Dustin Hoffman

Born on: August 8, 1937

Born in: Los Angeles, California

Nationality: American

Education: Graduated from Los Angeles High School

Career: Actor

 

Dustin Hoffman is a renowned name in the Hollywood arena. The actor made his debut in movies with ‘The Tiger Makes Out, in the year 1967. The same year, he also did ‘The Graduate’, for which he received the first awards of his life - BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award. Along with that, the film also won him an Academy Award nomination. Since then, he has never looked back and today, he holds two Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, three BAFTA Awards and one Emmy Award in his kitty, apart from numerous nominations.

 

Dustin Hoffman was born as ‘Dustin Lee Hoffman’, on 8^th August 1937, in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Harry Hoffman, a former-prop supervisor/set decorator at Columbia Pictures and a furniture salesman, and Lillian, a jazz pianist. He has a brother, Ronald, who is a lawyer and an economist. By origin, the family of Hoffman follows Jewish religion. However, his parents never gave him a very religious upbringing. As far as education is concerned, Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School, in 1955.

 

Initially, Hoffman started acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, with fellow actor Gene Hackman. After spending two years at the Playhouse, both the actors left for the New York City. During the starting years in NYC, he got only occasional bit-roles in TV and kept himself occupied by doing various odd jobs. In fact, he even stopped acting for a while and started teaching and working, as a professional fragrance tester for Maxwell House, in order to support himself. However, he kept coming in television commercial, every once in a while.

 

The year 1960 saw Hoffman bagging a role a role in an off-Broadway production. The lady luck smiled on him the next year too and he got a walk-on role in a Broadway production. During this time, he started studying at the famed Actors Studio and became a dedicated method actor. Till the mid-1960s, Hoffman was seen making appearances in television shows and movies. Side by side, he started teaching acting at a community college night school and even directing off-Broadway and community theater productions, to make some money.

 

It was in the year 1967 that Hoffman made his theatrical film debut, with the movie ‘The Tiger Makes Out’. After completing the shooting of the film, he went to Fargo (North Dakota), to direct ‘The Time of Your Life’, a William Saroyan's production, for the Emma Herbst Community Theatre. The same year, he acted in ‘The Graduate’ and for the movie, won a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award, apart from an Academy Award nomination. In 1969, Hoffman was seen in Midnight Cowboy, for which he received his second Academy Award nomination.

 

Another one of his films that received wide critical acclaim, though did not manage to win any award or nomination except BAFTA Award nomination, was ‘Little Big Man’. Throughout the decade of the 1970s Hoffman continued to appear in a number of major films, many of which won him awards and nominations. Less than two years after the Watergate scandal, Hoffman starred as Carl Bernstein, in ‘All the President's Men’. He won his first Academy Award in the year 1979, for the movie ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’.

 

In 1982, Hoffman starred in Tootsie, which earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Hoffman's fifth one. The year 1985 saw him winning an Emmy Award, for ‘Outstanding Lead Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries’, for ‘Death of a Salesman’. This was followed by his second Academy Award, given to him for ‘Rain Man’ (1986). The movie also got Hoffman a Golden Globe, apart from BAFTA Award nomination. The most unsuccessful film of his career was Elaine ‘May's Ishtar’, which got nominated for three Razzie awards.

 

Throughout the 1990s, Hoffman appeared in many large, studio films, including ‘Dick Tracy’, ‘Hero’, etc. ‘Hook’, ‘Outbreak’, ‘Sleepers’ and ‘Mad City’ were some of his other successful films. The seventh Academy Award nomination for him came with ‘Wag The Dog’ (1997). ‘Sphere’, ‘Confidence’, ‘Runaway Jury’, ‘Finding Neverland’, ‘Meet the Fockers’ and ‘Lost City’ came in the following years. His last film was ‘Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium’ (2007). ‘The Tale of Despereaux’ and ‘Last Chance Harvey’, about to be released in 2008, are in the post-production phase.

 

Hoffman married Anne Byrne in May 1969 and the couple was blessed with two children, Karina and Jenna. The marriage came to an end, with a divorce, in 1980 and the same year, he married Lisa Gottsegen, an attorney. With his second wife, Hoffman has four children, Jacob, Maxwell, Rebecca and Alexandra. Right now, he is the grandfather of two kids. He is a political liberal and has long supported the Democratic Party and Ralph Nader. Hoffman is great friends with actor Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall.

 

 

1967 - Won BAFTA and Golden Globe Award (The Graduate), Academy Award Nomination (The Graduate) 

1969 - Won BAFTA Award (Midnight Cowboy, John and Mary), Golden Globe Nomination (Midnight Cowboy, John and Mary), Academy Award Nomination (Midnight Cowboy)

1970 - BAFTA Award Nomination (Little Big Man)

1974 - Golden Globe Nomination (Lenny), Academy Award Nomination (Lenny)

1976 - BAFTA Award Nomination (All the President's Men and Marathon Man), Golden Globe Nomination (Marathon Man)

1979 - Won Academy Award and Golden Globe Award (Kramer vs. Kramer), BAFTA Award Nomination (Kramer vs. Kramer)

1982 - Won BAFTA and Golden Globe Award (Tootsie), Academy Award Nomination (Tootsie)

1985 - Won Emmy and Golden Globe Award (Death of a Salesman)

1988 - Won Academy Award and Golden Globe Award (Rain Man), BAFTA Award Nomination (Rain Man)

1991 - Golden Globe Nomination (Hook)

1997 - Golden Globes - Cecil B. DeMille Award, Golden Globe and Academy Award Nomination (Wag the Dog)

 

 

1967 - The Tiger Makes Out, The Graduate

1968 - Madigan's Millions

1969 - Sunday Father, Midnight Cowboy, John and Mary

1970 - Little Big Man

1971 - On Location: Dustin Hoffman, Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, Straw Dogs

1972 - Alfredo, Alfredo 

1973 - Papillon

1974 - Lenny

1976 - The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People, All the President's Men, Marathon Man

1978 - Straight Time

1979 - Agatha, Kramer vs. Kramer

1982 - Tootsie

1985 - Death of a Salesman

1986 - Private Conversations

1987 - Ishtar

1988 - Rain Man

1989 - Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, Family Business

1990 - Dick Tracy

1991 - Billy Bathgate, Hook

1992 - Hero, Horton Hears a Who!

1994 - Jonas in the Desert

1995 - Outbreak

1996 - American Buffalo, Sleepers

1997 - Mad City, Wag the Dog

1998 - Sphere

1999 - The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc

2001 - Tuesday, Goldwyn

2002 - Moonlight Mile 

2003 - The Shakespeare Sessions, Confidence, Runaway Jury

2004 - Freedom2speak v2.0, Finding Neverland, I ♥ Huckabees, Meet the Fockers, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

2005 - Racing Stripes, The Lost City
2006 - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Stranger than Fiction
2007 - Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium