Maya Hawke Reveals Acting Tip She Got From Dad Ethan Hawke: 'Some Kind of Little Secret' (Exclusive)

The actress exclusively spoke to PEOPLE at the 'Maestro' premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday

Maya Hawke is following in her dad Ethan Hawke’s movie-star footsteps.

And the actress, 25, exclusively revealed to PEOPLE the "secret" tip her father has given her while attending the Maestro movie premiere in L.A. on Tuesday.

“I like to do a thing where in every part that I play, plant a seed of truth, like some kind of little secret,” Maya tells PEOPLE as she discusses playing the role of Jamie Bernstein in Maestro — the daughter of American conductor Leonard Bernstein and Costa Rican actress Felicia Montealegre.

“Actually, my dad taught me this, just to put some kind of thing about the character that speaks to who you really are and sneak some secret message to somebody in your life or to yourself or to your shrink or whatever it is into each job you do."

She adds of her character, “this one definitely had plenty of space for that.”

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Related: Maya Hawke's Parents: All About Her Relationship With Dad Ethan and Mom Uma

At the event — which took place at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures — Maya adds to PEOPLE that her role in Maestro, “felt very natural.”

“I could draw in a lot of my own life experience and feel what their own energy was putting forward, and what the Bernsteins lent to this film,” she says.

Maya also opened up about how she was set to meet Jamie Bernstein for the first time on Tuesday night.

Related: Maya Hawke Is the Spitting Image of Uma Thurman as She Poses for Photo with Her Dad Ethan Hawke

“I haven't met her yet, but I had her incredible book, Famous Father Girl, that I pored over and read to try to understand her better and understand her outlook on her family better,” Maya tells PEOPLE.

"And what I was so struck by was her grace and gratitude and confidence and perspective, both in the moment of her life where things were unfolding and in the aftermath which while reflecting on it. So it was an incredible thing," she adds.

Ethan, 53, shares Maya with his ex-wife, actress Uma Thurman, whom he was married to from 1998 to 2005. The former couple also share son Levon Roan Thurman-Hawke, 21.

Meanwhile, the actor also shares daughters Clementine Jane, 15, and Indiana, 12, with his wife, Ryan Shawhughes.

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Read the original article on People.