Success came to Ethan Hawke when he was young. He landed the Explorers, a major motion picture at age 13 off his first audition no less. His second film at 18, under Robin Williams’ tutelage on and off screen was the now classic Dead Poets Society. He’s been an established star ever since. At age 24, in the midst of his early film successes he published The Hottest State. Hawke admits that adding novelist to his resume made him an easy target for ridicule. The word pretentious has been thrown at him many times, often by foes, a few times by friends, and even by himself. His response: It beats not trying. He did keep trying and with his true renaissance man’s every career milestone over 20 plus years, the neigh saying is drowned out by the praise. His roles in Reality Bites, Training Day, The Before Sunrise trilogy, and most recently Boyhood have entrenched him in the top tier of the film industry with four Oscar nominations. He has the faith of stage producers and directors as well. He’s done Shakespeare, Chekhov, and three plays with Tom Stoppard. His second novel Ash Wednesday was a best seller. In his latest film he has moved behind the camera to show the world someone who has played the game of life even more skillfully than he, an 87-year-old piano player named Seymour Bernstein who embodies an ethos that Hawke has embraced. In the grand scheme, it’s not about growing up, it’s not about growing old, it’s simply about growing. So pull up a chair and listen in.