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John Hawkes (born September 11, 1959 in Alexandria, Minnesota) is an American actor and musician, best known for years for his role as the Jewish merchant Sol Star in ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'', before making a big break with his performance as the sinister Teardrop in ''Film/WintersBone'', which has led to him gaining a robust career as a character actor, mostly in indie movies, but also in Hollywood productions and TV.

He's most often cast as backwoods, redneck types, though he's played other roles, too, often in the indie pictures that have made him something of a staple at the Sundance Film Festival.

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!!His Notable Roles:
* ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'' - Pete Bottoms
* ''Film/ThePerfectStorm'' - Mike "Bugsy" Moran
* ''Film/MeAndYouAndEveryoneWeKnow'' - Richard Swersey
* ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'' - Sol Star
* ''Film/AmericanGangster'' - Freddie Spearman
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' - Lennon
* ''Film/WintersBone'' - Teardrop
* ''Series/EastboundAndDown'' - Dustin Powers
* ''Film/MarthaMarcyMayMarlene'' - Patrick
* ''Film/Contagion2011'' - Roger
* ''Film/TheSessions'' - Mark O'Brien
* ''Film/{{Lincoln}}'' - Robert Latham
* ''Film/{{Everest|2015}}'' - Doug Hansen
* ''Film/ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri'' - Charlie Hayes
* ''Film/ThePeanutButterFalcon'' - Duncan
* ''WesternAnimation/HitMonkey'' - Eli
* ''Series/TrueDetective'': Det. Hank Prior

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!!This actor provides examples of:
* AlmostFamousName: Shares a name with a {{Postmodern|ism}} novelist who wrote in the latter half of the twentieth century.
* AwardSnub: His failure to get a Best Actor nomination for ''Film/TheSessions'' is generally seen as this.
* TheCastShowoff: He contributed a song to the ''Film/WintersBone'' soundtrack and also sang a cover of "Marcy's Song" in ''Film/MarthaMarcyMayMarlene''.
* CelebrityResemblance: To Creator/HarryDeanStanton.
* ChronicallyKilledActor: He once had to say that he doesn't die in every movie he appears in
* DoingItForTheArt: After his Oscar-nominated breakout performance in ''Winter's Bone'', he looked through all the scripts he'd been offered and decided to pick the two movies with the lowest budgets. Those became ''Film/MarthaMarcyMayMarlene'' and ''Film/TheSessions''. As he puts it, he has a "very understanding agent".
* OlderThanTheyLook: He usually looks a few years younger than his actual age. During ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'', he was about a decade older than both Timothy Olyphant and Paula Malcolmson but didn't look noticeably older. Similarly, he was close to sixty when he made ''Film/ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri'' but looked closer to mid or late forties.
* PlayingAgainstType: In ''The Sessions'', he plays a paraplegic poet, a far cry from the grizzled backwoods types he's best known for. Also notable in that it is one of the few lead roles he's ever played.
* WhatMightHaveBeen: He was offered the role of The Governor on ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', but turned it down due to misgivings about playing a role on broadcast TV.
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