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Philip Seymour Hoffman (born July 23, 1967) is an Academy Award-winning American actor.

Early life

Hoffman was born in Fairport, New York to Gordon S. Hoffman, a former Xerox executive, and Marilyn O'Connor, a family court judge; 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 heritage; his father was Protestant and his mother was Catholic, but he was not raised heavily in either religion. Hoffman's parents divorced when he was nine years old.

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.

Television and film career

One of Hoffman's earliest major roles was as a defendant in a 1990 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 all four 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.

He 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 a villainous arms dealer 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 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 so on.

He received his first Emmy Award nomination for the HBO miniseries Empire Falls, but lost to fellow 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 Nobody's Fool (1994).

Capote and subsequent awards

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.

Stage career

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. Hoffman has also distinguished himself as a director with off-Broadway projects such as Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living, 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.

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. According to Us Weekly, they are expecting a second child in November 2006.

Filmography

• Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole (1991) – Klutch
• Szuler (1992)
• My New Gun (1992) – Chris
• Leap of Faith (1992) – Matt
• Scent of a Woman (1992) – George Willis, Jr.
• Joey Breaker (1993) – Wiley McCall
• My Boyfriend's Back (1993) – Chuck Bronski
• Money for Nothing (1993) – Cochran
• The Getaway (1994) – Frank Hansen
• The Yearling (1994) (TV) – Buck
• When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) – Gary
• Nobody's Fool (1994) – Officer Raymer
• The Fifteen Minute Hamlet (1995) – Bernardo, Horatio & Laertes
• Hard Eight (1996) – young craps player
• Twister (1996) – Dustin Davis
• Boogie Nights (1997) – Scotty J.
• Culture (1998) – Bill
• Montana (1998) – Duncan
• Next Stop Wonderland (1998) – Sean
• The Big Lebowski (1998) – Brandt
• Happiness (1998) – Allen
• Patch Adams (1998) – Mitch Roman
• Flawless (1999) – Rusty Zimmerman
• Magnolia (1999) – Phil Parma
• The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) – Freddie Miles
• Last Party 2000 (2000) – himself
• State and Main (2000) – Joseph Turner White
• Almost Famous (2000) – Lester Bangs
• Love Liza (2002) – Wilson Joel
• Punch-Drunk Love (2002) – Dean Trumbell
• Red Dragon (2002) – Freddy Lounds
• 25th Hour (2002) – Jacob Elinsky
• Owning Mahowny (2003) – Dan Mahowny
• Cold Mountain (2003) – Reverend Veasey
• Along Came Polly (2004) – Sandy Lyle
• Strangers with Candy (2005) – Henry, Board Of Education
• Empire Falls (2005) (miniseries) – Charlie Mayne
• Capote (2005) – Truman Capote – ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
• Mission: Impossible III (2006) – Owen Davian
• The Savages (2007) – Jon Savage
• Synecdoche, New York (2007)