Philip Seymour Hoffman
Trivia:
Has twice been nominated for Broadway’s Tony Award: as Best Actor (Play) in 2000 for a revival of Sam Shepard’s “True West;” and as Best Actor (Featured Role -Play) in 2003 for a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
He had the flu the entire time he appeared in Almost Famous (2000).
Has appeared in all of Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies, but he did not appear in Anderson’s upcoming film, There Will Be Blood (2007).
BFA in Drama – New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (1989)
Has appeared in three films with Julianne Moore: Boogie Nights (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998), and Magnolia (1999). They each then went on to appear in separate film in the Hannibal Lecter series. Moore played Clarice Starling in Hannibal (2001), and Hoffman played Freddie Lounds in Red Dragon (2002).
In 2002, he appeared in 25th Hour (2002), opposite Edward Norton and Brian Cox; and in Punch-Drunk Love (2002), opposite Emily Watson. That same year, he appeared with both Norton and Watson in Red Dragon (2002), which was a remake of Manhunter (1986), in which Cox had appeared.
Grew up in upstate New York, outside of Rochester, in the village of Fairport.
When asked who his acting idols were, he named Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep and Christopher Walken.
Appears in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Red Dragon (2002). Both are remakes of earlier films (Plein soleil (1960) and Manhunter (1986)), and both feature him as a character named Freddie who is killed by the villain/title character.
As of 2008, he and Dustin Hoffman are the only two winners of best actor in a leading role at the Oscars to share a last name. Philip won for ‘Capote’ and Dustin won for ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ and ‘Rain Man’.
At NYU was a founding member of the notoriously short-lived and volatile theater company the Bullstoi Ensemble with actor Steven Schub and director Bennett Miller.
Beat Heath Ledger for an academy Award in the same category for Best Actor Academy Award in 2005 for his title role in Capote, and then lost out to the late great actor for the best supporting actor category in 2008 from his performance in Doubt to Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight.
Is one of eight actors to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Geoffrey Rush for Shine (1996), Benicio Del Toro for Traffic (2000), Jamie Foxx for Ray(2004), Forest Whitaker for The Last King in Scotland (2006), Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007), Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007), and Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008).
