Dustin Hoffman

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Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman, 1989
Born	Dustin Lee Hoffman August 8, 1937 (1937-08-08) (age 70) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active	1967 ─ present
Spouse(s)	Anne Byrne (1969 ─ 1980) Lisa Gottsegen (1980 ─ present)
Awards won Academy Awards Best Actor 1979 Kramer vs. Kramer 1988 Rain Man BAFTA Awards Best Newcomer 1969 The Graduate Best Actor 1970 John and Mary ; Midnight Cowboy 1984 Tootsie Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries/Movie 1986 Death of a Salesman Golden Globe Awards Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor 1968 The Graduate Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 1980 Kramer vs. Kramer 1989 Rain Man Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1983 Tootsie Best Actor - Miniseries/TV Movie 1986 Death of a Salesman Cecil B. DeMille Award 1997 Lifetime Achievement Other Awards NYFCC Award for Best Actor 1979 Kramer vs. Kramer Honorary Golden Berlin Bear 1989 Lifetime Achievement Career Golden Lion 1996 Lifetime Achievement AFI Life Achievement Award 1999 Lifetime Achievement

Dustin Lee Hoffman^[1] (born August 8, 1937)^[1] is a two-time Academy Award-, six-time Golden Globe-, three-time BAFTA- and Emmy Award-winning American actor.

[edit] Early life

Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California,^[1] the son of Lillian (née Gold), a jazz pianist, and Harry Hoffman, who worked as a prop supervisor/set decorator at Columbia Pictures before becoming a furniture salesman.^[2][3] His brother, Ronald, is a lawyer and economist. Hoffman's family was Jewish, although he did not have a religious upbringing.^[4][5]He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955.

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Hoffman began acting at the Pasadena Playhouse with fellow actor Gene Hackman. After two years at the playhouse, Hackman headed for New York City and Hoffman soon followed. He worked a series of odd jobs, including coat checking at restaurants, working in the typing department of the city Yellow Pages directory, and stringing Hawaiian leis, while getting the occasional bit television role. To support himself, he left acting briefly to teach. He worked as a professional fragrance tester for Maxwell House. He also did the occasional television commercial. An oft-replayed segment on programs that explore actors' early work is a clip showing Hoffman touting the Volkswagen Fastback.

In 1960, Hoffman landed a role in an off-Broadway production and followed with a walk-on role in a Broadway production in 1961. Hoffman then studied at the famed Actors Studio and became a dedicated method actor.

Through the early and mid-1960s, Hoffman made appearances in television shows and movies, including Naked City, The Defenders and Hallmark Hall of Fame. Hoffman made his theatrical film debut in The Tiger Makes Out in 1967, alongside Eli Wallach.

Between acting jobs, Hoffman also made ends meet by teaching acting at a community college night school, and by directing off-broadway and community theater productions. In 1967, immediately after wrapping up principal filming on The Tiger Makes Out, Hoffman flew from New York City to Fargo, North Dakota, where he directed a production of William Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life" for the Emma Herbst Community Theatre. The $1,000 he received for the eight-week contract was all he had to hold him over until the funds from the movie materialized.

[edit] Mainstream roles

In 1966, Mike Nichols began casting The Graduate. Negotiations with Warren Beatty and Robert Redford fell through, and Hoffman auditioned for the role. Before Hoffman, Charles Grodin had also been in consideration for the role but, according to one anecdote, refused to work for the amount offered. Hoffman had been set to play the role of Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in Mel Brooks' 1968 movie The Producers, but dropped out when he landed the role of Benjamin Braddock, opposite Anne Bancroft. The film began production in March 1967. Hoffman received an Academy Award nomination for his performance. After the success of this film, another Hoffman film, Madigan's Millions, shot before The Graduate, was released on the tail of the actor's newfound success. It was considered a failure at the box office.

Hoffman's next role was Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman received his second Academy Award nomination for Midnight Cowboy, while the film won the Best Picture honor. This was followed by his role in Little Big Man, where he played Jack Crabb, who ages from teenager to the age of 121 years in the film. The film was widely praised by critics, but was overlooked for an award except for a supporting nomination for Chief Dan George.

Hoffman continued to appear in major films over the next few years. Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, Straw Dogs, and Papillon were followed by Lenny in 1974, for which Hoffman received third nomination for Best Actor in seven years.

Less than two years after the Watergate scandal, Hoffman and Robert Redford starred as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, respectively, in All the President's Men. Hoffman next starred in Marathon Man, a film based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, opposite Laurence Olivier as a sadistic former Nazi who plans to smuggle diamonds out of America.

Hoffman's next roles were not as successful. He opted out of directing Straight Time but starred as a thief. His next film, Michael Apted's Agatha, was opposite Vanessa Redgrave starring as Agatha Christie.

Hoffman's next starred in Robert Benton's Kramer Vs. Kramer as workaholic Ted Kramer whose wife unexpectedly leaves him and he must raise their son alone. Hoffman starred alongside Meryl Streep in the film, which earned Hoffman his first Academy Award. The film also received the Best Picture honor, as well as Supporting Actress (Streep) and Director.

In Tootsie, Hoffman portrays Michael Dorsey, a struggling actor who finds himself dressing up as a woman (Dorothy Michaels) to land a role on a soap opera. His co-star was Jessica Lange. Tootsie earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Hoffman's fifth nomination.

Hoffman then turned to television in the role of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, for which he won the 1985 Emmy Award for Outstanding lead actor in a TV movie or miniseries. He would also go on to win a Golden Globe for the same performance.

Hoffman's largest film failure came in Elaine May's Ishtar, with Warren Beatty. The film received almost complete negative reviews from critics and was nominated for three Razzie awards. James House, who later became a country music artist, served as Hoffman's vocal coach in the film.^[6]

In director Barry Levinson's Rain Man, Hoffman starred as Raymond Babbitt, opposite Tom Cruise. Levinson, Hoffman and Cruise worked for two years on the film, His performance garnered Hoffman his second Academy Award. Upon accepting, Hoffman stated softly to his fellow nominees that it was okay if they didn't vote for him because "I didn't vote for you guys either."^{[citation needed]}

After Rain Man, Hoffman appeared with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick in Family Business. The film did relatively poorly with the critics and at the box office. In 1991, Hoffman voiced the character of Mr. Bergstrom in the Simpsons episode Lisa's Substitute, under the pseudonym Sam Etic.

Throughout the 1990s, Hoffman appeared in many large, studio films, such as Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy, Hero and the ill-fated Billy Bathgate. Hoffman also played the title role of Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg's Hook, earning Hoffman a Golden Globe nomination. Hoffman played the lead role in Sam Daniels in Outbreak, alongside Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland. Following that, he appeared in Sleepers with Brad Pitt and Jason Patric. He starred opposite John Travolta in the Costa Gavras vehicle Mad City.

Hoffman gained his seventh Academy Award nomination for his role in Wag The Dog. He next appeared in Barry Levinson's adaptation of Sphere, opposite Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote, Queen Latifah and Liev Schreiber.

Hoffman next appeared in Moonlight Mile, followed by Confidence opposite Edward Burns, Andy Garcia and Rachel Weisz. Hoffman would finally have a chance to work with Gene Hackman, in Gary Fleder's Runaway Jury, an adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling novel.

More recently, Hoffman played theatre owner Charles Frohman in the J.M. Barrie biopic Finding Neverland, costarring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. In director David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees, Hoffman played opposite Lily Tomlin as an existential detective team.

Hoffman co-starred with Barbra Streisand, Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller in 2004's Meet the Fockers, a sequel to Meet the Parents. Hoffman won the 2005 MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. Also, Hoffman recently was featured in cameo roles in Andy Garcia's The Lost City and on the final episode of HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm's fifth season.

In 2006, Hoffman appeared in Stranger than Fiction, played the perfumier Giuseppe Baldini in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, and had a small cameo in the 2006 film, The Holiday.

In 2007 he was featured in an advertising campaign for Australian telecommunications company Telstra's Next G network.^[7], appeared in the 50 Cent video "Follow My Lead" as the psychiatrist, and played the title character in the family film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. In 2008, although he was reluctant to perform in an animated film, Hoffman had a prominent role in the acclaimed film, Kung Fu Panda which was praised in part for his excellent comedic chemistry with Jack Black.

[edit] Personal life

Hoffman, Gottsegen (left), and Jake Hoffman (right), at Joey Tierney at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week-Los Angeles (Photo: Ed Kavishe, Fashion Wire Press)

Hoffman married Anne Byrne in May 1969.^[8] The couple had two children, Karina and Jenna. They divorced in 1980.^[8] His second marriage to attorney Lisa Gottsegen in October 1980, produced four more children, Jacob, Maxwell, Rebecca and Alexandra. Hoffman also has two grandchildren. In an interview, he said that all of his children have had bar or bat mitzvahs and that he is more observant now than when he was younger, but also lamented that he does not have fluent Hebrew-language skills.

A political liberal, Hoffman has long supported the Democratic Party and Ralph Nader.^[9]

Robert Duvall was a roommate of Hoffman's during their struggling actor years in New York City. Duvall and Hoffman tease each other on the matter of acting training, as Duvall was trained by Sanford Meisner whereas Hoffman was brought up on Lee Strasberg's method acting. Hoffman is good friends with actor Gene Hackman, who was also friends with Duvall during their years as starving actors.

Hoffman on a talk show once stated that the Oscars were "obscene, dirty and no better than a beauty contest." When presenting an award at the 1974 Oscar ceremonies, Frank Sinatra responded strongly: "And contrary to what Mr. Hoffman thinks, it is not an obscene evening. It is not garish and it is not embarrassing".^[10]

[edit] Filmography and awards

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Dustin Hoffman

• Dustin Hoffman at the Internet Movie Database
• Dustin Hoffman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dustin Hoffman video interview at stv.tv, December 2007