page_title: Adam Driver
section_title: Early career, Girls, and breakthrough (2009–2014)
hierarchical_section_title: Adam Driver / Career / Early career, Girls, and breakthrough (2009–2014)
caption_attribution_description: English: Adam Driver at the While We're Young premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival
context_page_description: Adam Douglas Driver is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, as well as nominations for a Tony Award and two Academy Awards.
  A former Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, Driver made his Broadway debut in Mrs. Warren's Profession and subsequently appeared in Man and Boy. He rose to prominence with a supporting role in the HBO comedy-drama series Girls, for which he received three consecutive Emmy nominations. Driver began his film career in supporting roles in films such as Lincoln, Frances Ha, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Silence. He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his lead role in the drama Hungry Hearts and starred as a poet in Jim Jarmusch's Paterson.
  Driver gained wider recognition for playing Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. In 2019, he returned to theater with Burn This, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He earned significant acclaim and nominations for two Academy Awards for his performance as a police detective in BlacKkKlansman and a theater director going through a divorce in Marriage Story.
context_section_description: After graduating from Juilliard, Driver began his acting career in New York City, appearing in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Like many aspiring actors, he occasionally worked as a busboy and waiter. Driver also appeared in several television shows and short films. His first on-screen appearance was in the series finale of The Unusuals in 2009 as a repentant witness and reluctant accomplice to an unsolved assault. He made his feature film debut in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama J. Edgar in 2011.
  In 2012, Driver was cast in the HBO comedy-drama series Girls, as the emotionally unstable Adam Sackler, the boyfriend of the lead character Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham). He received three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role. The same year, Driver played supporting roles in two critically acclaimed films, as telegraph and cipher officer Samuel Beckwith in Steven Spielberg's historical drama Lincoln, and Lev Shapiro in Noah Baumbach's comedy-drama Frances Ha. He also appeared in the drama Not Waving But Drowning and the romantic-comedy Gayby. He garnered major off-Broadway recognition for playing Cliff, a working-class Welsh houseguest in Look Back in Anger, winning the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.
  In 2013, Driver appeared in the drama Bluebird and the romantic-comedy What If. He played Al Cody, a musician, in the Coen Brothers' black comedy Inside Llewyn Davis, and photographer Rick Smolan in the drama Tracks. In 2014, he played Jude, a despairing father, in the drama Hungry Hearts; Jamie, an aspiring filmmaker, in Noah Baumbach's comedy While We're Young; and Phillip, the black sheep of a dysfunctional Jewish family, in the comedy-drama This Is Where I Leave You. For his performance in Hungry Hearts, Driver won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.
caption: Driver at TIFF 2014
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