Image via Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Adam Driver at the New York Film Festival in 2026.
He said no to Marvel for years. Then X-Men came along
Adam Driver finally said yes to Marvel. On Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday, November 5, he explained why. Kevin Feige, Marvel's boss, had asked him for years. Each time, Driver said no. Then X-Men came up.
"I was a big X-Men fan when I was a kid," he said. He grew up reading the comics and watching the cartoon, which ran from 1992 to 1997. He and his cousin Tony used to play X-Men together. Tony got to be Sabretooth. Driver was Wolverine. "It's a big deal," he said.
What sealed it was the part, the director and the boss. He plays Mister Sinister, a villain comics fans know as Nathaniel Essex. In the film he goes by Nathaniel Milbury. Jake Schreier directs. The film opens in cinemas on May 5, 2028.
The cast was announced at Disney's D23 event in August. Sadie Sink plays Jean Grey. Kit Connor plays Cyclops. Samara Weaving is Emma Frost. Christopher Abbott is Professor X. Maya Boyd is Storm. Inde Navarrette is Rogue. Asa German is Angel.
Driver was on Kimmel to talk about Paper Tiger, a crime drama by James Gray. He plays Gary Pearl, one of two brothers whose big business deal turns out to be a scam. Miles Teller plays his brother, and Scarlett Johansson co-stars. The film played at Cannes and opens in select theatres on November 13, then goes wide on November 20.
Image via Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Driver at San Diego Comic-Con in 2015, the year of The Force Awakens.
Kylo Ren made him a star
Most people first met Driver as Kylo Ren. He was cast in early 2014 for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which came out in December 2015. He played the masked villain in all three films of the sequel trilogy, through The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. Under the mask, his character was Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa.
Before Star Wars, he was already a familiar face on TV. He played Adam Sackler in Girls, the HBO series that ran from 2012 to 2017. The part earned him three Emmy nominations in a row.
The Marine before the actor
Driver was born Adam Douglas Driver on November 19, 1983, in Fontana, California. His mother Nancy was a paralegal. His family moved to San Diego, and after his parents split, he moved with his mother to Mishawaka, Indiana. His stepfather Rodney Wright was a Baptist minister. Driver sang in the church choir.
He calls his teenage self a misfit. He climbed radio towers, set things on fire and started a fight club with friends, copying the 1999 film. He acted in school plays too.
After the September 11 attacks, he joined the US Marine Corps. He served as an 81mm mortarman with the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, and reached the rank of lance corporal. He left after two years and eight months, when he broke his sternum in a mountain bike crash.
He tried Juilliard once and did not get in. He sold vacuum cleaners door to door, worked as a telemarketer and did construction. At 18 he drove to Los Angeles to try acting, ran out of money in a week and came home. Then he tried Juilliard again. This time he got in. He found out while working at a Target warehouse in Indianapolis. He graduated in 2009. It was at Juilliard that he met Joanne Tucker, the woman he would marry.
The serious actor years
After Juilliard he worked on stage in New York and took small film parts. He was in Lincoln and Frances Ha in 2012, then Inside Llewyn Davis in 2013. In 2014 he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for Hungry Hearts.
After Star Wars he picked hard, strange parts. He played a bus driver who writes poems in Paterson (2016). He lost nearly 50 pounds to play a Jesuit priest in Martin Scorsese's Silence (2016). He played a detective who joins the Ku Klux Klan in BlacKkKlansman (2018), which earned him his first Oscar nomination. A year later he earned a second, as Best Actor, for Marriage Story (2019), playing a theatre director going through a divorce.
He went back to Broadway in 2019 for Burn This, with Keri Russell. It earned him a Tony nomination. He has hosted Saturday Night Live four times. In 2025 he starred in Jim Jarmusch's Father Mother Sister Brother with Cate Blanchett.
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | J. Edgar | Walter Lyle |
| 2012 | Lincoln | Samuel Beckwith |
| 2012 | Frances Ha | Lev Shapiro |
| 2013 | Inside Llewyn Davis | Al Cody |
| 2014 | Hungry Hearts | Jude |
| 2015 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Kylo Ren |
| 2016 | Paterson | Paterson |
| 2016 | Silence | Father Francisco Garupe |
| 2017 | Logan Lucky | Clyde Logan |
| 2017 | Star Wars: The Last Jedi | Kylo Ren |
| 2018 | BlacKkKlansman | Detective Flip Zimmerman |
| 2019 | Marriage Story | Charlie Barber |
| 2019 | Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker | Kylo Ren / Ben Solo |
| 2021 | The Last Duel | Jacques le Gris |
| 2021 | House of Gucci | Maurizio Gucci |
| 2022 | White Noise | Jack Gladney |
| 2023 | 65 | Commander Mills |
| 2023 | Ferrari | Enzo Ferrari |
| 2024 | Megalopolis | Cesar Catilina |
| 2026 | Paper Tiger | Gary Pearl |
| Quick Facts | Adam Driver |
|---|---|
| Full name | Adam Douglas Driver |
| Born | 19 November 1983, Fontana, California |
| Age | 42 (turns 43 on 19 November 2026) |
| Nationality | American |
| Zodiac | Scorpio |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.89 m) |
| Profession | Actor |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Education | Mishawaka High School; University of Indianapolis; Juilliard School (BFA, 2009) |
| Parents | Nancy Wright and Joe Douglas Driver; stepfather Rodney Wright |
| Siblings | Older sister |
| Spouse | Joanne Tucker (married June 2013) |
| Children | Son (born 2016) and daughter (born April 2023) |
| Net worth | No reliable public figure |
| Award or nomination | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Volpi Cup, Best Actor (Hungry Hearts) | 2014 | Won |
| Primetime Emmy, Supporting Actor in a Comedy (Girls) | 2013, 2014, 2015 | Nominated |
| Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor (BlacKkKlansman) | 2019 | Nominated |
| Academy Award, Best Actor (Marriage Story) | 2020 | Nominated |
| BAFTA, Best Actor (Marriage Story) | 2020 | Nominated |
| Golden Globe, Best Actor – Drama (Marriage Story) | 2020 | Nominated |
| Tony Award, Best Actor in a Play (Burn This) | 2019 | Nominated |
Family, and the theatre he built for troops
Driver married Joanne Tucker in June 2013. They met at Juilliard. They have a son, born in 2016, and a daughter, born in April 2023. They kept the son's birth private for two years. The family lives in Brooklyn Heights.
He started Arts in the Armed Forces, a nonprofit that took theatre to US troops at home and abroad. It ran until 2023. The photo below shows him performing for Marines at Camp Pendleton in 2008, with Tucker, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Jay O. Sanders.
Image via the United States Marine Corps / Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Driver performing Theater of War at Camp Pendleton in 2008.
He does not like watching his own work. He once walked out of a radio interview after the host played a clip of him in Marriage Story. He went viral in 2021 for a shirtless Burberry Hero advert, and he keeps his family life out of the press as much as he can.
Image via dtstuff9 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). Driver at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014.
What's next
Paper Tiger opens on November 13 in select theatres and goes wide on November 20. Next up is Alone at Dawn, a Ron Howard war drama with Anne Hathaway, where he plays John A. Chapman. After that comes Heat 2, Michael Mann's follow-up to Heat, where he plays the villain Otis Wardell. Filming is set to begin in December 2026. And X-Men lands on May 5, 2028.
FAQs
How old is Adam Driver? He was born on November 19, 1983, so he is 42. He turns 43 on November 19, 2026.
How tall is Adam Driver? He is 6 ft 2 in (1.89 m) tall.
Who is Adam Driver's wife? Joanne Tucker, an actress he met at Juilliard. They married in June 2013 and have two children, a son born in 2016 and a daughter born in April 2023.
What is Adam Driver's net worth? No official figure exists. Some websites print estimates near $16 million, but none of them cite a source, so treat that number with care.
Was Adam Driver really in the Marines? Yes. He served in the US Marine Corps from 2001 to 2004 as an 81mm mortarman with the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. He left as a lance corporal after breaking his sternum in a mountain bike crash.
When does the X-Men reboot come out? Marvel has set May 5, 2028. Driver plays the villain Mister Sinister, also known as Nathaniel Milbury.
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