Actor Adam Driver is known for his role as the antagonist Kylo Ren in the sequel trilogy of Star Wars. He shot to fame with the TV show Girls and was featured in landmark films such as Frances Ha, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Lincoln. The actor is known for his stoic yet powerful performances.
While Driver is a fan favorite, he started his acting career late as he was once part of the US Military. Driver spent two years as a Marine before being discharged honorarily and starting a career in acting. The military training seems to have aided in his stoic and serious persona.
Adam Driver’s Rise To International Stardom
Adam Driver became plastered across the world when he starred as Kylo Ren in JJ Abrams’ Star Wars sequel trilogy. Starting his journey in the space opera in 2015’s The Force Awakens, the actor was only known for his supporting roles in mumblecore indies and small parts in studio films such as Lincoln and J Edgar.
He gained considerable fame when he was featured in the hit HBO show Girls, but he gained international recognition for his outing on Star Wars. He mentioned about the sudden fame and if it changed his life in an interview with The Guardian,
“As a person, I’m the same. The problems I had before Force Awakens, it didn’t solve any of them…For me, the only noticeable difference is your visibility as a person. Loss of anonymity is a big thing. I didn’t realize how I would see that in a billion little ways.”
Ever since his appearance in the Star Wars films, Driver has starred in a number of acclaimed and successful films such as Marriage Story, Silence, BlacKKKlansman, and The Last Duel. He will be seen in Michael Mann’s Ferrari and will also appear in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megapolis.
Also read:Adam Driver Almost Said No to Kylo Ren of Star Wars Due to a Judd Apatow Series
Adam Driver’s Stoic Persona And His Military Career
Adam Driver, though quite expressive, still maintains an understated and restrained aura both on and off-screen. The actor has stated that his serious and stoic persona is partly influenced by his discomfort towards other aspects of celebrity culture such as interviews and photoshoots.
The Guardian writer Emma Brockes described him in an article as a serious man and said,
“Adam Driver has a reputation for being a serious young man, which is partly a matter of attitude and partly, I suspect, to do with some aspect of his physiognomy: he has a large head and outsize features that somehow combine to give an impression of gravity. Before the photoshoot, he let it be known that he finds it uncomfortable to have a journalist in his sightline on set.”
Driver’s disciplined and stoic personality can also be attributed to his career in the military before he started acting. While he had a passion for the craft early in his life and had also applied to the Julliard School for Drama, he was rejected from it and then chose to join the Marine Corps after the September 11 Attacks in New York. He was in the Weapons Company as a Marine and served for two years and eight months before being honorable discharged after a mountain biking accident.
Talking about his life after the military, he said to US Magazine,
“In the Marine Corps, everything had a purpose…And then you’re thrown into civilian life and suddenly that structure isn’t there. And people are doing crazy sh*t, like wearing clothes untucked, and you’re just like, ‘Look at these people who have no meaning to anything!’ And that’s a hard transition.”
The actor then auditioned for Julliard once again and was accepted this time. He then started his career on stage and appeared in small roles before getting his breakthrough on Girls.
Source: The Guardian, US Magazine
