Actress Maya Hawke exposes big Hollywood secret

Actress Maya Hawke lifted the lid on a big Hollywood secret in a candid new interview, revealing it will be a “lifelong question” for her.

Actress Maya Hawke speaks out.

Actress Maya Hawke has spoken up about how much social media influences Hollywood casting decisions in a candid new interview – claiming Instagram follower accounts are now just as important as awards or box office receipts when it comes to casting.

“The line between actor and celebrity has gotten extremely blurry,” Hawke, daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, told Josh Horowitz on the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“What I always wanted to be is an actor where the work is what the draw is, not the personhood,” she continued.

“But the industry keeps changing, and you have to change with it and understand that all of these things are getting blurred.”

Hawke, 26, who has starred in major projects including Stranger Things, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood and Maestro, said she has to maintain an active Instagram account to help her chances of landing the acting roles she wants.

Actress Maya Hawke: “I don’t care about Instagram. Instagram sucks, right?”

“I don’t care about Instagram. Instagram sucks, right? But just so you know, if you have over this many followers, you can get the money movie funded. Well, I want to make the movie … it’s a really confusing line to walk,” said Hawke, who has nine million followers on the platform.

Hawke said she wanted to delete her Instagram account, until she spoke privately with directors who revealed to her how much of a factor it plays in casting and financing a project.

“They’re like, just so you know, when I’m casting a movie with some producers, they hand me a sheet, with the amount of collective followers I have to get all of the cast that I cast. So if you delete your Instagram and I lose those followers, understand that these are the kinds of people that I need to cast around you.”

Maya with father Ethan Hawke … Picture: Jason Merritt/Getty

… and with mother Uma Thurman. Picture: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Hawke said she thought the issue would remain a “lifelong question” in how she handled the demands of her career.

Maya’s famous father Ethan previously gushed about his daughter’s breakthrough performance on the massive Netflix series Stranger Things, in which she plays Robin Buckley.

“I’m so proud of her ‘cause I think she does a great job, but I’m most happy for her that she’s surrounded by these other amazing, talented young people,” he told Entertainment Tonight.

“That was my experience on(1989 film) Dead Poet’s Society, getting to be surrounded by other young people who were in love with the same thing that I was in love with, getting to tell a story that affects your generation.”

Originally published as Actress Maya Hawke exposes big Hollywood secret