PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
Name: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Born: 23 July 1967 Fairport, New York, U.S.
Philip Seymour Hoffman (born July 23, 1967) is an Academy Award-and Golden Globe-winning
American actor.
Hoffman was born in Fairport, New York, the son of Marilyn L. O'Connor, a family
court judge, lawyer, and civil rights activist, and Gordon S. Hoffman, a former
Xerox executive. He has two sisters, Jill and Emily, and a brother, Gordy
Hoffman, who scripted the 2002 film Love Liza, in which Philip starred. Hoffman
has Irish ancestry; his father was Protestant and his mother was Catholic,
but Hoffman was not raised with a deep commitment to either religious tradition.
Hoffman's parents divorced when he was nine years old. His first acting role
was as Radar O'Riley in Fairport High School's production of MASH directed by
Marjorie Marshall in 1982.
Hoffman attended the 1984 Theater School at the New York State Summer School for
the Arts.
Hoffman received a BFA in drama in 1989 from New York University's Tisch School
of the Arts. Soon after graduating, he went to rehab for drug and alcohol
addiction and has since remained sober.
Hoffman's first role was as a defendant in a 1991 episode of the television
series Law & Order. He made his film breakthrough in 1992 when he appeared in
four feature films, with the most successful film being Scent of a Woman, in
which he played a backstabbing classmate of Chris O'Donnell's character. He had
been stocking shelves at a city grocery at the time before landing the role and
credits the film to kickstarting his career.
Hoffman has established a successful and respected film career playing diverse
and idiosyncratic characters in supporting roles, working with a wide variety of
noted directors, including Paul Thomas Anderson, The Coen Brothers, Cameron
Crowe, Spike Lee, David Mamet, Robert Benton, Todd Solondz and Anthony Minghella;
notably, he has appeared in four out of five of Anderson's feature films to date
(Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love). It is notable that
his roles in each successive Paul Thomas Anderson film is of increasing
importance to the storyline.
He appeared in Last Party 2000, a documentary about the 2000 U.S. elections.
Throughout his career he has rarely been given a chance to play the lead role.
In 2002, however, Hoffman starred as a widower coping with his wife's suicide in
Love Liza, for which his brother, Gordy Hoffman, wrote the screenplay. In 2003,
he played the lead role in Owning Mahowny as a bank employee who embezzles money
to feed his gambling addiction.
Hoffman has continued to play supporting parts in such films as Cold Mountain,
as a carnally obsessed preacher, Along Came Polly, as Ben Stiller's crude has-been
actor buddy, and Mission: Impossible III, as villainous arms dealer Owen Davian
out to kill Ethan Hunt. Hoffman has distinguished himself by playing a wide
contrast of characters including gay characters (Boogie Nights, Flawless and
Capote), lonely losers (Happiness), spoiled rich brats (Scent of a Woman, Patch
Adams and The Talented Mr. Ripley), caring and nurturing figures (Magnolia and
Almost Famous), vicious thugs (Punch-Drunk Love and Mission: Impossible III),
sensitive artists (State and Main), outlandish CIA agents (Charlie Wilson's War),
and so on.
He received his first Emmy Award nomination for the HBO miniseries Empire Falls,
but lost to castmate and personal idol Paul Newman. One of Hoffman's earliest
roles was as a police deputy who gets punched in the face by Newman in 1994's
Nobody's Fool.
In 2005, Hoffman won widespread acclaim for his portrayal of writer Truman
Capote in the film Capote. His performance received numerous high-profile
accolades and awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, the Golden
Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award
for Best Actor - Motion Picture, and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading
Role. In addition, he was also awarded Best Actor by at least ten film critic
associations, including the National Board of Review, Toronto Film Critics, and
Los Angeles Film Critics.
In 2007, Hoffman was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a
Supporting Role for playing Gust Avrakotos, a CIA agent who helps Congressman
Charlie Wilson support a covert war in Afghanistan in the movie Charlie Wilson's
War. In 2008, he was also nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
for the same role.
In addition to his television and film career, Hoffman has been recognized for
his work in theater. He has twice been nominated for a Tony Award: as Best Actor
(Play) in 2000 for a Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's True West opposite John C.
Reilly, and for Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) in 2003 for a revival of
Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. In 1999, he also starred in
Richard Greenberg's one-act play, The Author's Voice, in New York. Hoffman has
also distinguished himself as a director with off-Broadway projects such as
Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living at the MCC Theater, and Stephen Adly
Guirgis's Jesus Hopped the A Train and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Hoffman
is co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company, along with
actor John Ortiz.
Name: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Born: 23 July 1967 Fairport, New York, U.S.
Philip Seymour Hoffman (born July 23, 1967) is an Academy Award-and Golden Globe-winning
American actor.
Hoffman was born in Fairport, New York, the son of Marilyn L. O'Connor, a family
court judge, lawyer, and civil rights activist, and Gordon S. Hoffman, a former
Xerox executive. He has two sisters, Jill and Emily, and a brother, Gordy
Hoffman, who scripted the 2002 film Love Liza, in which Philip starred. Hoffman
has Irish ancestry; his father was Protestant and his mother was Catholic,
but Hoffman was not raised with a deep commitment to either religious tradition.
Hoffman's parents divorced when he was nine years old. His first acting role
was as Radar O'Riley in Fairport High School's production of MASH directed by
Marjorie Marshall in 1982.
Hoffman attended the 1984 Theater School at the New York State Summer School for
the Arts.
Hoffman received a BFA in drama in 1989 from New York University's Tisch School
of the Arts. Soon after graduating, he went to rehab for drug and alcohol
addiction and has since remained sober.
Hoffman's first role was as a defendant in a 1991 episode of the television
series Law & Order. He made his film breakthrough in 1992 when he appeared in
four feature films, with the most successful film being Scent of a Woman, in
which he played a backstabbing classmate of Chris O'Donnell's character. He had
been stocking shelves at a city grocery at the time before landing the role and
credits the film to kickstarting his career.
Hoffman has established a successful and respected film career playing diverse
and idiosyncratic characters in supporting roles, working with a wide variety of
noted directors, including Paul Thomas Anderson, The Coen Brothers, Cameron
Crowe, Spike Lee, David Mamet, Robert Benton, Todd Solondz and Anthony Minghella;
notably, he has appeared in four out of five of Anderson's feature films to date
(Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love). It is notable that
his roles in each successive Paul Thomas Anderson film is of increasing
importance to the storyline.
He appeared in Last Party 2000, a documentary about the 2000 U.S. elections.
Throughout his career he has rarely been given a chance to play the lead role.
In 2002, however, Hoffman starred as a widower coping with his wife's suicide in
Love Liza, for which his brother, Gordy Hoffman, wrote the screenplay. In 2003,
he played the lead role in Owning Mahowny as a bank employee who embezzles money
to feed his gambling addiction.
Hoffman has continued to play supporting parts in such films as Cold Mountain,
as a carnally obsessed preacher, Along Came Polly, as Ben Stiller's crude has-been
actor buddy, and Mission: Impossible III, as villainous arms dealer Owen Davian
out to kill Ethan Hunt. Hoffman has distinguished himself by playing a wide
contrast of characters including gay characters (Boogie Nights, Flawless and
Capote), lonely losers (Happiness), spoiled rich brats (Scent of a Woman, Patch
Adams and The Talented Mr. Ripley), caring and nurturing figures (Magnolia and
Almost Famous), vicious thugs (Punch-Drunk Love and Mission: Impossible III),
sensitive artists (State and Main), outlandish CIA agents (Charlie Wilson's War),
and so on.
He received his first Emmy Award nomination for the HBO miniseries Empire Falls,
but lost to castmate and personal idol Paul Newman. One of Hoffman's earliest
roles was as a police deputy who gets punched in the face by Newman in 1994's
Nobody's Fool.
In 2005, Hoffman won widespread acclaim for his portrayal of writer Truman
Capote in the film Capote. His performance received numerous high-profile
accolades and awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, the Golden
Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award
for Best Actor - Motion Picture, and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading
Role. In addition, he was also awarded Best Actor by at least ten film critic
associations, including the National Board of Review, Toronto Film Critics, and
Los Angeles Film Critics.
In 2007, Hoffman was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a
Supporting Role for playing Gust Avrakotos, a CIA agent who helps Congressman
Charlie Wilson support a covert war in Afghanistan in the movie Charlie Wilson's
War. In 2008, he was also nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
for the same role.
In addition to his television and film career, Hoffman has been recognized for
his work in theater. He has twice been nominated for a Tony Award: as Best Actor
(Play) in 2000 for a Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's True West opposite John C.
Reilly, and for Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) in 2003 for a revival of
Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. In 1999, he also starred in
Richard Greenberg's one-act play, The Author's Voice, in New York. Hoffman has
also distinguished himself as a director with off-Broadway projects such as
Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living at the MCC Theater, and Stephen Adly
Guirgis's Jesus Hopped the A Train and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Hoffman
is co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company, along with
actor John Ortiz.