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Philip Seymour Hoffman extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Philip Seymour Hoffman
Hoffman at the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009
Born	July 23, 1967 (1967-07-23) (age 42) Rochester, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Theater director
Years active	1991 – present
Domestic partner(s)	Mimi O'Donnell (1999-present)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (born July 23, 1967) is an American actor and theatre director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films. He gradually gained recognition for his supporting work in a series of notable films, including Scent of a Woman (1992), Boogie Nights (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Almost Famous (2000), 25th Hour (2002), and Cold Mountain (2003).

In 2005, Hoffman played the title role in the biographical film Capote (2005), for which he won multiple acting awards including an Academy Award for Best Actor. He also received two Academy Award nominations for his supporting work in Charlie Wilson's War (2007) and Doubt (2008), respectively. Other critically acclaimed films in recent years have included Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), The Savages (2007), and Synecdoche, New York (2008).

Hoffman is also an accomplished theatre actor and director. He joined the LAByrinth Theater Company in 1995, and has directed and performed in numerous Off-Broadway productions. His performances in two Broadway plays led to two Tony Award nominations: one for Best Leading Actor in True West (2000), and another for Best Featured Actor in Long Day's Journey into Night (2003).

Contents 1 Early life 2 Film and television work 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 References 6 External links

Early life

Hoffman was born in Rochester, 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.¹ He has two sisters, Jill and Emily, and a brother, Gordy Hoffman, who scripted the 2002 film Love Liza, in which Philip starred. His father was a Protestant of German ancestry and his mother was of Irish Catholic background - Hoffman was not raised with a deep commitment to either religious tradition.²³⁴ Hoffman's parents divorced when he was nine years old.⁵ His first acting role was as Radar O'Reilly in Fairport High School's production of M*A*S*H in 1982.^{citation needed}

Hoffman attended the 1984 Theater School at the New York State Summer School of the Arts. After high school, Hoffman attended the Circle in the Square Theatre's summer program, continuing his acting training with the acting teacher Mr. Alan Langdon.⁶ He received a BFA in drama in 1989 from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. At NYU, he was a founding member of the notoriously short-lived and volatile theater company the Bullstoi Ensemble with actor Steven Schub and director Bennett Miller.⁷ Soon after graduating, he went to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction and has since remained sober.⁸

Film and television work

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 rather unscrupulous classmate of Chris O'Donnell's character. He had been stocking shelves at a city grocery store 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 Todd Solondz, The Coen Brothers, Spike Lee, Cameron Crowe, David Mamet, Robert Benton, Anthony Minghella and Paul Thomas Anderson; 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).

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 roles 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 played a wide range of roles such as: gay characters (Boogie Nights, Flawless and Capote), over-indulgent rich folk (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 and Synecdoche, New York), an outlandish CIA officer (Charlie Wilson's War), and a lonely, sex-obsessed pervert (Happiness).

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 officer 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, which he lost to Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men.

In 2008, he appeared in Synecdoche, New York, in which he played Caden Cotard, a man who attempts to build a full-scale replica of New York inside a warehouse for a play, and Doubt, in which he played Father Brendan Flynn, a priest accused of sexually abusing a student. He received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for the latter. He also received a second consecutive nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Doubt.

Personal life

Hoffman is in a relationship with costume designer Mimi O'Donnell. They met while working on the 1999 play In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, which Hoffman directed. They have a son, Cooper Alexander, born in March 2003, and two daughters, Tallulah, born in November 2006,⁹ and Willa, born in October 2008.¹⁰

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1991	Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole	Klutch
1992	Szuler
	My New Gun	Chris
	Leap of Faith	Matt
	Scent of a Woman	George Willis, Jr.
1993	Joey Breaker	Wiley McCall
	My Boyfriend's Back	Chuck Bronski
	Money for Nothing	Cochran
1994	The Getaway	Frank Hansen
	The Yearling	Buck	TV
	When a Man Loves a Woman	Gary
	Nobody's Fool	Officer Raymer
1995	The Fifteen Minute Hamlet	Bernardo, Horatio & Laertes
1996	Hard Eight	Young Craps Player
	Twister	Dustin "Dusty" Davis
1997	Boogie Nights	Scotty J.
1998	Culture	Bill
	Montana	Duncan
	Next Stop Wonderland	Sean
	The Big Lebowski	Brandt
	Happiness	Allen	Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Patch Adams	Mitch Roman
1999	Flawless	Rusty Zimmerman	San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
	Magnolia	Phil Parma	Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Freddie Miles
2000	Titanic 2000	Himself
	State and Main	Joseph Turner White
	Almost Famous	Lester Bangs	Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002	Love Liza	Wilson Joel
	Punch-Drunk Love	Dean Trumbell	Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
	Red Dragon	Freddy Lounds
	25th Hour	Jacob Elinsky
2003	Owning Mahowny	Dan Mahowny	Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
	Cold Mountain	Reverend Veasey
2004	Along Came Polly	Sandy Lyle
2005	Strangers with Candy	Henry, Board Of Education
	Empire Falls	Charlie Mayne	TV Miniseries Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
	Capote	Truman Capote	Academy Award for Best Actor BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
2006	Mission: Impossible III	Owen Davian	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2007	Before the Devil Knows You're Dead	Andy Hanson	Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
	The Savages	Jon Savage	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
	Charlie Wilson's War	Gust Avrakotos	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2008	Synecdoche, New York	Caden Cotard	Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
	Doubt	Father Brendan Flynn	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
2009	Mary and Max	Max Jerry Horovitz	voice only
	The Boat That Rocked	The Count	US Alternate Title: Pirate Radio
	The Invention of Lying	Bartender	Uncredited
2010	Jack Goes Boating	Jack	Director/Executive Producer

References

External links

• Philip Seymour Hoffman at the Internet Movie Database
• Philip Seymour Hoffman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Philip Seymour Hoffman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Philip Seymour Hoffman Biography
• NPR Interview (09/2005)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman talks about his role in Capote on the Tavis Smiley show
• AP Celebrity Focus Podcast Interview, 11/02/05, on his role in Capote
• Brandt Tribute Lebowski Podcast's tribute to Hoffman's character in The Big Lebowski.

Awards for Philip Seymour Hoffman v • d • e Academy Award for Best Actor Denzel Washington (2001) · Adrien Brody (2002) · Sean Penn (2003) · Jamie Foxx (2004) · Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005) · Forest Whitaker (2006) · Daniel Day-Lewis (2007) · Sean Penn (2008) · Jeff Bridges (2009) Complete List · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present) v • d • e Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Russell Crowe (2001) · Jack Nicholson (2002) · Sean Penn (2003) · Leonardo DiCaprio (2004) · Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005) · Forest Whitaker (2006) · Daniel Day-Lewis (2007) · Mickey Rourke (2008) · Jeff Bridges (2009) · Complete List · (1943–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present) v • d • e BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Jamie Bell (2000) · Russell Crowe (2001) · Daniel Day-Lewis (2002) · Bill Murray (2003) · Jamie Foxx (2004) · Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005) · Forest Whitaker (2006) · Daniel Day-Lewis (2007) · Mickey Rourke (2008) · Colin Firth (2009) Complete List · (1952–1979) · (1981–1999) · (2000–present) v • d • e Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Russell Crowe (2001) · Daniel Day-Lewis (2002) · Johnny Depp (2003) · Jamie Foxx (2004) · Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005) · Forest Whitaker (2006) · Daniel Day-Lewis (2007) · Sean Penn (2008) · Jeff Bridges (2009) Complete list · (1994-2000) · (2001-present)

Persondata
NAME
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actor
DATE OF BIRTH	July 23, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fairport, New York, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH