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Actor Biography - Dustin Hoffman |
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Dustin Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, CA and attended Santa Monica Community College. He then began study at the Pasadena Playhouse before moving to New York to study with Lee Strasberg.
Hoffman first gained worldwide attention for his role as Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichols classic film, The Graduate. The Graduate was the first film for which Hoffman was given an Academy Award nomination.
Since The Graduate, Hoffman has been garnered six other Oscar® nominations. His award nominations came for his work in such classic films as Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, Tootsie, Wag the Dog, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Rain Man. Hoffman won the Oscar in 1979 for his acting in Kramer vs. Kramer and again in 1988 for Rain Man.
Hoffman has recently been seen in Jay Roach’s comedy Meet The Fockers, the sequel to Meet The Parents, starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Barbara Streisand, Blythe Danner, and Teri Polo. He also starred opposite Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg, Lily Tomlin, and Jason Schwartzman, in the comedy I Heart Huckabees. Hoffman’s voice can also be heard in Frederik Du Chau’s animated film, Racing Stripes. Racing Stripes’ cast includes Mandy Moore, Patrick Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Frankie Muniz, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Steve Harvey.
Hoffman also starred in Gary Fleder’s Runaway Jury with John Cusack, Gene Hackman, and Rachel Weisz. He worked with Edward Burns and Rachel Weisz in James Foley’s Confidence and starred opposite Jake Gyllenjaal and Susan Sarandon in Moonlight Mile. He was also recently seen in Finding Neverland, starrying Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.
The actors other film credits include: Little Big Man, All The President’s Men, Papillon, Straw Dogs, Marathon Man, Straight Time, Ishtar, Dick Tracy, Agatha, Billy Bathgate, Mad City, Hero, Sleepers, Sphere, American Buffallo, Hook, and Outbreak.
Outside of the silver screen, Hoffman is also an accomplished stage actor. His first theater role was in the Sarah Lawrence College Production of Gertrude Stein’s Yes is for a Very Young Man. It was due to his stage acting that Mike Nichols wanted to cast him in The Graduate. In 1984, Hoffman received a Best Actor Drama Desk Award for his powerful portrayal of Willy Loman in the Broadway revivial of Death of a Salesman. In addition to starring in and producing the production, a special television presentation of Death of a Salesman earned him an Emmy Award. Hoffman also received a Tony Award nomination for his role as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
