Adam Driver

Adam Douglas Driver, born November 19, 1983, in San Diego, California, and raised in Mishawaka, Indiana, is one of the most fearless and intellectually rigorous dramatic actors of his generation, a former United States Marine who served in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks before a medical discharge redirected him toward acting — a biographical journey from combat deployment to Juilliard and ultimately to an Academy Award-nominated career that is unlike that of virtually any other major Hollywood star. Growing up in Mishawaka, Indiana, in a Christian fundamentalist household — his mother Nancy worked as a paralegal and his stepfather Terry was a Baptist minister — Driver experienced a strict upbringing that he has described as simultaneously stifling and formatively character-building. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at age eighteen in the months following September 11, 2001, and served as an 81mm mortar man in the 1st Marine Division before a mountain biking injury in 2003 led to his medical discharge, which he experienced as a profound loss of identity and sense of purpose. He enrolled at the University of Indianapolis to study theater and subsequently was accepted to the Juilliard School's drama program, from which he graduated in 2009. He founded Arts in the Armed Forces, a nonprofit that brings live theater performances to military communities, in 2008 while still at Juilliard. His breakthrough came with the HBO series Girls (2012–2017), created by Lena Dunham, in which he played the complex, emotionally volatile Adam Sackler across six seasons. His film career produced acclaimed work in Lincoln (2012), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Tracks (2013), This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Midnight Special (2016), Patterson (2016), Logan Lucky (2017), Silence (2016), BlacKkKlansman (2018), The Report (2019), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), The Rise of Skywalker (2019) as Kylo Ren, Marriage Story (2019, his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor), The Dead Don't Die (2019), Annette (2021), The Last Duel (2021), House of Gucci (2021), White Noise (2022), Ferrari (2023), and Megalopolis (2024).