French postcard by Editions La Malibran, Paris, no. MC 9. Photo: publicity still for Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969).
Dustin Hoffman (1937) is an Oscar–winning American actor with a career in film, television, and theater since 1960. Hoffman has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters. He has earned acclaim for his work in such films as The Graduate (1967), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988). Hoffman made his directorial debut with Quartet (2012).
Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1937. His parents were Lillian and Harry Hoffman. Although he is Jewish, Hoffman and his brother were raised in a relatively secular household. Hoffman's acting career began at age 19, when he dropped out of college to pursue the stage at the Pasadena Playhouse. There, Hoffman befriended another young actor, Gene Hackman. Eventually, the two would both move to New York City where they lived together with Robert Duvall, all three of them looking for work in television and off-Broadway plays. Hoffman studied at Actors Studio and became a dedicated method actor. To make ends meet, he took odd jobs and the occasional bit role. Slowly but surely, Hoffman began building a strong reputation through smaller roles. Hoffman acted in a few Broadway productions, including the play, Eh? in 1966, for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. Word of mouth soon reached Hollywood, and Hoffman made his film debut in The Tiger Makes Out (1967), alongside Eli Wallach. In 1966, director Mike Nichols auditioned Hoffman for a lead role in the Broadway musical The Apple Tree, but rejected him because he could not sing well enough and gave Alan Alda the part. But Nichols was so impressed with Hoffman's overall audition he cast him as Benjamin Braddock, who returns to his wealthy parents' home in California after graduating from college, in The Graduate (1967). This enormously popular movie changed the landscape of American cinema in the 1960s, and would in turn make Hoffman an unlikely star. In 1969, Hoffman struck gold again with the gritty Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969), in which he played the part of Ratso Rizzo, a homeless man in New York City. This performance garnered him a second Oscar nomination. Also in 1969, Hoffman co-starred with Mia Farrow in John and Mary (Peter Yates, 1969). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and received a 1970 BAFTA Award for his role, although the film received mixed reviews.
On a roll in the 1970s, Dustin Hoffman starred in several acclaimed movies, including Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, 1971), Papillon (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1973), and Lenny (Bob Fosse, 1974). Another highlight was the political thriller All the President's Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976) about the Watergate scandal, which starred Hoffman and Robert Redford as the real-life journalists, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Hoffman next starred in the thriller Marathon Man (John Schlesinger, 1976). based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, opposite Laurence Olivier and Roy Scheider He finally won an Academy Award for his performance in Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton, 1979), with co-star Meryl Streep also nabbing an Oscar. In 1982, playing yet another antihero, Hoffman starred in the comedy Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 1982) as Michael Dorsey, a down-and-out actor who must dress up as a woman to get a part on a daytime soap opera. Tootsie earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Hoffman's fifth nomination. Following a brief but successful return to the stage in Death of a Salesman and The Merchant of Venice, Hoffman starred in the Hollywood smash Rain Man (Barry Levinson, 1988) alongside Tom Cruise. Hoffman's portrayal of an autistic genius earned him a second Academy Award and remains one of his most iconic performances.
The 1990s brought Dustin Hoffman appearances in a series of big-budget movies that proved largely disappointing at the box office. He returned in the revenge drama/legal thriller Sleepers (Barry Levinson, 1996) with Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, and Kevin Bacon. Hoffman's next critically acclaimed role was in with the political satire Wag the Dog (Barry Levinson, 1997). Playing an unscrupulous Hollywood executive out to fool the public into thinking the country was at war, he scored yet another Oscar nomination. In 2004, Hoffman again exhibited his comedic prowess when he starred with Lily Tomlin in an offbeat movie about a detective team that solves existential crises, I Heart Huckabees (David O'Russell, 2004). Further cementing his new direction, he went on to appear in the Ben Stiller comedies Meet the Fockers (Jay Roach, 2004) and Little Fockers (Paul Weitz, 2010), and the children's fantasy Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (Zach Helm, 2007). Hoffman continues to star in blockbuster films like Stranger than Fiction (2006), but also seeks out new and different projects, such as lending his voice to the animated children's movies Kung Fu Panda and The Tale of Despereaux (both 2008). He made his directorial debut in 2012 with Quartet, and in 2014 he joined the ensemble cast of Jon Favreau's critically acclaimed Chef. In 2016, he won the International Emmy Award for Best Actor for his work on Roald Dahl's Esio Trot. In the fall of 2017, after the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment allegations rocked Hollywood, Hoffman became one of the actors forced to account for past behavior. Writer Anna Graham Hunter, who was 17 when she interned on the set of the Death of a Salesman TV movie in 1985, recounted the older actor asking about her sex life and groping her. In December, a new round of reports surfaced in which five women accused Hoffman of sexual assault or harassment, including accounts of the actor exposing himself and forced sexual activity. Hoffman denied. Apart from his successful professional work, Hoffman married Anne Byrne in 1969. He adopted her daughter, Karina, from a previous marriage, and in 1970 their second daughter, Jenna, was born. After more than 10 years of marriage, Hoffman and Anne divorced in 1980. Soon after, he married attorney Lisa Gottsegen. They would go on to have four children: Jacob Edward, Rebecca Lillian, Maxwell Geoffrey and Alexandra Lydia.
Sources: Biography.com, Wikipedia and IMDb.