Philip Seymour Hoffman was a renowned film and stage actor, as well as a theater director, born in Fairport, a suburb of Rochester, New York, to Marilyn Loucks, a lawyer and judge, and Gordon Stowell Hoffman, a Xerox employee, with ancestry from Germany, Ireland, England, and the Netherlands.
Following his involvement in high school theater, Hoffman attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama in 1989.
Hoffman's feature film debut was in the indie production Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole in 1991, followed by his first major release role in My New Gun in 1992. He gained recognition for his supporting roles in films like Scent of a Woman, Twister, and Boogie Nights, which marked his breakthrough.
Hoffman became a prominent figure in indie cinema, earning acclaim for his performances in films such as Happiness, Flawless, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Magnolia, Almost Famous, and State and Main. He also appeared in big-budget features like Red Dragon, Cold Mountain, and Mission: Impossible III.
On stage, Hoffman received two Tony nominations for his performances in "True West" and "Long Day's Journey into Night." He was also a co-artistic director of the LAByrinth Theater Company and directed several productions, including "Our Lady of 121st Street," "In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings," and "Jesus Hopped the A Train."
Hoffman's performance in the title role of Capote earned him the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Actor and the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2006. He was known for his struggles with addiction, having previously checked into rehabilitation programs in 2006 and 2013.
Sadly, Hoffman was found dead on February 2, 2014, in an apartment in Greenwich Village, New York, with a syringe in his arm and two open envelopes of heroin next to him.
