Philip Seymour Hoffman

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Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical productions, including leading roles, from the early 1990s until his early death in 2014. He was voted the greatest actor of the 21st century in a 2024 ranking by The Independent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hoffman studied acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He gained recognition for his supporting work, notably in Scent of a Woman (1992), Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Almost Famous (2000), Red Dragon (2002), and Cold Mountain (2003). He began to occasionally play leading roles, and for his portrayal of Truman Capote in Capote (2005), won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hoffman continued to get nominated for Academy Awards for his work and performances in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008), and The Master (2012).

While he mainly worked in independent films, including The Savages (2007) and Synecdoche, New York (2008), Hoffman also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Twister (1996) and Mission: Impossible III (2006). In one of his final roles before his death, he played Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games series (2013–2015).

The feature film, Jack Goes Boating (2010) marked Hoffman's debut as a filmmaker.

Hoffman was also an accomplished theater actor and director. He joined the off-Broadway LAByrinth Theater Company in 1995, where he directed, produced, and appeared in numerous stage productions. Hoffman received Tony Award nominations for his performances in the Broadway revivals of Sam Shepard's True West (2000), Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (2003), and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (2012).

Hoffman was known to have struggled with drug addiction, and on February 2, 2014, Hoffman reportedly died from "acute mixed drug intoxication, including heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines and amphetamine".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Remembered for the nuance, depth, and humanity he brought to his diverse roles, Hoffman was described in his obituary in The New York Times as "perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation".<ref name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life and education

Hoffman was born on July 23, 1967, in the Rochester suburb of Fairport, New York.<ref name="NYT"/> His mother, Marilyn O'Connor (née Loucks), came from nearby Waterloo and worked as an elementary school teacher<ref name="mum">Template:Cite web</ref> before becoming a lawyer and eventually a family court judge.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="moody">Template:Cite news</ref> His father, Gordon Stowell Hoffman, was a native of Geneva, New York, and worked for the Xerox Corporation. Hoffman had one brother, Gordy, and two sisters, Jill and Emily.<ref name="mum"/> He had Irish and German ancestry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hoffman was baptized a Catholic and attended Mass as a child, but did not have a heavily religious upbringing.<ref name="religion">Template:Cite web</ref> His parents divorced when he was nine, and the children were raised primarily by their mother.<ref name="moody"/> Hoffman's childhood passion was sports, particularly wrestling and baseball,<ref name="moody"/> but at age 12, he attended a stage production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons and was transfixed. He recalled in 2008, "I was changed—permanently changed—by that experience. It was like a miracle to me."<ref name="higher">Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffman developed a love for the theater, and proceeded to attend regularly with his mother, who was a lifelong enthusiast.<ref name="I0607"/> He remembered that productions of Quilters and Alms for the Middle Class, the latter starring a teenaged Robert Downey Jr., were also particularly inspirational.<ref name="Buffalo900">Template:Cite web</ref> At age 14, Hoffman suffered a neck injury that ended his sporting activity, and he began to consider acting.<ref name="higher"/><ref name="nj">Template:Cite web</ref> Encouraged by his mother, he joined a drama club, and initially committed to it because he was attracted to a female member.<ref name="moody"/><ref name="higher"/>

Acting gradually became a passion for Hoffman: "I loved the camaraderie of it, the people, and that's when I decided it was what I wanted to do."<ref name="nj"/> At age 17, he was selected to attend the 1984 New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, where he met his future collaborators Bennett Miller and Dan Futterman.<ref name="McArdle">Template:Cite news</ref> Miller later commented on Hoffman's popularity at the time: "We were attracted to the fact that he was genuinely serious about what he was doing. Even then, he was passionate."<ref name="higher"/> Hoffman applied for several drama degree programs and was accepted to New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts.<ref name="higher"/> Between graduating from Fairport High School and beginning the program, he continued his training at the Circle in the Square Theatre's summer program.<ref name="NYT"/> Hoffman had positive memories of his time at NYU, where he supported himself by working as an usher. With friends, he co-founded the Bullstoi Ensemble acting troupe.<ref name="nj"/> He received a drama degree in 1989.<ref name="moody"/>

Career

1991–1995: Early career

After graduating, Hoffman worked in off-Broadway theater and made additional money with customer service jobs.<ref name="Buffalo900"/><ref name="nj"/> He made his screen debut in 1991, in a Law & Order episode called "The Violence of Summer", playing a man accused of rape.<ref name="vallance">Template:Cite web</ref> He made his film debut the following year, when he was credited as "Phil Hoffman" in the independent film Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole. After this, he adopted his grandfather's name, Seymour, to avoid confusion with another actor.<ref name="SS03">Template:Cite web</ref>

More film roles promptly followed, with appearances in the studio production My New Gun, and a small role in the comedy Leap of Faith, starring Steve Martin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Following these roles, he gained attention playing a spoiled private school student in the Oscar-winning Al Pacino film Scent of a Woman (1992). Hoffman auditioned five times for his role, which The Guardian journalist Ryan Gilbey says gave him an early opportunity "to indulge his skill for making unctuousness compelling".<ref name="gilbey">Template:Cite news</ref> The film earned US$134 million worldwide<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was the first to get Hoffman noticed.Template:Sfn Reflecting on Scent of a Woman, Hoffman later said, "If I hadn't gotten into that film, I wouldn't be where I am today."<ref name="vallance"/> At this time, he quit his job in a delicatessen to become a professional actor.<ref name="SS03"/><ref name="RT">Template:Cite web</ref>

Hoffman continued playing small roles throughout the early 1990s. After appearing in Joey Breaker and the critically panned teen zombie picture My Boyfriend's Back,Template:Sfn he had a more notable role playing John Cusack's wealthy friend in the crime comedy Money for Nothing.<ref name="RS">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 1994, he portrayed an inexperienced mobster in the crime thriller The Getaway, starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and he subsequently appeared with Andy García and Meg Ryan in the romantic drama When a Man Loves a Woman. He then played an uptight police deputy who gets punched by Paul Newman—one of Hoffman's acting idols—in the drama Nobody's Fool.<ref name="vallance"/><ref name="cnn">Template:Cite web</ref>

Still considering stage work to be fundamental to his career,Template:Sfn<ref name="theater">Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffman joined the LAByrinth Theater Company of New York City in 1995.<ref name="RS"/> This association lasted the remainder of his life; along with appearing in multiple productions, he later became co-artistic director of the theater company with John Ortiz, and directed various plays over the years.<ref name="theater"/> Hoffman's only film appearance of 1995 was in the 22-minute short comedy The Fifteen Minute Hamlet, which satirized the film industry in an Elizabethan setting. He played the characters of Bernardo, Horatio, and Laertes alongside Austin Pendleton's Hamlet.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1996–1999: Rising star

Between April and May 1996, Hoffman appeared at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in a Mark Wing-Davey production of Caryl Churchill's The Skriker.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Afterwards, based on his work in Scent of a Woman, he was cast by writer–director Paul Thomas Anderson to appear in Anderson's debut feature Hard Eight (1996).<ref name="gilbey"/> Hoffman had only a brief role in the crime thriller, playing a cocksure young craps player, but it began the most important collaboration of his career.<ref name="gilbey"/>Template:Efn Before cementing a creative partnership with Anderson, Hoffman appeared in one of the year's biggest blockbusters,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Twister, playing a grubby, hyperactive storm chaser alongside Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. According to a People survey of Twitter and Facebook users, Twister is the film with which Hoffman is most popularly associated.<ref name="people">Template:Cite web</ref> He then reunited with Anderson for the director's second feature, Boogie Nights, about the Golden Age of Pornography. The ensemble piece starred Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, and Burt Reynolds; Hoffman played a boom operator, described by David Fear of Rolling Stone as a "complete, unabashed loser",<ref name="RS"/> who attempts to seduce Wahlberg's character. Warmly received by critics, the film grew into a cult classic,<ref name="vallance"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and has been cited as the role in which Hoffman first showed his full ability. Fear commended the "naked emotional neediness" of the performance, adding that it made for compulsive viewing.<ref name="RS"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffman later expressed his appreciation for Anderson when he called the director "incomparable".<ref name="master">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Quote box Continuing with this momentum, Hoffman appeared in five films in 1998. He had supporting roles in the crime thriller Montana and the romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland, both of which were commercial failures,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> before working with the Coen brothers in their dark comedy The Big Lebowski. Hoffman had long been a fan of the directors, and relished the experience of working with them.<ref name="BL">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Appearing alongside Jeff Bridges and John Goodman, Hoffman played Brandt, the smug personal assistant of the titular character. Although it was only a small role, he said it was one for which he was most recognized, in a film that has achieved cult status and a large fan base.<ref name="BL"/> Between March and April 1998, Hoffman made 30 appearances on stage at the New York Theatre Workshop in a production of Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking, portraying an ex-heroin addict.Template:Sfn

Hoffman took an unflattering role in Todd Solondz's Happiness (1998),Template:Sfn a misanthropic black comedy about the lives of three sisters and those around them. He played Allen, a sexually frustrated loner who makes obscene phone calls to women; the character furiously masturbates during one conversation, producing what film scholar Jerry Mosher calls an "embarrassingly raw performance".Template:Sfn Jake Coyle of the Associated Press rated Allen as "one of the creepiest characters in American movies",<ref name="AP">Template:Cite news</ref> but critic Xan Brooks highlighted the pathos that Hoffman brought to the role.<ref name="Brooks">Template:Cite web</ref> Happiness was controversial but widely praised,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Hoffman's role has been cited by critics as one of his best.<ref name="AP"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His final 1998 release was more mainstream, appeared as a medical student in the Robin Williams comedy Patch Adams. The film was critically panned, but one of the highest-grossing of Hoffman's career.Template:Sfn<ref name="BOM">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1999, Hoffman starred opposite Robert De Niro as drag queen Rusty Zimmerman in Joel Schumacher's drama Flawless. Hoffman considered De Niro the most imposing actor with whom he had appeared, and he felt that working with the veteran performer profoundly improved his own acting.<ref name="Buffalo900"/> Hoffman's ability to avoid clichés in playing such a delicate role was noted by critics,<ref name="RS"/><ref name="AVC">Template:Cite web</ref> and Roger Ebert said it confirmed him as "one of the best new character actors".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was rewarded with his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hoffman then reunited with Paul Thomas Anderson, where he was given an atypically virtuous role in the ensemble drama Magnolia.<ref name="gilbey"/> The film, set over one day in Los Angeles, features Hoffman as a nurse who cares for Jason Robards' character, who is dying of cancer. The performance was approved of by the medical industry,Template:Sfn and Jessica Winter of the Village Voice considered it Hoffman's most indelible work, likening him to a guardian angel.Template:Sfn Magnolia has been included in lists of the greatest films of all time,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and it was a personal favorite of Hoffman's.<ref name="master"/>

One of the most critically and commercially successful films of Hoffman's career was The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999),<ref name="BOM"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which he considered "as edgy as you can get for a Hollywood movie".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He played a "preppy bully" who taunts Matt Damon's Tom Ripley in the thriller, a character which Jeff Simon of The Buffalo News called "the truest upper class twit in all of American movies".<ref name="Buffalo900"/> Hoffman's performance won praise from Meryl Streep, another of his cinematic idols: "I sat up straight in my seat and said, 'Who is that?' I thought to myself: My God, this actor is fearless", she said. "He's done what we all strive for — he's given this awful character the respect he deserves, and he's made him fascinating."Template:Sfn In recognition of his work in Magnolia and The Talented Mr. Ripley, Hoffman was named the year's Best Supporting Actor by the National Board of Review.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2000–2004: Established star

Hoffman at Cannes in 2002 promoting *Punch-Drunk Love*

Following a string of roles in successful films in the late 1990s, Hoffman had established a reputation as a top supporting player who could be relied on to make an impression with each performance.Template:Sfn His film appearances were likened by David Kamp of GQ to "discovering a prize in a box of cereal, receiving a bonus, or bumping unexpectedly into an old friend".Template:Sfn According to Jerry Mosher, as the year 2000 began, "it seemed Hoffman was everywhere, poised on the cusp of stardom".Template:Sfn

Hoffman had begun to be recognized as a theater actor in 1999, when he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor for the off-Broadway play The Author's Voice.<ref name="ibdb">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This success continued with the 2000 Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's True West, where Hoffman alternated roles nightly with co-star John C. Reilly,Template:Efn making 154 appearances between March and July 2000.<ref name="Vanity Fair"/>Template:Sfn Ben Brantley of The New York Times felt that it was the best stage performance of Hoffman's career, calling him "brilliant",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the actor earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play.<ref name="ibdb"/> The following year, Hoffman appeared with Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, and John Goodman in a Delacorte Theater production of Chekhov's The Seagull—although Brantley felt that this performance was less fully realized.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As a stage director, Hoffman received two Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Director of a Play: one for Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train in 2001, and another for Our Lady of 121st Street in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2008 interview, Hoffman opined that "switching hats" between acting and directing helped him improve in both roles.<ref name="bomb">Template:Cite news</ref>

David Mamet's comedy State and Main, about the difficulties of shooting a film in rural New England, was Hoffman's first film role of 2000 and had a limited release.<ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web</ref> He had a more prominent supporting role that year in Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe's popular coming-of-age film set in the 1970s music industry.<ref name="AP"/> Hoffman portrayed the enthusiastic rock critic Lester Bangs, a task by which he felt burdened,Template:Sfn but he managed to convey the real figure's mannerisms and sharp wit after watching him in a BBC interview.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The following year, Hoffman featured as the narrator and interviewer in The Party's Over, a documentary about the 2000 U.S. elections. He assumed the position of a "politically informed and alienated Generation-Xer" who seeks to be educated in U.S. politics, but ultimately reveals the extent of public dissatisfaction in this area.Template:Sfn

In 2002, Hoffman was given his first leading role (despite joking at the time "Even if I was hired into a leading-man part, I'd probably turn it into the non-leading-man part")Template:Sfn in Todd Louiso's tragicomedy Love Liza (2002). His brother Gordy wrote the script, which Hoffman had seen at their mother's house five years earlier, about a widower who starts sniffing gasoline to cope with his wife's suicide. He considered it the finest piece of writing he had ever read, "incredibly humble in its exploration of grief",<ref name="SS03"/> but critics were less enthusiastic about the production. A review for the BBC wrote that Hoffman had finally been given a part that showed "what he's truly capable of",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but few witnessed this as the film had a limited release and earned only US$210,000.Template:Sfn

Later in 2002, Hoffman starred opposite Adam Sandler and Emily Watson in Anderson's critically acclaimed fourth picture, the surrealist romantic comedy-drama Punch-Drunk Love (2002), where he played an illegal phone-sex "supervisor".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Drew Hunt of the Chicago Reader saw the performance as a fine example of Hoffman's "knack for turning small roles into seminal performances" and praised the actor's comedic ability.<ref name="Hunt">Template:Cite web</ref> In a very different film, Hoffman was next seen with Anthony Hopkins in the high-budget thriller Red Dragon, a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs, portraying the meddlesome tabloid journalist Freddy Lounds.Template:Sfn His fourth appearance of 2002 came in Spike Lee's drama 25th Hour, playing an English teacher who makes a devastating drunken mistake.Template:Sfn Both Lee and the film's lead Edward Norton were thrilled to work with Hoffman, and Lee confessed that he had long wanted to do a picture with the actor, but had waited until he found the right role.<ref name="movies about">Template:Cite web</ref> Hoffman considered his character, Jakob, to be one of the most reticent characters he had ever played, a straight-laced "corduroy-pants-wearing kind of guy."<ref name="SS03"/> Roger Ebert promoted 25th Hour to one of his "Great Movies" in 2009,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and along with A. O. Scott,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> considered it to be one of the best films of the 2000s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The drama Owning Mahowny (2003) gave Hoffman his second lead role, starring opposite Minnie Driver as a bank employee who embezzles money to feed his gambling addiction. It was based on the true story of Toronto banker Brian Molony, who committed the largest fraud in Canadian history. Hoffman met with Molony to prepare for the role and help him play the character as accurately as possible.<ref name="RCP">Template:Cite web</ref> He was determined not to conform to "movie character" stereotypes,Template:Sfn and his portrayal of addiction won approval from the Royal College of Psychiatrists.<ref name="RCP"/> Roger Ebert assessed Hoffman's performance as "a masterpiece of discipline and precision,"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but the film earned little at the box office.Template:Sfn

Hoffman's second 2003 appearance was a small role in Anthony Minghella's successful Civil War epic Cold Mountain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He played an immoral preacher, a complex character that Hoffman described as a "mass of contradictions".Template:Sfn The same year, from April to August, he appeared with Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Sean Leonard in a Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Director Robert Falls later commented on the dedication and experience that Hoffman brought to his role of alcoholic Jamie Tyrone: "Every night he ripped it up to an extent that he couldn't leave [the role]. Phil carried it with him."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffman received his second Tony Award nomination, this time for Best Featured Actor in a Play.<ref name="ibdb"/> In 2004, he appeared as the crude, has-been actor friend of Ben Stiller's character in the box-office hit Along Came Polly.Template:Sfn Reflecting on the role, People said it proved that "Hoffman could deliver comedic performances with the best of them".<ref name="people"/>

2005–2009: Critical acclaim

Hoffman won many awards for his portrayal of the writer Truman Capote (pictured in 1959) in *Capote* (2005).

A turning point in Hoffman's career came with the biographical film Capote (2005), which dramatized Truman Capote's experience of writing his true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966).Template:Sfn Hoffman took the title role for a project that he co-produced and helped bring to fruition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn Portraying the idiosyncratic writer proved highly demanding, requiring significant weight loss and four months of research—such as watching video clips of Capote to help him affect the author's effeminate voice and mannerisms. Hoffman stated that he was not concerned with perfectly imitating Capote's speech, but he did feel a great duty to "express the vitality and the nuances" of the writer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn During filming, he stayed in character constantly so as not to lose the voice and posture: "Otherwise", he explained, "I would give my body a chance to bail on me."Template:Sfn Capote was released to great acclaim, particularly regarding Hoffman's performance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Many critics commented that the role was designed to win awards,Template:Sfn and indeed Hoffman received an Oscar, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA, and various other critics' awards.<ref name="Awards">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2006, Premiere listed his role in Capote as the 35th-greatest movie performance of all time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the film, several commentators began to describe Hoffman as one of the finest, most ambitious actors of his generation.Template:Sfn

Hoffman received his only Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his supporting role in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls (2005), about life in a New England town. He ultimately lost to castmate Paul Newman.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2006, he appeared in the summer blockbuster Mission: Impossible III, playing the villainous arms dealer Owen Davian opposite Tom Cruise. A journalist for Vanity Fair stated that Hoffman's "black-hat performance was one of the most delicious in a Hollywood film since Alan Rickman's in Die Hard ",<ref name="Vanity Fair">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and he was generally approved of for bringing gravitas to the action film. With a gross of nearly US$400 million, it exposed Hoffman to a mainstream audience.Template:Sfn

Returning to independent films in 2007, Hoffman began with a starring role in Tamara Jenkins's The Savages, where Laura Linney and he played siblings responsible for putting their dementia-ridden father (Philip Bosco) in a care home. Jake Coyle of the Associated Press stated that it was "the epitome of a Hoffman film: a mix of comedy and tragedy told with subtlety, bone-dry humor, and flashes of grace".<ref name="AP"/> Hoffman received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in The Savages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He next appeared in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, the final film by veteran director Sidney Lumet, where he played a realtor who embezzles funds from his employer to support his drug habit. Mosher comments that the character was one of the most unpleasant of Hoffman's career, but that his "fearlessness again revealed the humanity within a deeply flawed character" as he appeared naked in the opening sex scene.Template:Sfn The film was received positively by critics as a powerful and affecting thriller.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mike Nichols's political film Charlie Wilson's War (2007) gave Hoffman his second Academy Award nomination, again for playing a real individual—Gust Avrakotos, the CIA officer who worked with Congressman Charlie Wilson (played by Tom Hanks) to aid the Afghan Mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet Union. Todd McCarthy wrote of Hoffman's performance: "Decked out with a pouffy '80s hairdo, moustache, protruding gut and ever-present smokes ... whenever he's on, the picture vibrates with conspiratorial electricity."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The film was a critical and commercial success,<ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web</ref> and along with his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Hoffman was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe Award.<ref name="Awards"/>

Hoffman at the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009, where he was nominated for *Doubt*

The year 2008 contained two significant Hoffman roles. In Charlie Kaufman's enigmatic drama Synecdoche, New York, he starred as Caden Cotard, a frustrated dramatist who attempts to build a scale replica of New York inside a warehouse for a play.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hoffman again showed his willingness to reveal unattractive traits, as the character ages and deteriorates, and committed to a deeply psychological role.Template:Sfn Critics were divided in their response to the "ambitious and baffling" film.<ref>Template:Cite news
Template:Cite web</ref> Sonny Bunch of The Washington Times found it "impressionistic, inaccessible, and endlessly frustrating", likening Hoffman's character to "God, if God lacked imagination".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Conversely, Roger Ebert named it the best film of the decade and considered it one of the greatest of all time,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Robbie Collin, film critic for The Daily Telegraph, believes Hoffman gave one of cinema's best performances.<ref name="collin">Template:Cite news</ref>

Hoffman's second role of the year came opposite Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, where he played Father Brendan Flynn—a priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old African-American student in the 1960s. Hoffman was already familiar with the play and appreciated the opportunity to bring it to the screen; in preparing for the role, he talked extensively to a priest who lived through the era.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film had a mixed reception, with some critics such as Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian suspicious of it as Oscar bait,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but Hoffman gained second consecutive Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Oscars, BAFTAs, and Golden Globes, and was also nominated by the Screen Actors Guild.<ref name="Awards"/>

On stage in 2009, Hoffman played Iago in Peter Sellars' futuristic production of Othello (with the title role by John Ortiz), which received mixed reviews.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ben Brantley, theatre critic of The New York Times, found it to be "exasperatingly misconceived", remarking that even when Hoffman is attempting to "manipulate others into self-destruction, he comes close to spoiling everything by erupting into genuine, volcanic fury".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffman also did his first vocal performance for the claymation film Mary and Max, although the film did not initially have an American release.<ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web</ref> He played Max, a depressed New Yorker with Asperger syndrome, while Toni Collette voiced Mary—the Australian girl who becomes his pen pal. Continuing with animation, Hoffman then worked on an episode of the children's show Arthur and received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later in the year, he played a brash American disc jockey opposite Bill Nighy and Rhys Ifans in Richard Curtis's British comedy The Boat That Rocked (also known as Pirate Radio)—a character based on Emperor Rosko, a host of Radio Caroline in 1966.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also had a cameo role as a bartender in Ricky Gervais's The Invention of Lying.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Reflecting on Hoffman's work in the late 2000s, Mosher writes that the actor remained impressive, but had not delivered a testing performance on the level of his work in Capote. The film critic David Thomson believed that Hoffman showed indecisiveness at this time, unsure whether to play spectacular supporting roles or become a lead actor who is capable of controlling the emotional dynamic and outcome of a film.Template:Sfn

2010–2014: Final years

Hoffman's profile continued to grow with the new decade, and he became an increasingly recognizable figure.<ref name="cnn"/> Despite earlier reservations about directing for the screen,<ref name="Buffalo900"/> his first release of the 2010s was also his first as a film director. The independent drama Jack Goes Boating was adapted from Robert Glaudini's play of the same name, which Hoffman had starred in and directed for the LAByrinth Theater Company in 2007. He originally intended to only direct the film, but decided to reprise the main role of Jack—a lonely limousine driver looking for love—after the actor he wanted for it was unavailable.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The low-key film had a limited release, and was not a high earner,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> though it received many positive reviews.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, Dave Edwards of the Daily Mirror remarked that "Hoffman's directing debut delivers a film so weak I could barely remember what it was about as I left",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while critic Mark Kermode appreciated the cinematic qualities that Hoffman brought to the film, and stated that he showed potential as a director.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to Jack Goes Boating, in 2010 Hoffman also directed Brett C. Leonard's tragic drama The Long Red Road for the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Steven Oxman of Variety described the production as "heavy handed" and "predictable", but "intriguing and at least partially successful".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hoffman next had significant supporting roles in two films, both released in the last third of 2011. In Bennett Miller's Moneyball, a sports drama about the 2002 season of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, he played the manager Art Howe. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Hoffman was described as "perfectly cast" by Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post, but the real-life Art Howe accused the filmmakers of giving an "unfair and untrue" portrayal of him.<ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web
Template:Cite news
Template:Cite web</ref> Hoffman's second film of the year was George Clooney's political drama The Ides of March, in which he played the earnest campaign manager to the Democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris (Clooney). The film was well-received and Hoffman's performance, especially in the scenes opposite Paul Giamatti—who played the rival campaign manager—was positively noted.<ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite news
Template:Cite magazine</ref> Hoffman's work on the film earned him his fourth BAFTA Award nomination.<ref name="Awards"/>

In the spring of 2012, Hoffman made his final stage appearance, starring as Willy Loman in a Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman opposite Andrew Garfield. Directed by Mike Nichols, the production ran for 78 performances and was the highest-grossing show in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre's history.<ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web</ref> Many critics felt that Hoffman, at 44, was too young for the role of 62-year-old Loman,<ref name="NYT"/> and Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune felt that the character had been interpreted poorly.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffman admitted that he found the role difficult,<ref name="master"/> but he nevertheless earned his third Tony Award nomination.<ref name="ibdb"/>

Hoffman collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson for the fifth time in The Master (2012), where he turned in what critic Peter Bradshaw considered the most memorable performance of his career.<ref name="bradshaw"/> Set in 1950s America, the film featured Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a nascent Scientology-type movement who brings a troubled man (Joaquin Phoenix) under his tutelage. Hoffman was instrumental in the project's development, having been involved with it for three years.<ref name="master"/> He assisted Anderson in the writing of the script by reviewing samples of it, and suggested making Phoenix's character, Freddie Quell, the protagonist instead of Dodd.<ref name="autogenerated1">Template:Cite news</ref> A talented dancer,<ref name="Brooks"/> Hoffman was able to showcase his abilities by performing a jig during a surreal sequence; Bradshaw called it an "extraordinary moment" that "only Hoffman could have carried off."<ref name="bradshaw"/> The Master was praised as an intelligent and challenging drama,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Drew Hunt of the Chicago Reader also felt that it contained Hoffman's finest work: "He's inscrutable yet welcoming, intimidating yet charismatic, villainous yet fatherly. He epitomizes so many things at once that it's impossible to think of [Dodd] as mere movie character".<ref name="Hunt"/> Hoffman and Phoenix received a joint Volpi Cup Award at the Venice Film Festival for their performances, and Hoffman was also nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award and a SAG Award for the supporting role.<ref name="Awards"/>

A Late Quartet was Hoffman's other film release of 2012, where he played a violinist in a string quartet whose members (played by Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener, and Mark Ivanir) face a crisis when one is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The drama received favorable reviews, and Stephen Holden of The New York Times called Hoffman's performance "exceptional".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013, Hoffman joined the popular Hunger Games series in its second film, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, where he played gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. The film finished as the 10th-highest grossing in history to that point,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Hoffman became recognizable to a new generation of film-goers.<ref name="bradshaw"/> In January 2014, shortly before his death, he attended the Sundance Film Festival to promote two films. In Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man, a thriller based on John le Carré's novel, Hoffman played a German intelligence officer. His performance was praised by Xan Brooks as one of "terrific, lip-smacking relish: full of mischief, anchored by integrity."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The other was God's Pocket, the directorial debut of actor John Slattery, in which Hoffman played a thief.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In November 2014, nine months after his death, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, was released, in which he had a major role. It was dedicated in his memory.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

At the time of his death, Hoffman was filming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, the fourth film in the series, and had already completed the majority of his scenes.<ref name="hg">Template:Cite web</ref> His two remaining scenes were rewritten to compensate for his absence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film was released in November 2015.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Hoffman was also preparing for his second directorial effort, a Prohibition-era drama titled Ezekiel Moss, which was to star Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition, he had filmed a pilot episode for the Showtime series Happyish, in which he played the lead role of an advertising executive. Plans for a full season were put on hold following his death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Steve Coogan was recast in the role.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Hoffman at a Hudson Union Society event in September 2010

Hoffman rarely mentioned his personal life in interviews, stating in 2012 that he would "rather not because my family doesn't have any choice. If I talk about them in the press, I'm giving them no choice. So I choose not to."<ref name="mottram">Template:Cite news</ref> For 14 years, he was in a relationship with costume designer Mimi O'Donnell, whom he had met in 1999 when they were both working on the Hoffman-directed play In Arabia We'd All Be Kings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They lived in New York City and had a son, Cooper, and two daughters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While some reports stated Hoffman and O'Donnell separated in late 2013,<ref name="selby">Template:Cite web</ref> O'Donnell later said she and Hoffman were both committed to their relationship, but he had moved out of their longtime residence to a nearby apartment to protect their children from the effects of his relapse into substance abuse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hoffman felt that keeping his personal life private was beneficial to his career: "The less you know about me the more interesting it will be to watch me do what I do".<ref name="RT" /> Hoffman was also discreet about his religious and political beliefs, but it is known that he voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election.<ref name="religion" /><ref name="mottram" /> He also donated to Al Franken's senate campaign and the Democratic National Committee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In a 2006 interview with 60 Minutes, Hoffman revealed he had engaged in drug and alcohol misuse during his time at New York University, saying he had used "anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all."<ref name="aftab">Template:Cite news</ref> Following his graduation in 1989, he entered a drug rehabilitation program at age 22, and remained sober for 23 years. However, he relapsed in 2012, and admitted himself to drug rehabilitation for about ten days in May 2013.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="aftab"/>

Death and tributes

On February 2, 2014, Hoffman was found dead in the bathroom of his Manhattan apartment by his friend, playwright and screenwriter David Bar Katz.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was 46 years old.<ref name="Final">Template:Cite news</ref> Although friends stated that Hoffman's drug use was under control at the time,<ref name="selby"/> detectives searching the apartment found heroin and prescription medication at the scene and revealed that he had a syringe in his arm.<ref name="Four">Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffman's death was officially ruled an accident caused by "acute mixed drug intoxication, including heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines, and amphetamine".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Michael Schwirtz of The New York Times said, "Whether Hoffman had taken all of the substances on the same day, or whether any of the substances had remained in his system from earlier use, was not reported."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A funeral Mass was held at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan on February 7, 2014, and was attended by many of his close friends and former co-stars, including Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Ellen Burstyn, Louis C.K., Ethan Hawke, Laura Linney, Julianne Moore, Paul Thomas Anderson, Mike Nichols, Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Michelle Williams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Diane Sawyer, Ben Stiller, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Maya Rudolph, Brian Dennehy, Sam Rockwell, Josh Hamilton, Justin Theroux, Chris Rock and Eric Bogosian.

After the Mass, Hoffman's body was taken to be cremated, with his ashes given to his partner and children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He left his fortune of around $35 million to Mimi O'Donnell in his October 2004 will, trusting her to distribute money to their children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hoffman's death was lamented by fans and the film industry and was described by several commentators as a considerable loss to the profession.<ref name="Hunt"/><ref name="collin"/><ref name="bradshaw"/><ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Carolan, Michael (February 16, 2014). An actor who cut to audience's core: Philip Seymour Hoffman, relentless in the pursuit of the character. Philadelphia Inquirer Retrieved February 18, 2014.</ref> On February 5, 2014, the LAByrinth Theatre Company honored his memory by holding a candlelight vigil, and Broadway dimmed its lights for one minute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Three weeks after Hoffman's death, Katz established the American Playwriting Foundation in Hoffman's memory. With the money received from a libel lawsuit against the National Enquirer which inaccurately claimed that Hoffman and Katz were lovers, the foundation awards an annual prize of $45,000 to the author of an unproduced play. Katz named this the "Relentless Prize" in honor of Hoffman's dedication to the profession.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He would later remember Hoffman with a poem published in The Guardian in December 2014.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In tribute, actress Cate Blanchett dedicated her BAFTA trophy to Hoffman when she won the Best Actress for Blue Jasmine on February 16.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Years later, at the 90th Academy Awards, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri actor Sam Rockwell dedicated his win for Best Supporting Actor to Hoffman.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Reception and acting style

Hoffman was held in high regard within both the film and theater industries, and he was often cited in the media as one of the finest actors of his generation.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="mottram"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2022 readers' poll by Empire magazine, he was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> One writer described Hoffman as "too pudgy to look romantic or heroic";<ref name="Brooks"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> however, the actor said he was grateful for his appearance, as it made him believable in a wide range of roles.Template:Sfn Joel Schumacher once said of him in 2000, "The bad news is that Philip won't be a $25-million star. The good news is that he'll work for the rest of his life".Template:Sfn The Aiken Standard of South Carolina referred to him as an "anti-star", whose real identity remained "amorphous and unmoored".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoffman was acutely aware that he was often too unorthodox for the Academy voters. He remarked, "I'm sure that people in the big corporations that run Hollywood don't know quite what to do with someone like me, but that's OK. I think there are other people who are interested in what I do."<ref name="SS03"/>

Most of Hoffman's notable roles came in independent films, including particularly original ones, but he also featured in several Hollywood blockbusters.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="gilbey"/> He generally played supporting roles, appearing in both dramas and comedies,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but was noted for his ability to make small parts memorable.<ref name="McArdle"/><ref name="gilbey"/> Peter Bradshaw, film critic for The Guardian, felt that "Almost every single one of his credits had something special about it".<ref name="bradshaw">Template:Cite news</ref> David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote that Hoffman "added heft to low-budget art films, and nuance and unpredictability to blockbuster franchises. He was a transformative performer who worked from the inside out, blessed with an emotional transparency that could be overwhelming, invigorating, compelling, devastating."<ref name="RS"/>

Hoffman was praised for his versatility and ability to fully inhabit any role,<ref name="vallance"/><ref name="Brooks"/> but specialized in playing creeps and misfits: "his CV was populated almost exclusively by snivelling wretches, insufferable prigs, braggarts and outright bullies" writes the journalist Ryan Gilbey.<ref name="gilbey"/> Hoffman was appreciated for making these roles real, complex and even sympathetic;<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="gilbey"/><ref name="RS"/> while Todd Louiso, director of Love Liza, believed that Hoffman connected to people on screen because he looked like an ordinary man and revealed his vulnerability.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Xan Brooks of The Guardian remarked that the actor's particular talent was to "take thwarted, twisted humanity and ennoble it".<ref name="Brooks"/> "The more pathetic or deluded the character," writes Gilbey, "the greater Hoffman's relish seemed in rescuing them from the realms of the merely monstrous."<ref name="gilbey"/> When asked in 2006 why he undertook such roles, Hoffman responded, "I didn't go out looking for negative characters; I went out looking for people who have a struggle and a fight to tackle. That's what interests me."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Work ethic

The journalist Jeff Simon described Hoffman as "probably the most in-demand character actor of his generation",<ref name="Buffalo900"/> but Hoffman said he never took it for granted that he would be offered roles.<ref name="movies about"/> Although he worked hard and regularly,<ref name="SS03"/> he was humble about his acting success: an anecdote went that when asked by a friend in the early 2000s if he was having any luck in his career, he quietly replied, "I'm in a film, Cold Mountain, that has just come out."<ref name="I0607">Template:Cite web</ref> Patrick Fugit, who worked with Hoffman on Almost Famous, recalled the actor was intimidating but an exceptional mentor and influence in "a school-of-hard-knocks way", remarking that "there was a certain weight that came with him".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hoffman admitted that he sometimes appeared in big-budget studio films for the money, but said, "ultimately my main goal is to do good work. If it doesn't pay well, so be it."<ref name="CST03"/> He kept himself grounded and invigorated as an actor by attempting to appear on stage once a year.<ref name="CST03">Template:Cite web</ref>

Hoffman occasionally changed his hair and lost or gained weight for parts,<ref name="McArdle"/> and he went to great lengths to reveal the worst in his characters.Template:Sfn But in a 2012 interview, he confessed that performing to a high standard was a challenge: "The job isn't difficult. Doing it well is difficult."<ref name="gilbey"/> In an earlier interview with The New York Times, he explained how deeply he loved acting but added, "that deep kind of love comes at a price: for me, acting is torturous, and it's torturous because you know it's a beautiful thing ... Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great—well, that's absolutely torturous."<ref name="higher"/> This struggle was confirmed by the author John le Carré, who met Hoffman during the adaptation of his novel A Most Wanted Man. While praising the actor's intelligence and intuition, le Carré acknowledged the burden that Hoffman felt: "It was painful and exhausting work, and probably in the end his undoing. The world was too bright for him to handle."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Acting credits and accolades

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Hoffman appeared in 55 films and one miniseries during his screen career spanning 22 years. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Capote (2005), and was nominated three times for Best Supporting Actor for Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008), and The Master (2012). He also received five Golden Globe Award nominations (winning one), five BAFTA Award nominations (winning one), four Screen Actors Guild Awards (winning one), and won the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival.<ref name="Awards"/> Hoffman remained active in theater throughout his career, starring in 10 and directing 19 stage productions (predominantly in New York). He received three Tony Award nominations for his Broadway performances: two for Best Leading Actor, in True West (2000) and Death of a Salesman (2012), and one for Best Featured Actor in Long Day's Journey into Night (2003).<ref name="ibdb"/>

In 2022, a statue of Hoffman was unveiled in his hometown of Fairport, New York. The statue was sculpted by David A. Annand and commissioned by James Declan Tobin, a film producer who befriended Hoffman's mother at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Originally on loan from a gallery in New York City,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the statue was permanently installed outside the George Eastman Museum in 2023. Hoffman’s mother, Marilyn O'Connor, called the sculpture "a loving memorial" to her son.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Clear

References

External links

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Philip Seymour Hoffman collected news and commentary at The New York Times

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Philip Seymour Hoffman

Contents

Early life and education