Ethan Hawke received the American Riviera Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Friday night, with Jeff Bridges presenting the honor in a touching tribute that compared Hawke to his late father, Lloyd Bridges.

Meeting for the first time, Bridges told Hawke he felt like an “old friend” who reminded him of his father, who taught him the fundamentals of acting.

“My dad would come on the set with such joy and excitement, and that joy was contagious,” Bridges said. “You share that style, and I dig your approach, man.”

In a wide-ranging conversation moderated by Dave Karger of Turner Classic Movies, Hawke traced his journey from an afterschool acting class to becoming one of his generation’s most respected actors.

Film clips throughout the evening highlighted key moments from his career.

His journey began almost accidentally.

“I went to an acting class because I didn’t have a winter sport,” Hawke recalled.

That class at the Paul Robeson Center for Performing Arts proved transformative, helping him land his first film role in Explorers at age 13.

But early success came with struggle.

“The experience of doing Explorers was extremely difficult for our family,” Hawke said.

When the film underperformed, he felt responsible.

“It was devastating to me. I felt like it was my fault,” he said.

He nearly quit acting, thinking he was meant to be a writer instead.

Then came Dead Poets Society in 1988. Working with Robin Williams was a gift.

“The word genius is overused,” Hawke said. “We all have genius within us, but Williams’ was readily available and it was amazing to be in a room with him.”

That experience was the first time he felt the “high from acting,” teaching him that acting wasn’t about seeking attention but about “disappearing into creating collective imagination with producers and costume designers and castmates—you’re all part of this dream.”

Film clips from Reality Bites, Gattaca, and Training Day were also shared. The latter earned Hawke his first Oscar nomination and the honor of working with Denzel Washington, who later thanked him from the Oscar stage—a moment Hawke called “so unspeakably generous and incredibly meaningful.”

The evening highlighted Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy, with Hawke joking the first film (Before Sunrise) “was the lowest-grossing film of all time to get a sequel.”

Yet the three films became beloved.

“The first two movies are about romantic projection and the dream of what it’s like to fall in love,” he explained, adding the final film (Before Midnight) explored love after years together and raising children “was the hardest.”

Hawke spoke reverently about the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, his co-star in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

“He was the first actor of my generation who I felt was fully mature,” Hawke said. “He was an actor/artist. He was not a bullshit artist.”

Hawke credited Hoffman with giving director Sidney Lumet his final masterpiece before the director’s death.

Discussing Linklater’s audacious 12-year project Boyhood, Hawke explained the concept: “Every coming-of-age story has a lie in it, this idea that there’s just one moment you find yourself; but it’s not one moment, it’s a collection of moments over time.”

Linklater wanted to film kids from first grade through 12th grade in real time.

“I thought it was an absolutely brilliant idea, but risky, because the movie is not going to come out for 13 years,” Hawke said.

Child labor laws made it technically illegal to sign a child for more than seven years, “so it was all a handshake deal.”

That project marked another chapter in Linklater’s and Hawke’s decades-long artistic partnership that has now spanned nine films, culminating in Blue Moon, which earned Hawke his first Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of lyricist Lorenz Hart.

The dialogue in Blue Moon was immense, but Hawke credits his stage training with giving him the tools to handle it.

“In cinema, it’s very, very difficult to be great, but also very hard to totally suck,” he explained, thanks to great cinematographers, editors and music.

“But on stage, when you perform live, when you do Shakespeare, when you perform in a Sam Shepard play, you build your dexterity. I have the muscle memory and habits as a student to know how to handle all that verbiage.”

Throughout the evening, Hawke joked about repeatedly being described in the press as a “former heartthrob” — though judging by the packed Arlington Theatre’s enthusiastic reception, Santa Barbara clearly disagrees.

SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling praised Hawke as “a true chameleon across genres, transitioning from romantic leads to intense dramatic roles—one of our greatest, most trusted and respected performers,” noting his long dedication to theater and sustained commitment to Broadway.

In accepting his award, Hawke credited SBIFF for being part of an ecosystem that keeps cinema alive.

“This is the church of my choice,” he said. “I do believe every night our dreams heal us, and collectively we who make film and create art and stories and paintings and pictures, we are making dreams for each other—and that’s how we heal ourselves.”