Hey, Summer Campers!
The same as so many Hollywood stars, professional athletes, musical artists, and other celebrities, among so many of our favorite Hollywood actors who attended summer camp when they were young, movie star Ethan Hawke is yet another former camper in the biz! Frequently found in film features all throughout the 90’s, he started making a name for himself even before that when he was only 15.
And it wasn’t much before then that Ethan attended summer camp at the YMCA Camp Carter in Texas. Located just minutes from downtown Fort Worth, Camp Carter covers more than 300 acres of heavily wooded land as well as its own lake and waterfront access to the Trinity river, showing kids—like Ethan Hawke back in the early 80s—the time of their lives.
Between his camp stay and his first movie, Ethan starred for the first time on the stage for his high school production of ‘Saint Joan’ When he first started high school, Ethan wanted to be a writer, but it didn’t take long for the acting bug to settle in and he knew this was what he wanted to do.
So eager to get into the business, the 15-year-old Ethan landed a lead role in the sci-fi movie as mentioned above. While the movie ‘Explorers’ went on to develop a cult following, it did not do well in the theaters. Though he’s not proud to admit it, ‘Explorers’ poor immediate reception took a toll on Ethan and he unofficially gave up acting for the time being. In retrospect, he feels that he rushed things along too quickly. “I would never recommend that a kid act,” he has said.
He returned to acting five years later after completing his education and saw better success than he did on his initial run. In just a few years, he found his role alongside Robin Williams in ‘Dead Poet’s Society’ which was a great launching point that brought him the work of 18 films throughout the 90s.
Ethan’s acting career also included some television appearances such as an episode of ‘Alias’ as well as ‘Moby Dick’ the made-for-TV miniseries. Check out Camp Carter for yourself sometime and, as always, thanks for reading!
- John