Search | Navigation

Philip Seymour Hoffman

  (Redirected from Phillip Seymour Hoffman)
For other people named Philip Hoffman, see Philip Hoffman (disambiguation).
Philip Seymour Hoffman

Hoffman in October 2011
Born
(1967-07-23) July 23, 1967 (age 44)
Fairport, New York, U.S.
Occupation
Actor, director
Years active
1991–present
Partner
Mimi O'Donnell (1999–present)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (born July 23, 1967) is an American actor and 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), Twister (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Almost Famous (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), and Mission: Impossible III (2006).

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 received another two Academy Award nominations for his supporting work in Charlie Wilson's War (2007) and Doubt (2008). 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). In 2010, Hoffman made his feature film directorial debut with Jack Goes Boating‎.

Hoffman is also an accomplished theater 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). Hoffman currently stars as Willy Loman in a revival of Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in which earned him another Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Play in 2012.

Contents


Early life

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 Stowell 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 part German ancestry and his mother was of Irish Catholic background; Hoffman was not raised with a deep commitment to either religion.[2][3][4] Hoffman's parents divorced when he was nine years old.[5]

Hoffman attended the 1984 Theater School at the New York State Summer School of the Arts. After graduating from Fairport High School, Hoffman attended the Circle in the Square Theatre's summer program, continuing his acting training with the acting teacher 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 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]

Hoffman has had success directing in the theater as well, putting on shows for LAByrinth Theater Company. Of the difference between acting and directing in a play, Hoffman has said that "the director’s experience is not the real experience...You are the most subjective person in the room. You have no objectivity. You have to take a couple of weeks off and then come back to watch it without telling anyone, and you will see it with different eyes."[9]

Film and television work

Hoffman in 2002 Promoting Punch Drunk Love

Hoffman's first role was as a defendant in the 1991 Law & Order episode "The Violence of Summer". 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 an 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 with 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 The Party's Over, a documentary about the 2000 US 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 in September 2010.

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. He received a second Emmy Award nomination for the Daytime Emmy Awards for his vocal work on the TV Series Arthur.

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 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,[10] and Willa, born in October 2008.[11]

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1991Law & OrderSteven HanauerTelevision Series; Episode: "The Violence of Summer"
Triple Bogey on a Par Five HoleKlutch
1992Szuler
My New GunChris
Leap of FaithMatt
Scent of a WomanGeorge Willis, Jr.
1993Joey BreakerWiley McCall
My Boyfriend's BackChuck Bronski
Money for NothingCochran
1994Getaway, TheThe GetawayFrank Hansen
Yearling, TheThe YearlingBuckTelevision Film
When a Man Loves a WomanGary
Nobody's FoolOfficer Raymer
1995Fifteen Minute Hamlet, TheThe Fifteen Minute HamletBernardo, Horatio & Laertes
1996Hard EightYoung Craps Player
TwisterDustin "Dusty" Davis
1997Boogie NightsScotty J.
Liberty! The American RevolutionJoseph Plumb Martin
1998CultureBill
MontanaDuncan
Next Stop WonderlandSeanNominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Big Lebowski, TheThe Big LebowskiBrandt
HappinessAllen
Patch AdamsMitch Roman
1999FlawlessRusty Zimmerman
MagnoliaPhil Parma
Talented Mr. Ripley, TheThe Talented Mr. RipleyFreddie Miles
2000Titanic 2000Himself
State and MainJoseph Turner White
Almost FamousLester Bangs
2002Love LizaWilson Joel
Punch-Drunk LoveDean TrumbellNominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Red DragonFreddy Lounds
25th HourJacob Elinsky
2003Owning MahownyDan Mahowny
Cold MountainReverend Veasey
2004Along Came PollySandy Lyle
2005Strangers with CandyHenry, Board Of Education
Empire FallsCharlie Mayne
CapoteTruman CapoteAlso Executive Producer
2006Mission: Impossible IIIOwen DavianNominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2007Before the Devil Knows You're DeadAndy Hanson
Savages, TheThe SavagesJon Savage
Charlie Wilson's WarGust Avrakotos
2008Synecdoche, New YorkCaden Cotard
DoubtFather Brendan Flynn
2009Mary and MaxMax Jerry HorovitzVoice Only
Boat That Rocked, TheThe Boat That RockedThe CountReleased as Pirate Radio in the United States
Invention of Lying, TheThe Invention of LyingJim the Bartender
2010Jack Goes BoatingJack
2011MoneyballArt Howe
The Ides of MarchPaul ZaraNominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2012The MasterLancaster Doddpost-production

References

  1. ^ "Philip Seymour Hoffman Biography (1967-)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/65/Philip-Seymour-Hoffman.html. Retrieved August 14, 2010. 
  2. ^ Whitty, Stephen (December 8, 2008). "The talented Mr. Hoffman". Nj.com. http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2008/12/the_talented_mr_hoffman.html. Retrieved January 4, 2009. 
  3. ^ "PSH Frequently Asked Questions". http://ddraven.tripod.com/psh/faq.html. Retrieved November 1, 2006. 
  4. ^ "Transcript: Inside the Actor's Studio, 2000". http://ddraven.tripod.com/psh/transcriptitas.html. Retrieved November 1, 2006. 
  5. ^ "Philip Seymour Hoffman Biography". Yahoo! Movies. http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800021779&cf=biog&intl=us. Retrieved November 1, 2006. 
  6. ^ "Philip Seymour Hoffman.net A PSH Fansite". Philipseymourhoffman.net. July 23, 1967. http://philipseymourhoffman.net/biography.htm. Retrieved August 14, 2010. 
  7. ^ Philip Seymour Hoffman on Inside the Actors Studio
  8. ^ "Nominee Hoffman once struggled with drugs". Associated Press. February 16, 2006. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11390662/. Retrieved November 1, 2006. 
  9. ^ Stein, June. "Philip Seymour Hoffman", BOMB Magazine, Spring, 2008. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  10. ^ Hancock, Noelle (June 22, 2006). "Philip Seymour Hoffman and Girlfriend Expecting Second Child". Us Weekly. http://www.usmagazine.com/node/1288. Retrieved November 1, 2006. 
  11. ^ Hirschberg, Lynn (December 19, 2008). "A Higher Calling". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/magazine/21hoffman-t.html?_r=1&hp. Retrieved January 4, 2009. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Philip Seymour Hoffman
 
Awards for Philip Seymour Hoffman
Academy Award for Best Actor (2001–present)

BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (2000–2019)

Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor

Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (2001–2020)

  • v
  • t
  • e
Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead (2000–2020)

National Board of Review Award for Best Actor

National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (2001–2020)


Persondata
Name
Hoffman, Philip Seymour
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

[1] Search
[2] All Pages
[3] Random article
powered by Sevenval