorial work includes Seymour: An Introduction, the Joanne Woodward-Paul Newman docuseries The Last Movie Stars and the Merle Haggard documentary Highway 99: A Double Album, which world-premiered at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival. These projects and many others have been produced via his production banner, Under the Influence Productions, which he co-founded and runs alongside his wife and producing partner Ryan Hawke.On stage, he received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Tom Stoppard's epic The Coast of Utopia, and has also starred on Broadway in Henry IV, Macbeth and Sam Shepard's True West, in addition to countless Off-Broadway acting and directing credits. As a bestselling author, Hawke has written the novels The Hottest State, Ash Wednesday and A Bright Ray of Darkness; two graphic novels, Meadowlark and Indeh alongside illustrator Greg Ruth; and the children's book Rules for a Knight.

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Journalist and self-proclaimed “truthstorian," Lee has an obsession with the truth that is always getting him into trouble.

Headshot of Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon in FX's The Lowdown, wearing a denim decorated long sleeve with a grey fedora.