What if they were 17 again?

Ethan Hawke

Now: We’ve seen Hawke play the same character at two different points in his life in “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset,” and most recently show off his chops in the crime flicks “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” and “What Doesn’t Kill You” [pictured right].

Then: Hawke has always been eager to play characters coping with crises of conscience, but there’s a youthful innocence to his roles in “Dead Poet’s Society” [pictured left]—as a would-be artist whose classmate’s suicide leaves him scarred, scared and vindictive—and “White Fang”—as a teenage gold prospector struggling to come of age in the wild. And don’t forget “Mystery Date,” where Hawke’s twitchy teen was set up on a date with the girl next door--a hottie way out of his league.

Better when? He was pretty dreamy back in the day, but now Hawke’s an actor to reckon with.