Maya Hawke Plants Roots Near Mom Uma Thurman in Upstate New York

There’s a particular kind of sweet spot in adulthood when you finally get to choose proximity to your parents instead of having it imposed on you. That’s exactly where Stranger Things star Maya Hawke finds herself right now.

The 27-year-old actress recently revealed that she’s purchased a home just blocks away from her mother, Uma Thurman, in upstate New York—the region where she grew up. It’s a move that sounds simple on the surface but speaks volumes about how she’s managed to build a life that doesn’t force her into the typical actor’s choice: either be home and anxious about work, or be working and homesick.

What makes this timing particularly meaningful is her current project. Hawke is starring in The God of the Woods, a television adaptation of Liz Moore’s 2024 novel, and it shoots in the very town she grew up in. She described the experience to People in an interview published on Sunday, July 5, as having“the best summer of my life,”where she gets to work on something she genuinely cares about while maintaining the emotional anchor that proximity to home provides.“I’m so excited to be at home doing a job I love and care about,”she explained,“so I’m not in that panic spiral of being home and being like,‘When will I ever work again?'”

The closeness between Hawke and Thurman goes deeper than geography. Thurman has spoken publicly about the foundation of their bond—one built on open communication and, interestingly, a childhood practice of being read to. Hawke has credited this early exposure with changing her relationship to language itself. She struggled in school and has a learning disability, but being read to by her parents transformed her ability to comprehend language. It’s the kind of detail that humanizes both parent and child, and explains why they’ve maintained such a genuine connection despite the demands of Hollywood life.

Hawke married Christian Lee Hutson on Valentine’s Day in New York City, and now, with a home of her own and meaningful work in the place she belongs, she’s demonstrating something increasingly countercultural: that you don’t have to choose between ambition and family. Sometimes you get both.