John Hawkes

John Hawkes is an American actor born on September 11, 1959, in Alexandria, Minnesota, where he was raised in what he described as a pastoral, small Scandinavian community. The son of Patricia Jeanne Olson and Peter John Perkins, a farmer of wheat, corn, hogs, and cattle, Hawkes graduated from Jefferson High School before relocating to Austin, Texas. There he became a member of two bands, Meat Joy, alongside Gretchen Phillips, and King Straggler, with fellow actors Rodney Eastman and Brentley Gore.

Hawkes made his first film appearance in Future-Kill (1985), at that time credited under his birth name, John Perkins. He adopted the stage name John Hawkes after discovering another actor was already using the name John Perkins. His early screen work included a role as Greg Penticoff in the first season of the television series 24, and a part in the 1996 film From Dusk till Dawn. He also appeared in The Perfect Storm (2000) and Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005). A notable early television credit came with a small role in a 1990 music video for a cover version of the song Crying in the Rain.

From 2004 to 2006, Hawkes portrayed merchant Sol Star on the HBO series Deadwood, a role he later reprised in Deadwood: The Movie, which began production in October 2018 and premiered on May 31, 2019. During the same period, he participated in The 24 Hour Plays in 2004 and made a Broadway appearance in 2006. He also played Lennon on ABC's Lost and portrayed Dustin Powers, the brother of protagonist Kenny Powers, across all four seasons of the HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down (2009–2013).

Hawkes received significant recognition for his performance in the 2010 film Winter's Bone, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, and winning the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. In 2011, the Texas Film Hall of Fame honored him with a Rising Star Award. His film work continued with American Gangster (2007), Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), Lincoln (2012), and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

The 2012 film The Sessions, which premiered as a Sundance breakout, brought Hawkes further acclaim and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama. He received two standing ovations at the film's Sundance screening. In total, Hawkes has earned two Independent Spirit Awards, two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and a Golden Globe nomination in addition to his Academy Award nomination. He was offered the role of The Governor on AMC's The Walking Dead but declined, feeling he was not the right fit; the role subsequently went to David Morrissey.

In 2016, it was announced that Hawkes would star in the Amazon pilot The Legend of Master Legend, based on the real-life figure known as Master Legend. Most recently, he appeared in a leading role in the fourth season of True Detective: Night Country (2024), in which he also performed the song No Use, which he wrote, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar in the fifth episode.