Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Actor

One of the most original, versatile, and steadily employed actors in Hollywood, Phillip Seymour Hoffman has made a name for himself playing some of the most dysfunctional characters in movie history. He won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture for his portrayal of Truman Capote in Capote.

Although he had been acting for years, most audiences were first introduced to the actor in the award-winning Boogie Nights, where he played a nebbishy soundman with a jones for Mark Walhberg’s character Dirk Diggler. Imbuing his character with both humor and poignant complexity, Hoffman was on of the more memorable aspects of an unforgettable film.

Born in Fairport, NY in 1967, Hoffman trained at New York’s Tisch School of Drama. After his breakthrough performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, he appeared in the Robin Williams comedy Patch Adams and the same year starred in two critically acclaimed independent films, Todd Solondz’s Happiness and Brad Andersen’s Next Stop Wonderland.

Mr. Hoffman’s portrayal of upper-crust snob Freddie Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley earned him strong notices from many critics. Hoffman’s peers awarded him with a Screen Actor’s Guild nomination for his role as a cross dresser in Flawless opposite Robert De Niro. He returned to the Broadway stage with fellow Anderson regular, John C. Reilly, to play very different brothers in Sam Shepard’s True West. They took a risk by switching the lead roles every three days. Their hard work earned critical raves, and each was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2000, Cameron Crowe cast Hoffman as Crowe’s childhood hero, Lester Bangs, in Almost Famous, and David Mamet tapped him to be part of the impressive ensemble in State and Main.

In 2005, Mr. Hoffman received his greatest acclaim for his portrayal of the complex and idiosyncratic real-life author Truman Capote, mastering not only the character’s distinct body-language and speech but also hauntingly interpreting the subtle psychological and emotional self.