Anne Hathaway

Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Her films have grossed over $6.8 billion worldwide.

Hathaway graduated from Millburn High School in New Jersey, where she acted in several plays, including Once Upon a Mattress. As a teenager, she was cast in the television series Get Real (1999–2000), and made her breakthrough as the protagonist in her debut film, the Disney comedy The Princess Diaries (2001). Hathaway made a transition to adult roles with the 2005 dramas Havoc and Brokeback Mountain. The comedy film The Devil Wears Prada (2006), in which she played an assistant to a fashion magazine editor, was her biggest commercial success to that point. She played a recovering alcoholic in the drama Rachel Getting Married (2008), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She followed this with roles in the commercially successful romantic films Bride Wars (2009), Valentine's Day (2010) and Love & Other Drugs (2010).

In 2012, Hathaway starred as Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises, her first of three collaborations with director Christopher Nolan. That year, she also played Fantine, a prostitute dying of tuberculosis, in the musical romantic drama Les Misérables, for which she earned multiple accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Hathaway went on to play a scientist in Interstellar (2014), the owner of an online fashion site in The Intern (2015), a haughty actress in Ocean's 8 (2018), a single mother in The Idea of You (2024), a journalist in The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026) and Queen Penelope in The Odyssey (2026).

Hathaway has won a Primetime Emmy Award for her guest voice role on The Simpsons, sung for soundtracks, appeared on stage and starred in the miniseries WeCrashed (2022). She is a board member of the Lollipop Theatre Network, an organization that brings films to children in hospitals, and she advocates for gender equality as a UN Women goodwill ambassador. Hathaway is married to Adam Shulman, with whom she has two children.

Anne Jacqueline Hathaway was born on November 12, 1982, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. She is of Irish, English, German and French descent. Her father, Gerald, was a labor attorney, and her mother, Kate (née McCauley), is a former actress. Hathaway's maternal grandfather was the WIP (AM) Philadelphia radio personality Joe McCauley. According to The Daily Telegraph, Hathaway was named after William Shakespeare's wife. She has an older brother, Michael, and a younger brother, Thomas. When Hathaway was six years old, the family moved to Millburn, New Jersey, where she was raised.

Hathaway became fascinated with the stage at age eight, when she watched her mother portray the prostitute Fantine in the first national tour of Les Misérables. Hathaway's parents were not keen on allowing her to pursue an acting career, and her mother eventually quit acting to raise Hathaway and her brothers. Hathaway was raised as Roman Catholic with what she considers to be "really strong values" and wished to be a nun during her childhood, but acting was always a high priority for her. Her relationship with the Catholic Church changed at age 15 after she learned her older brother was gay. Her family left the church, joining the Episcopal Church because of its acceptance of homosexuality, but they eventually left that church too. In 2009, Hathaway described her religious beliefs as "a work in progress".

Hathaway attended Brooklyn Heights Montessori School and Wyoming Elementary School in Millburn. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1993 and became the first teenager admitted into the Barrow Group Theater Company's acting program. She attended Millburn High School, where she played soccer and took part in many plays, including Once Upon a Mattress, in which she portrayed Winnifred. She also appeared in the plays Jane Eyre and Gigi at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse. Between 1998 and 1999, Hathaway sang soprano with the All-Eastern U.S. High School Honors Chorus at Carnegie Hall and acted in plays at Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange, New Jersey. Three days after a chorus performance at Carnegie Hall, Hathaway was cast as Meghan Green in the short-lived Fox television series Get Real, alongside Jon Tenney, Debrah Farentino and Jesse Eisenberg. Hathaway suffered from depression and anxiety as a teenager; in 2008, she stated she had "grown from" it.

Hathaway spent several semesters as an English major and political science minor at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York; she missed her first semester due to the production schedule of her first film, The Princess Diaries (2001). She later transferred to New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Hathaway said she never regretted not completing her degree, as she enjoyed being with others who "were trying to grow up". Early in Hathaway's film career, her acting style and appearance were likened to Judy Garland—whom she cites as one of her favorite actresses—and Audrey Hepburn.

In 2001, Hathaway starred in the Disney comedy The Princess Diaries, based on Meg Cabot's novel The Princess Diaries. She portrayed the teenager Mia Thermopolis, who discovers that she is the heiress to the throne of the fictional Kingdom of Genovia. Hathaway auditioned for the role during a flight layover on the way to New Zealand. Director Garry Marshall initially considered Liv Tyler for the role, but cast Hathaway after his granddaughters suggested that she had the best "princess" hair. The film received mixed reviews from critics but became a major commercial success, grossing $165 million worldwide. Ben Falk of the BBC praised Hathaway's chemistry with her co-star Julie Andrews, while Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times lauded her comic talent and called her "royalty in the making". For her performance, Hathaway was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Female Performance. The same year, she starred with Christopher Gorham in Mitch Davis's adventure drama The Other Side of Heaven, which was also distributed by Disney. Inspired by John H. Groberg's memoir In the Eye of the Storm, the film met with mostly negative reviews and was a box-office failure.

Due to the success of The Princess Diaries, People magazine named Hathaway one of its breakthrough stars of 2001. In 2002, Hathaway starred in the City Center Encores! concert production of Carnival! in her New York City stage debut. She played Lili, an optimistic orphan who falls in love with a magician. Before rehearsing with the full cast, Hathaway trained with a vocal coach for two weeks. She memorized almost all her lines and songs at the first read-through. Critics generally praised her for holding her own against well-known actors and heralded her as a new star. In a review of the musical, Charles Isherwood of Variety praised Hathaway's convincing performance, calling her the highlight of the show and "remarkably unaffected and winning". Hathaway won a Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Female. Later, she voiced the audiobook release of the first three books in The Princess Diaries novel series.

Over the next three years, Hathaway portrayed princesses and appeared in family-oriented films, subsequently becoming known in mainstream media as a children's role model. After voicing Haru Yoshioka for the English version of The Cat Returns (2002), she starred in Douglas McGrath's comedy-drama Nicholas Nickleby (2002), which opened to generally positive reviews. However, the film did not enter wide release and failed at the North American box office, grossing less than $4 million in ticket sales. Hathaway next starred as Ella in the fantasy romantic comedy Ella Enchanted (2004), which was based on the novel Ella Enchanted. Hathaway had read the book when she was 16, and said the initial version of the script was much closer to the source material but did not work as a film. Ella Enchanted opened to mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office, although many critics found Hathaway "charming" in her role, according to the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Hathaway sang three songs on the film's soundtrack, including a duet with singer Jesse McCartney.

In 2003, Hathaway turned down the role of Christine Daaé for Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera (2004), because the production schedule of the film overlapped with The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). She was initially hesitant and nervous about starring in the sequel, but agreed to it after Marshall convinced her that she was not repeating anything. The film earned mostly negative reviews but grossed $134.7 million against a $45 million budget.

Hathaway began taking on more mature roles to avoid typecasting. She said she needed a reprieve from being a role model for children, but noted that "it's lovely to think that my audience is growing up with me". After replacing Tara Strong for the voice role of Red Puckett in Hoodwinked!, she starred in the drama Havoc (2005) as a spoiled socialite, appearing partially nude in some scenes. Hathaway denied that taking the role was an overt attempt to be seen as a more mature actress, citing her belief that performing nudity in certain films was merely a component of what the art form of acting demands of an actor; appearing nude in appropriate films was therefore not morally objectionable. The film was not released in theaters in the United States due to unfavorable critical reception.

In the 2005 drama Brokeback Mountain, which depicts the emotional and sexual relationship between two men married to women, Ennis Del Mar (played by Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), Hathaway played Lureen, the wife of Jack. The actress was originally sent the script with the part of Ennis' wife in mind, but decided to audition for Lureen instead after she read it. She lied during the audition about her knowledge of riding so that the director Ang Lee would cast her, but did subsequently take lessons. The film received critical acclaim and several Academy Award nominations. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that Hathaway "excels at showing Lureen's journey from cutie-pie to hard case", and Todd McCarthy of Variety credited her for "provid[ing] an entertaining contrast in wifely disappointment". Hathaway stated that the content of Brokeback Mountain was more important than its award count, and that making the film made her more aware of the kind of stories she wanted to tell as an actor. At this point, she realized that she wanted to play roles to move audiences or otherwise entertain them so much that they forget about their own lives.

Hathaway starred in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), based on Lauren Weisberger's novel of the same name, as a recent college graduate who becomes an assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor (played by Meryl Streep). She was "the ninth choice" for the part, citing this later as an inspiration for people to never give up. In preparation for the role, she volunteered for a few weeks as an assistant at an auction house. She also followed a weight-loss regimen, along with co-star Emily Blunt, which led to crying breakdowns. Hathaway stated that working on the film made her respect the fashion industry a great deal more than she did previously, though she admitted that her personal style was something she "still can't get right". The Devil Wears Prada received positive reviews; Roger Ebert called Hathaway "a great beauty [...] who makes a convincing career girl" and Rotten Tomatoes found "Streep in top form and Anne Hathaway more than holding her own". It became her most widely seen film at the time, with a worldwide gross of over $326.5 million.

Originally cast in the comedy Knocked Up (2007), she dropped out due to creative reasons that director Judd Apatow attributed to Hathaway's disagreement with plans to use real footage of a woman giving birth. Hathaway's sole release in 2007 was the biographical romantic drama Becoming Jane, as the titular English author Jane Austen. A fan of Austen since the age of 14, Hathaway prepared for the role by rereading Austen's books and conducting historical research, such as perusing the author's letters; she also learned sign language, calligraphy, dance choreography, and the piano. She moved to England a month before filming to improve her English accent. Hathaway believed that if she did not perfect her accent, people would dismiss her performance in the first five minutes of the film. She received a British Independent Film Award for Best Actress nomination for the film, although some critics negatively focused on her accent and performance.

In October 2008, Hathaway hosted an episode of the NBC late-night sketch comedy Saturday Night Live. She also starred in Peter Segal's film adaptation of Mel Brooks' television series Get Smart, in which she played Agent 99. Calling the role "a childhood dream come true", Hathaway learned martial arts and dancing techniques in preparation for her performance. While filming an action sequence, she split the flesh of her shin to the bone, which led to her receiving 15 stitches. The film, centering on an analyst who dreams of becoming a real field agent and a better spy, was a financial success. Hathaway's two other releases of 2008 were the drama Rachel Getting Married and the mystery thriller Passengers, the latter of which was a critical and commercial failure. In Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, she starred as a young woman who, after being released from drug rehabilitation, returns home for her sister's wedding. Portraying a character she described as "narcissistic—downright selfish", Hathaway garnered critical acclaim for her performance. Peter Travers found her to be "raw and riveting" in the role, adding that she "acts the hell out of it, achieving a state of sorrowful grace". She received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Critics' Choice, and SAG nominations for Best Actress. She won the Critics' Choice.

Hathaway starred in Bride Wars (2009), which she described as "hideously commercial—gloriously so". The romantic comedy, in which she and Kate Hudson played two best friends who become rivals after their weddings are scheduled on the same day, was a critical failure; it was named among the ten worst chick flicks in history by Time in 2010. Despite this, the film was successful financially and earned Hathaway an MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance nomination. She played the heroine Viola in a summer 2009 production of Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theater in New York City. Charles Isherwood opined that Hathaway "dives smoothly and with obvious pleasure into the embrace of a cohesive ensemble cast". For her portrayal of the role, she garnered a nomination for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. In 2010, she also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for providing her voice for the episode "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" in The Simpsons. Hathaway voiced different characters in Family Guy in 2010 and 2011.

In 2010, Hathaway appeared as a receptionist who dates a clerk (played by Topher Grace) in the ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day, directed by Garry Marshall. The film was a commercial success, grossing more than $215 million worldwide against a budget of $52 million. Hathaway played the White Queen in Tim Burton's 2010 adaptation of the fantasy novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp. She summed up her character with a caption on a magnet of Happy Bunny holding a knife; "Cute but psycho. Things even out." Hathaway described her interpretation of the White Queen as "a punk-rock vegan pacifist", drawing inspiration from Debbie Harry and the artwork of Dan Flavin. Alice in Wonderland received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the film's visuals but criticized the lack of narrative coherence. Commercially, it grossed $1 billion to become the second-highest-grossing film of 2010.

Hathaway reunited with Jake Gyllenhaal as a free-spirited artist with Parkinson's disease in Edward Zwick's erotic romantic comedy-drama Love & Other Drugs, based on the nonfiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy. For the role, she spent time with a Parkinson's patient to research the disease, and in preparation for its nude scenes, she watched films of Kate Winslet and Penélope Cruz who, in Hathaway's view, had performed nudity with sensitivity and dignity. She believed these scenes would not discourage socially conservative people from watching the film. Critics generally praised the film's adult romance, but were unenthusiastic about its plot elements. Hathaway's performance, which Ebert called "warm, lovable", earned her a Satellite Award and a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Comedy or Musical. Together with actor Denzel Washington, Hathaway hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway in December 2010. Two months later, she and James Franco hosted the 83rd Academy Awards. Critics were unenthusiastic about their chemistry, but it was generally conceded that Hathaway had done a better job than Franco, who they felt seemed uninterested. At the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, she garnered an Outstanding Variety Special (Live) nomination.

In 2011, Hathaway voiced Jewel, a female Spix's macaw from Rio de Janeiro, in the animated film Rio, produced by 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios. It received generally positive reviews from film critics, who praised the visuals, voice acting and music. A commercial success, it grossed more than $484 million worldwide against a budget of $90 million. Later, Hathaway starred alongside Jim Sturgess in Lone Scherfig's One Day, based on David Nicholls' novel of the same name. The film tells the story of two young people who meet annually for twenty years after they shared a platonic one-night stand together. Hathaway was clandestinely given the script, as One Day was set in Britain, and Scherfig was not looking for any American actresses for the part. After a nonproductive meeting with Scherfig, Hathaway left a list of songs for the director, who after listening to them, cast Hathaway in the role. Hathaway later expressed regret that she might have unwittingly held a misogynistic attitude towards Scherfig and not trusted her fully as a director because of her gender. Hathaway's Yorkshire accent in the film was considered subpar. Columnist Suzanne Moore, reviewing the film on BBC Radio 4's Front Row, said Hathaway's accents were "all over the shop", adding, "Sometimes she's from Scotland, sometimes she's from New York, you just can't tell". The film itself received polarizing reviews from critics, but became a moderate box office success.

In 2012, Hathaway's audiobook recording of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was released at Audible.com and garnered her an Audie Award nomination for Best Solo Narration – Female. She then played the sly, morally ambiguous cat burglar Selina Kyle / Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, the final installment in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. Hathaway auditioned not knowing what part she was being considered for, admitting that she had thought she was auditioning for Harley Quinn and only learned her role after first talking with Nolan for an hour. She described it as her most physically demanding assignment to that point, as she had to redouble her efforts in the gym to keep up with the requirements of the role. She trained extensively in martial arts, and looked to Hedy Lamarr in developing her performance as Catwoman. The Dark Knight Rises was critically successful and grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 2012. IGN reviewer Jim Vejvoda labeled Hathaway "a magnetic presence whenever she's onscreen" and added, "Selina may be the proverbial good bad girl, the thief with a heart of gold, but Hathaway imbues her with a wounded spirit and a survivor's edge that makes her feel genuine and sympathetic even when she's being naughty." She won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

Hathaway portrayed Fantine, a prostitute dying of tuberculosis, in Tom Hooper's Les Misérables, an adaptation of the stage musical of the same name. Footage of the actress singing "I Dreamed a Dream", a song from the film, was shown at the 2012 CinemaCon, where Hooper described her singing as "raw" and "real". In preparation for the role, Hathaway consumed fewer than 500 calories a day to lose 25 pounds (11 kg), researched prostitution, and cut her hair for a scene in the movie. To adopt her character's mental space alone during production in London, she sent her husband back to the United States; this resulted in her becoming increasingly temperamental. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post asserted that "the centerpiece of a movie composed entirely of centerpieces belongs to Anne Hathaway, who as the tragic heroine Fantine sings another of the memorable numbers". She won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. Asked if she was pleased with her performance in the film, Hathaway expressed doubts, replying with "Eh". In January 2013, Hathaway's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" reached number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100.

After briefly appearing in the romantic comedy Don Jon (2013), Hathaway starred in and co-produced (with her husband and others) Song One. In the drama film, she played an anthropology student who returns home to see her injured brother, Henry (played by Ben Rosenfield), and soon begins a romantic relationship with his favorite musician, James Forester (played by Johnny Flynn). Her character was originally written as a 19-year-old, but Kate Barker-Froyland, the film's writer and director, changed the part to that of an older woman after casting Hathaway. The actress said the reason she decided to produce the film was because of its depiction of the healing power of music and second chances. For the film's soundtrack, she provided her voice for the song "Afraid of Heights". Song One premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 30th Sundance Film Festival in January 2014, and released in theaters the following year to mixed reviews from critics. Commercially, the film failed to recoup its $6 million investment.

Hathaway reprised her role as Jewel in the animated film Rio 2, her third film with Jamie Foxx, which was released in 2014. It grossed nearly five times more than its $103 million budget. Her sole live-action release of 2014 was Christopher Nolan's epic science fiction film Interstellar. Set in a dystopian future where humanity is struggling to survive, it follows a crew of astronauts who travel through a wormhole in search of a new home for mankind. Hathaway was drawn to the part of NASA scientist Amelia Brand due to the character's growth from an arrogant to a humbler person. With a budget of $165 million, the high-profile production co-starring Matthew McConaughey was filmed mostly using IMAX cameras. Hathaway nearly experienced hypothermia while filming a water scene in Iceland, as the dry suit she was wearing had not been properly secured. Reviewers for The Independent and Empire found her to be "affecting" in the part of a scientist unable to decide between her personal feelings and professional responsibilities, and took notice of the "soulful nuance" in her performance. Interstellar grossed over $701 million worldwide, and earned Hathaway a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Actress.

Hathaway began 2015 with an appearance in the first season of the musical reality show Lip Sync Battle. In the episode, she competed against her The Devil Wears Prada co-star Emily Blunt; she lip synced "Love" by Mary J. Blige and "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. Nancy Meyers' The Intern was Hathaway's sole film release of 2015. It tells the story of Ben Whittaker (played by Robert De Niro), a 70-year-old widower who becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site run by Jules Ostin (Hathaway). She had aspired to work with De Niro and Meyers, her favorite actor and director, respectively; impressed with the film's story, she auditioned for the third time for a Meyers film. Reviews of the film were generally positive; one in Roger Ebert's website found her to be "extremely appealing" and a reviewer for New York magazine wrote: "The Intern gets off on De Niro's amiability and Hathaway's sweet energy". The film grossed $194 million worldwide against a $35 million budget.

Hathaway reprised the role of the White Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass, the 2016 sequel to Alice in Wonderland. That March, it was reported that she would reprise her role for The Princess Diaries 3; the project was shelved after the death of Garry Marshall, who was set to direct the film. Hathaway is one of several actors featured on Barbra Streisand's 2016 album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. Along with Daisy Ridley, Hathaway and Streisand performed the song "At the Ballet" from A Chorus Line; she played the role of Maggie, one of a trio of dancers hoping to be cast in an upcoming show. Her final film that year was alongside Jason Sudeikis in Nacho Vigalondo's science fiction black comedy Colossal (2016). Playing an unemployed young writer, Hathaway was the first actress to sign on at a time when the project had no financial backing. She was drawn to the genre-hopping nature of the script, later comparing it to Being John Malkovich (1999), one of her favorite films. The film received positive reviews from critics, but earned only $4 million at the box office.

After a two-year absence from the screen, Hathaway starred as a famous actress in Ocean's 8, an all-female spin-off of the Ocean's Eleven franchise from director Gary Ross. Co-starring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett, it follows a group of criminals who plan to rob the Met Gala. Hathaway was drawn to the idea of playing someone with an immense ego and saw the part as an opportunity "to lean into all the ridiculous fame nonsense that I've been trying to side-step for all of these years." She hoped the film would be profitable so that it could debunk claims that female-led films do not succeed commercially. Critics generally considered Hathaway to be a scene-stealer among the cast, with ABC Online's Jason Di Rosso writing: "The film's best moments belong to Hathaway as the anxiety-ridden, vain and capricious starlet. She's the only successful meld of comedy and pathos—a victim of the celebrity treadmill who is also capable of outsmarting it." Ocean's 8 was a box office success, grossing over $297 million worldwide against a $70 million budget.

Hathaway's first two films of 2019, the thriller Serenity and the comedy The Hustle, were poorly received by critics. In the former, she starred alongside her Interstellar costar Matthew McConaughey as a woman who tasks her ex-husband to kill her new abusive husband, a role for which she dyed her hair blonde. The Washington Post dismissed her performance as "cartoonish", adding that her femme fatale character was reminiscent of "a kind of live-action Jessica Rabbit". The latter film was a remake of the 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, co-starring Rebel Wilson, which emerged as a sleeper hit. Hathaway next played a woman with bipolar disorder in an episode of the Amazon Prime Video romantic anthology series Modern Love. She then played the wife of Mark Ruffalo's character in Todd Haynes' legal drama Dark Waters, about environmental poisoning committed by the chemical company DuPont. Writing for Variety, Owen Gleiberman termed her supporting performance "a piercing dance of agony and loyalty".

Hathaway began the new decade with the political thriller The Last Thing He Wanted (2020), based on the book of the same name by Joan Didion. She considered herself to be an unlikely choice for the part of a headstrong journalist, as it differed from her own "puppy dog" personality. It received negative reviews from critics. She then starred in The Witches, an adaptation of the novel of the same name from director Robert Zemeckis, in which she played an evil witch. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who deemed it inferior to the 1990 adaptation. Hathaway's performances in both films earned her nominations for Worst Actress at the 41st Golden Raspberry Awards. In 2021, she starred in the heist film Locked Down, directed by Doug Liman, which premiered on HBO Max. Set during the COVID-19 pandemic, it co-starred Chiwetel Ejiofor. The film was shot over the course of 18 days with limited resources. She next took on a role in one episode of the Amazon Prime Video anthology series Solos.

Hathaway executive produced and starred opposite Jared Leto in the Apple TV+ miniseries WeCrashed, about the company WeWork. It received favorable reviews, with particular praise for Hathaway's portrayal of Rebekah Neumann. Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter commended her for resisting "the temptation to turn Rebekah into an exaggerated caricature of an entitled woo-woo type, which ultimately only makes Rebekah funnier". Hathaway starred in James Gray's semi-autobiographical period drama Armageddon Time, portraying a character inspired by Gray's mother. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter considered it to be her best performance since Rachel Getting Married, while Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised Hathaway for making her character "at once affectionate and blinkered".

In her two film releases of 2023, Eileen and She Came to Me, Hathaway played emotionally troubled psychiatrists. Eileen, based on Ottessa Moshfegh's thriller novel of the same name, starred Thomasin McKenzie in the title role and premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Hathaway described the project as "Carol meets Reservoir Dogs". Ryan Lattanzio of IndieWire believed that "Hathaway has never been better in a role that feels [...] tailor-made for her". At that year's Berlin International Film Festival, Rebecca Miller's romantic comedy She Came to Me, was released. Hathaway's first release of 2024 was as a grieving mother coping with the loss of her son in the thriller Mothers' Instinct. A remake of the 2018 Belgian film, she co-starred with Jessica Chastain. Hathaway created a "protective layer" between herself and her character, requesting for cast and crew members to refer to her by her character's name as she deemed the loss of a child her "worst fear". Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw thought that her performance was overshadowed by that of Chastain. She next led the romantic comedy The Idea of You, based on Robinne Lee's novel of the same name, playing a divorced mother who begins a romance with a younger pop star. Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times believed that the film "succeeds mostly because of Hathaway's performance", and praised her chemistry with co-star Nicholas Galitzine.

Hathaway has five film releases in 2026. Her first was David Lowery's Mother Mary where she played a pop star whose reunion with her former costume designer (played by Michaela Coel) forces her to confront her past. The film received mixed reviews and was a box-office bomb. Hathaway next reprised the role of Andrea "Andy" Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada 2. Hathaway and her costars Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt each earned a $12.5 million upfront salary for the sequel, with backend bonuses that could push their total pay past $20 million. The film received generally positive reviews. David Rooney called Hathaway "effortlessly charming in the role". The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Hathaway's next release—her third film with Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey—were among the highest-grossing films of 2026. In the epic action film The Odyssey, she played Penelope, the Greek queen of Ithaca, who awaits the return of her husband Odysseus (Matt Damon) after the Trojan War. The film and Hathaway's performance received critical acclaim. Marlow Stern of Variety praised Hathaway's performance as a powerful and gritty portrayal characterized by strength and determination. She co-lead David Robert Mitchell's science fiction film The End of Oak Street alongside Ewan McGregor.

She will next star in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's thriller novel Verity and will star alongside Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder 2.

Describing her off-screen persona, John Hiscock of The Daily Telegraph wrote in 2014 that Hathaway is a "well-grounded, friendly young woman with a good sense of humour, a wide smile and an easy-going attitude". Hiscock further opines that, despite considerable success, she has never "gone Hollywood", remaining close with her friends. The authors of the book 365 Style noted Hathaway's girl next door image, and her The Intern director Nancy Meyers says she is "wise beyond her years". The journalist Laura Brown found her to be a "sincere", "warm and funny" woman. After her 2013 awards acceptance speeches for Les Misérables, The Atlantic noted that several media commentators accused her of being "annoying" and making "awkward" jokes. Discussing this, Hathaway explained that she feels anxious when public speaking but has since grown from it and become a more compassionate person. She said regarding her perceived image: "People have this idea of me as just being a very prim, professional girl, which I suppose I am, but I do cut loose and have fun in my life."

Remarking on her performance in Twelfth Night, Charles Isherwood wrote that "on screen or onstage Ms. Hathaway possesses the unmistakable glow of a natural star". An Esquire writer wrote in 2018 that many of her good performances had been overlooked, describing her career as "subtle brilliance that has largely gone unnoticed". Discussing her career in 2015, Hathaway said that, after her breakthrough in The Princess Diaries, she struggled to find roles that were serious – or were not about princesses. According to Jodi Guglielmi of People, Hathaway used that fear of being typecast as motivation to build a versatile body of work. Gugliemli believed that her ability to extensively research her roles is the key to her success. A writer for The Daily Telegraph commended her willingness to appear in different genres, ranging from action comedies to dramas. She said she would be "lost" without acting and feels lucky to have found it as her profession. A trained stage actress, she prefers performing on stage to film roles and claims to be terrified of acting on camera. "I always assume that every film is my last, and I always assume that I have to go out and convince everybody why they have to hire me. I still audition," she said in 2015.

Forbes reported that Hathaway was one of the world's highest-paid actresses in 2015, and since 2017, she has been among the highest-grossing actresses of the 21st century. In 2009, she was included on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list with earnings of $7 million, and was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As of July 2018, her films had grossed $6.7 billion worldwide. Profiled as among the world's leading actresses by Vanity Fair, Hathaway, according to Catherine Elsworth of The Daily Telegraph, is pursued both by directors and by cosmetics companies. In January 2008, she joined French luxury perfumes and cosmetics house Lancôme as the face of their fragrance "Magnifique". In 2011, she became the new face of the Italian company Tod's.

Hathaway's beauty and sex appeal have been picked up by several media outlets; FHM, People, Maxim, Empire and Entertainment Weekly have included her on their yearly listings of sexiest women. In 2011, Los Angeles Times Magazine listed her as one of the 50 Most Beautiful Women in Film. Elsworth called her in 2008 "the hottest young actress in Hollywood". Hathaway disagrees with this opinion, insisting that she has a "good girl" image and no sex appeal. She has refused to undergo treatment with Botox, saying she is comfortable in her own skin. In 2026, People magazine featured Hathaway on the cover of their annual "World's Most Beautiful" issue.

In 2008, Hathaway won an award from the Human Rights Campaign for her philanthropy. The same year, she was honored at Elle's Women in Hollywood tribute and was honored for her work with Step Up Women's Network. In 2010, she began working with the World Bank on a two-year development program called The Girl Effect, with the mission of empowering girls around the world. In 2013, she narrated Girl Rising, a CNN documentary film about the power of women's education. Hathaway was appointed as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in 2016, with the stated goal of addressing the unequal burden shouldered by women who care for children. She has also worked with the Nike Foundation to raise awareness about child marriage, helped vaccinate children against hepatitis A in Nicaragua, and promoted the rights of women and girls in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Hathaway serves on the board of the Lollipop Theater Network, which brings entertainment to children in hospitals. She has been involved with the charities Creative Coalition, Human Rights Campaign, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In 2017, she spoke on International Women's Day in favor of paid parental leave for both men and women. In 2018, she collaborated with 300 women in Hollywood to launch the Time's Up initiative, which aims to protect women from harassment and discrimination. Hathaway has criticized inequality in the U.S. film industry and has advocated for more professional opportunities for women in the industry.

In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hathaway made donations to the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, UNICEF and Save the Children to help Ukrainians affected by the war. She praised the Berlin International Film Festival in 2023 for featuring Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who gave a televised speech during the opening ceremony.

Hathaway dated the Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri from 2004 to 2008. Follieri was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service in 2008 for failure to file required non-profit information forms. He was arrested on charges of defrauding investors, including former U.S. president Bill Clinton, out of millions of dollars. The FBI confiscated Hathaway's private journals from Follieri's New York City apartment as part of its investigation into his activities. After pleading guilty, Follieri was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

Hathaway married the actor and businessman Adam Shulman in Big Sur, California on September 29, 2012. The couple sold their wedding photograph and donated the proceeds to the same-sex marriage advocacy organization Freedom to Marry. They later hosted the organization's National Engagement Party fundraiser, which raised $500,000. Hathaway and Shulman own several properties, including a chalet in Southern California, which serves as their primary residence, and a penthouse on the Upper West Side of New York City. Hathaway experienced a miscarriage in 2015. The couple have two sons, born in 2016 and 2019. In June 2026, Hathaway announced that she was pregnant with their third child.

Hathaway has supported various Democratic candidates during U.S. presidential elections, including Barack Obama (2008, 2012), Hillary Clinton (2016), Joe Biden (2020), and Kamala Harris (2024). She attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and appeared at a benefit concert for the Hillary Clinton campaign in New York City in 2012.

Hathaway supports abortion rights, immigrant rights and gun control, and has criticized U.S. president Donald Trump for his anti-immigration policies. She is a supporter of LGBT rights, and has donated money to organizations which support the legalization of same-sex marriage. She has spoken out on homophobia, school bullying, transphobia and white privilege.

In 2007, Hathaway discussed experiencing depression during her teenage years, stating that she eventually overcame it without medication. In 2008, she began smoking after a stressful summer and the end of her relationship with Follieri. She eventually quit smoking, and in 2018 she quit drinking alcohol. She has been vegetarian and vegan at various points in her life.

Hathaway's most acclaimed and highest-grossing films, according to Box Office Mojo and the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, include The Princess Diaries (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Get Smart (2008), Rachel Getting Married (2008), Valentine's Day (2010), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Love and Other Drugs (2010), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Les Misérables (2012), Interstellar (2014), The Intern (2015), Colossal (2016), and Ocean's 8 (2018).

Hathaway has been nominated for two Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA). For her performance in Les Misérables, she won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a BAFTA Award for best supporting actress. She also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for her voice role in a 2010 episode of The Simpsons. In 2018, Hathaway was one of 50 nominees for the New Jersey Hall of Fame. In 2019, she received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the film industry.