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Ethan Hawke Praises Daughter Maya as the 'Real Thing' for Breakout 'Stranger Things' Role

By Scott Baumgartner‍ 2:45 PM PDT, July 7, 2019

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree in this family!

On Saturday, Ethan Hawke hopped on Instagram to offer a rousing endorsement for his daughter, Maya Hawke, who stole scenes in season three of Stranger Things as Robin, Steve Harrington’s (Joe Keery) lovably feisty co-worker at Scoops Ahoy, the ice cream shop in Starcourt Mall.

"Some of you may have missed her in last year’s BBC production of Little Women. Some of you may have missed her work at Juilliard. I know many missed out on numerous high school productions — heck I even missed a few and I’m her father. Some of you may know her music, some may not. But Ladies & Gentleman, get to know MAYA HAWKE," Ethan, who shares Maya with his ex-wife, Uma Thurman, wrote alongside a gif of his daughter. "She’s the real thing. #StrangerThings."

Ethan’s post quickly got some endorsements from other celebs, including fellow Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard, aka Mike Wheeler, who wrote, "Yay Dad!" Andy Cohen also chimed in, writing, "She sure is!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING!!!⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️."

ET recently caught up with Maya at the premiere for season three of Stranger Things where she chatted about joining the prestigious show and her character’s touching evolution throughout the eight episodes.

"I went through a journey figuring her out throughout the season. I don’t think I knew who she was when I started. When I first got the first sides, she was really kind of hard and sarcastic and tough," she told ET's Leanne Aguilera. "Slowly the Duffer Brothers realized how I'm not hard, sarcastic, or tough. As the season went on, [they] wrote her to have more of my strengths [and] wrote her with more of my weaknesses. I think it'll be a really exciting journey."

"I think it ended up working because you get to watch Robin's walls come down," she added. "At first she's trying to be a really tough guy and then with everything that happens to her, she really has to break open and really be herself and I hope that will come through when people watch it."

Maya also discussed getting a minor role in Quentin Tarantino’s star-studded new film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and how much she enjoyed watching the renowned director work.

“I'm in a really small part in that, but it was an amazing week of my life,” she shared. “Quentin is so passionate about movies that getting to work with him is amazing because there's just almost no one that loves movies more and gets to make them at the level he gets to make them. I just felt so lucky to be there with him and his passions, his excitement to tell the story. It fills you up and makes you want to make movies all day.”

See more on Stranger Things below.