Early life

Driver was born in San Diego on November 19, 1983, the son of Nancy (née Needham) Wright, a paralegal, and Joe Douglas Driver. His father's family is from Arkansas and his mother's family is from Indiana. After his parents divorced, they each remarried. His stepfather is a Baptist minister. His stepmother works for the Arkansas State Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. His ancestry includes English, Dutch, German, Irish and Scottish.

When Driver was seven years old, he moved with his mother and older sister to her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, where he grew up. Driver had a religious upbringing, and sang in choir at church. He attended Mishawaka High School, where he graduated in 2001. He appeared in several high school plays and was an accomplished singer in the school's choir.

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Driver joined the United States Marine Corps and was assigned to Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines as an 81mm mortar man. He served for two years and eight months before breaking his sternum while mountain biking. He was medically discharged before his unit deployed to Iraq for the Iraq War. After leaving the Marine Corps, Driver attended the University of Indianapolis for a year; he transferred to the Juilliard School to study drama. He was a member of the Drama Division's Group 38 (2005-2009), along with his future wife Joanne Tucker. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2009.

Career

Following his graduation from Juilliard, Driver began acting in New York City, appearing in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Like many other aspiring actors, he occasionally worked as a busboy and waiter. Driver appeared in several television shows and short films. He made his feature film debut in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar (2011).

In 2012, Driver was cast in the current HBO hit comedy-drama series Girls, as the lead character's emotionally unstable boyfriend Adam Sackler. To date, he has received three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role. Apart from appearing in the short film Not Waving But Drowning and the film Gayby, Driver had key roles in two critically acclaimed films of 2012. He played Samuel Beckwith in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln and played Lev Shapiro in Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha.

Driver appeared in four films in 2013: Bluebird, The F Word, as musician Al Cody in the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis, and as photographer Rick Smolan in Tracks.

In 2014, he played despairing father Jude in the Italian film Hungry Hearts, Philip Altman in This Is Where I Leave You, and aspiring filmmaker Jaime in While We're Young, starring Naomi Watts and Ben Stiller. For his role in Hungry Hearts, Driver won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.

In late February 2014, Variety reported that Driver would play villain Kylo Ren in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. On April 29, 2014, he was confirmed as a cast member. The Force Awakens was released on December 18, 2015. Both the film and Driver's performance were well received by critics and audiences alike. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian highlighted Driver's performance in his review of the film calling him "gorgeously cruel, spiteful and capricious...very suited to Kylo Ren’s fastidious and amused contempt for his enemies’ weakness and compassion." Driver hosted the January 16, 2016 episode of Saturday Night Live.

Driver co-starred in the Jeff Nichols-directed film Midnight Special, which began its release on March 18, 2016. He will also appear in Martin Scorsese's 2016 film Silence.

At the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, it was announced that Driver is set to star alongside Michael Palin in Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	J. Edgar	Walter Lyle
2012	Lincoln	Samuel Beckwith	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Ensemble
2012	Gayby	Neil
2012	Not Waving But Drowning	Adam
2012	Frances Ha	Lev Shapiro
2013	Bluebird	Walter
2013	Inside Llewyn Davis	Al Cody	Hamptons International Film Festival Award for Breakthrough Performer Houston Film Critics Award for Best Original Song Nominated - Critics' Choice Award for Best Song Nominated - Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Music, Original Song
2013	Tracks	Rick Smolan	Nominated - Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - Young Hollywood Award for Fan Favorite Actor - Male
2013	What If	Allan
2014	Hungry Hearts	Jude	Volpi Cup for Best Actor
2014	This Is Where I Leave You	Phillip Altman
2014	While We're Young	Jamie Massey
2015	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Kylo Ren	MTV Movie Award for Best Villain Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Ensemble Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Daisy Ridley) Nominated - Georgia Film Critics Association for Best Ensemble Nominated - Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Ensemble Pending - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2016	Midnight Special	Paul Sevier
2016	Paterson	Paterson
2016	Silence	Father Francisco Garrpe	Post-production
2017	Star Wars: Episode VIII	Kylo Ren	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	The Wonderful Maladys	Zed	Pilot
2010	The Unusuals	Will Slansky	Episode: "The E.I.D."
2010	Law & Order	Robby Vickery	Episode: "Brilliant Disguise"
2010	You Don't Know Jack	Glen Stetson	Television film
2012	Law & Order: SVU	Jason Roberts	Episode: "Theatre Tricks"
2012-present	Girls	Adam Sackler	Nominated - Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated - Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
2015	The Simpsons	Adam Sackler (voice)	Episode: "Every Man's Dream"
2016	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode: "Adam Driver/Chris Stapleton"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0	Kylo Ren	Voice
2016	Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Kylo Ren	Voice

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	The Retributionists	Dov Kaplinsky	Playwrights Horizons
2010	Mrs. Warren's Profession	Frank Gardner	Roundabout Revival
2011	Angels in America	Louis Ironson	Signature Theatre Company
2011	Man and Boy	Basil Anthony	Roundabout Revival
2012	Look Back in Anger	Cliff	Roundabout Theatre Company

[ Source: Wikipedia ]