He has been the tormented dark knight of the Star Wars saga, an undercover cop for Spike Lee, a stage director watching his marriage capsize, and the emperor of Modena for Michael Mann. Adam Driver, a former Marine who trained at Juilliard and a two-time Oscar nominee, carries from film to film a massive presence cracked with gentleness. Since 2021 he has also been the face of Burberry Hero — a bareback gallop along the ocean, and a cedar-driven woody signed by perfumer Aurélien Guichard. A portrait of a modern hero, between power and fragility, and a dive into the Hero saga at Olara perfumery.
1“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”: the birth of Kylo Ren
In 2015, J.J. Abrams relaunched cinema's greatest saga and entrusted its new face of the dark side to an actor still rare on the big screen: Adam Driver plays Kylo Ren, born Ben Solo, son of Han Solo and Princess Leia, torn between the legacy of the light and his fascination with his grandfather Darth Vader. Black helmet, crossguard lightsaber, a child's rages in a colossus's body: across three films, up to “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019), he establishes the most human villain of the saga — torment simmering just beneath the mask. That tension between raw strength and vulnerability is exactly the stuff of our favourite men's fragrances.
2“BlacKkKlansman”: Spike Lee's infiltrator
In 2018, Spike Lee handed him one of his most refined roles: in “BlacKkKlansman”, Adam Driver plays Flip Zimmerman, a Jewish police officer from Colorado Springs who lends his face to his colleague Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. The film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and Driver his first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. The Croisette clearly suits him: three years later he opened the festival with Leos Carax's “Annette”, which won Best Director in 2021. An actor of shadows and double bottoms, at home in the chiaroscuro.
3“Marriage Story”: fragility laid bare
In 2019, Noah Baumbach wrote him the role of Charlie Barber, a New York theatre director whose marriage to Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) unravels between two American coasts. “Marriage Story” is a heartbreak filmed with a scalpel — an argument for the ages, voracious lawyers, a tenderness that survives everything — and Driver is devastating right down to Sondheim's “Being Alive”, which he performs in a single take. A Best Actor Oscar nomination followed: the colossus of Star Wars, it turned out, also knew how to break in real time. It is precisely this side of him — emotion just beneath the surface — that Burberry would come looking for.
4“Ferrari”: the emperor of Modena
In 2023, Michael Mann finally realised his lifelong project and gave Adam Driver the role of Enzo Ferrari in “Ferrari”, presented in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Summer 1957: the racing stable on the brink of bankruptcy, a marriage in ruins opposite Laura (Penélope Cruz), and the Mille Miglia as double or quits. Grey suit, dark glasses, an icy authority with everything burning underneath: Driver composes a Shakespearean patriarch in the land of engines. After space, America and Modena, this surveyor of legends was missing only a horse — Burberry was about to provide one.
5Face of Burberry Hero: bergamot, juniper, a trio of cedars
Since 2021, Adam Driver has been the face of Burberry Hero, the London house's great masculine. The launch campaign, filmed by Jonathan Glazer and photographed by Mario Sorrenti, shows him galloping bareback along a beach and swimming beside a stallion — images of fusion between man and animal that became instantly iconic, conceived by Riccardo Tisci, then the house's chief creative officer, as a manifesto of modern masculinity and primal instinct. The composition is signed by Aurélien Guichard, a perfumer born in Grasse, son of a perfumer and founder of the house Matière Première. His score is remarkably clean: a sparkling bergamot in the opening, a vibrant heart of juniper berries and black pepper, and a base built on a trio of cedars — Atlas, Virginia, Himalaya — that gives Hero its woody backbone. Campaign after campaign, from the Eau de Parfum to the Parfum Intense, the actor has stayed in the saddle — discover it in our Burberry collection.
Did you know?
Before Juilliard and the cinema, Adam Driver enlisted in the Marine Corps after September 11, 2001. Medically discharged before deployment, he went on to found Arts in the Armed Forces, a charity that brings theatre onto military bases. The Burberry hero is clearly no stretch of the imagination.
6Which Burberry Hero should you choose?
Since 2021, the saga has unfolded into five intensities — the same cedar backbone, different temperatures. The Eau de Toilette, the original, is the freshest and cleanest: bergamot, juniper, cedars, an open-air woody built for daytime. The Eau de Parfum (2022) explores, in the house's words, the courage to embrace one's emotions: more enveloping, darker. The Parfum pushes the concentration up a notch, while the Parfum Intense — whose campaign is once again fronted by Adam Driver — is its most powerful reading, available up to a 200 ml refill. Finally, the 2026 newcomer: Hero Elixir, an ambery, vanilla-tinged facet that takes the cedar into the night. For gifting, the Hero gift set pairs the eau de toilette with its shower gel. Curious to compare with the house's other great masculine? Mr. Burberry Eau de Parfum plays the London trench register, more ambery. And to understand what these concentrations actually change — eau de toilette, eau de parfum, parfum, elixir — our guide to fragrance intensities breaks it down, among our men's eaux de toilette.
Your questions, answered
Which fragrance does Adam Driver represent?
Adam Driver has been the face of Burberry Hero, the house's masculine fragrance, since 2021. He has fronted the campaigns for the Eau de Toilette, the Eau de Parfum and then the Parfum Intense, whose horseback images by Jonathan Glazer and Mario Sorrenti have become iconic.
Which films does Adam Driver appear in?
He notably plays Kylo Ren in the Star Wars trilogy launched by “The Force Awakens”, Flip Zimmerman in Spike Lee's “BlacKkKlansman”, Charlie Barber in Noah Baumbach's “Marriage Story” and Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann's “Ferrari”.
What does Burberry Hero smell like?
A fresh, clean woody: sparkling bergamot in the top notes, juniper berries and black pepper at the heart, and a trio of cedars — Atlas, Virginia, Himalaya — in the base. An open-air, energetic, pedigree trail that is easy to wear all year round.
What is the difference between Hero Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum, Parfum and Elixir?
The Eau de Toilette (2021) is the freshest and most luminous; the Eau de Parfum (2022) more enveloping and darker; the Parfum and Parfum Intense push concentration and depth; and Hero Elixir, new for 2026, adds an ambery, vanilla-tinged facet for the evening. One cedar signature, five temperatures.
Who created Burberry Hero?
Perfumer Aurélien Guichard, born in Grasse into a family of perfumers and founder of the niche house Matière Première. Hero was launched in 2021 with Adam Driver as the face of the campaign.
