Dustin Hoffmann

Hoffman in 1974

Dustin Lee Hoffman (Los Angeles, August 8, 1937), known artistically as Dustin Hoffman, is an American actor, comedian and director. A two-time winner of the Hollywood Film Academy Academy Award for Best Actor, Hoffman earned critical acclaim for starring in the play Eh?, for which he won a World Theater Award and a Drama Desk. This achievement was soon followed by his role in the 1967 film The Graduate. Since then, his career has largely focused on film, with sporadic returns to television. and to the stage. Some of his most notable films are: Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Straw Dogs, Papillon, Lenny, Marathon Man, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Hook and Wag the Dog. He made his directorial debut in 2012, with Quartet.

Along with two Oscars, Hoffman has been nominated five other times, was nominated for 13 Golden Globes, and won six (including one honorary award). He has won four BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Genie Award. Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award, in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors Award, in 2012.

Biography

Early Years

Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, the second child of Lillian (née Gold) and Harry Hoffman. His father worked as a supporting set decorator for Columbia Pictures before becoming a furniture salesman, Hoffman was named after silent film actor Dustin Farnum, and his older brother, Ronald, is a lawyer and economist. The Hoffman family is Ashkenazi Jewish with immigrants from Kiev, Ukraine, and Iași, Romania. His upbringing was non-religious. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955 and enrolled at Santa Monica College with the He intended to study medicine, leaving it after a year to join the Pasadena Playhouse. There he met Gene Hackman, another student who would become a well-known actor. When he had already acquired basic acting training, he decided to go to New York to try his luck in the theater.

Career

In New York, Hoffman had to do some unconventional jobs to earn a living. On one occasion he landed a small role in a TV movie, and for one summer he toured with a second-rate theater company. He got discouraged and dedicated himself to teaching for a while. Finally, in 1960 he was offered a role in a play and the following year he acted in another. Despite this, he did not have enough income, so he did all kinds of jobs again. For several years he left the theater and enrolled at the famous Actor's Studio acting school, where he trained in "method acting" (in English method acting, an expression that refers to a method derived from the Stanislavski system).

In 1967 Hoffman's fortunes turned. He got his first role in the cinema, although it was small and also took part in a stage comedy, where Mike Nichols saw him and offered him the leading role in The Graduate . Although he was already thirty years old, Hoffman was very convincing as a young man fresh out of college. He got an Oscar nomination and became a very popular actor, especially with young audiences. Just two years later, Hoffman repeated his success when he starred opposite Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy, for which he earned his second Oscar nomination.

Hoffman's subsequent films were mostly standout hits. His performances were just as good in comedic roles as they were in dramatic roles. With the films Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man he won two Oscars. In 1974 he returned to the theater and was also successful. He has been involved in movies and miniseries for television, although his priority has always been cinema.

On August 6, 2013, he underwent surgery for cancer.

In 2022, he was introduced as part of the cast in Megalopolis, the new film by Francis Ford Coppola, reunited in the cast with Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Voight.

Disputes

Sexual harassment

As of late 2017, seven women accused Hoffman of sexual misconduct or assault, including Meryl Streep, Anna Graham Hunter, Wendy Riss Gatsiounis, Cori Thomas, Melissa Kester, Kathryn Rossetter, and an unnamed woman.

In this regard, Dustin Hoffman responded in 2017:

I have the utmost respect for women and I feel terribly ill if anything I could have done could have caused you discomfort. I'm sorry. It doesn't reflect who I am.

Dustin Hoffman

Filmography

Awards

Oscar Awards

BAFTA Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Awards of the Union of Actors

Emmy Awards

Tony Awards

San Sebastian International Film Festival

Venice International Film Festival