Tall, brooding, handsome, actor extraordinaire, Adam Douglas Driver was born on 19 November 1983 in San Diego, California to a paralegal mother and preacher father. He spent most of his childhood in his mother’s hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, where he performed in high school plays and sang in the choir.
Upon his graduation from Mishawaka High School in 2001, Adam worked odd jobs as a door-to-door salesman and telemarketer. Owing to his love for acting, he decided to apply to Juilliard School for drama; but was met with rejection. After the horrifying events of September 11, 2001, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps where he served as Lance Corporal for two years and eight months, before a sternum dislocation injury caused him to be medically discharged.
He attended the University of Indianapolis for a year thereafter, before he decided to give Juilliard School another try. This time he succeeded! Having graduated from Juilliard, Adam landed his first role on the TV series ‘The Unusuals’, followed by several other TV appearances. He also worked in plays, and made his Broadway debut in the 2010 revival of George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession’.
In 2012, the breakout TV show ‘Girls’ became an instant hit and Adam got a lot of attention for playing Lena Dunham’s on-and-off love interest Adam Sackler. He was cast in Steven Spielberg’s movie ‘Lincoln’ and appeared in noteworthy roles in ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’, ‘Frances Ha’ and ‘This is Where I Leave You’, among others.
He first appeared as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in the much anticipated ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in 2015, a role that brought him overnight stardom, one that he went on reprise in the movie’s sequel ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ in 2017. In 2018 he portrayed Detective Philip “Flip” Zimmerman in ‘BlacKKKlansman’, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.
The year 2019 was the year of Adam Driver. He gave a compelling performance as Daniel Jones in the political drama ‘The Report’; and played Pale in the Broadway production of ‘Burn This’ for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He then appeared in the comedy ‘The Dead Don’t Die’. Following which he delivered an incredible performance in ‘Marriage Story’, earning him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He finished the year on a high, by reprising his role in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’.
Passionate about the arts and as a way of giving back, in 2006 Adam Driver and his wife Joanne Tucker founded Arts in the Armed Forces, a non-profit that brings arts programming to active-duty service members, veterans, support staff and their families around the world free of charge. They choose diverse themed content to perform, after which artists interact with audiences through question-answer sessions that are aimed at bridging the gap between military and civilians, service members and families.
An actor who has been consistently giving one amazing performance after another, Adam Driver is just warming up, and we can’t wait to see the spectacular work he has in store for us. He will be seen next opposite Marion Cotillard in the musical ‘Annette’.