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| Birth Name(s) : Dustin Lee Hoffman |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
Anne Byrne Hoffman (1969-1980) |
| Profession:
N/A |
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Full Dustin Hoffman Biography
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is a two-time Academy Award-winning, BAFTA-winning, and five-time Golden Globe-winning American method actor.
Hoffman performed at the Pasadena Playhouse for two years with fellow actor Gene Hackman, who were both voted notoriously by their class as "Least Likely To Succeed", as neither actor fit into the traditional norms of the blond, surf-tanned performers in demand at the time. Determined to prove his classmates wrong, Hackman headed for New York City and told Hoffman to call him if he were to come to there. Hoffman took Hackman up on his offer and soon after followed his friend to New York, where he worked a series of odd jobs, such as coat checking at restaurants, working in the typing department of the city Yellow Pages directory, or stringing Hawaiian leis, while getting the occasional bit television role. To support himself, he left acting briefly to teach. He also worked as a professional fragrance tester for Maxwell House. Dustin used to quip that if this acting thing didn't work out his proboscis-obnoxious would always find enough food for the table. In 1960, Hoffman landed a role in an off-Broadway production and followed with a walk-on role in a Broadway production in 1961.
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971) featured yet another Hoffman role completely different from the rest. In the film—a dark human drama comedy directed by Ulu Grosbard—Hoffman plays a sleep-deprived and highly successful rock, pop, commercial jingle, and musical composer who finds himself in a life-crisis when reflecting on his love relationships. An anonymous man named Harry Kellerman begins to spread ridiculous lies about him.
Next was Straw Dogs. In his second film since The Wild Bunch, director Sam Peckinpah created one of the most startling depictions of societal violence ever on film. Hoffman (against his will, committed by contract) portrayed David, an American who moves with his wife (Susan George) to her home village in rural England, surrounded by violent men with lustful intentions. The film depicts graphically the primality of physical and sexual violence to a shocking degree, a quality that polarized audiences and critics alike. The film has found a cult audience since the acceptance of Peckinpah as a revolutionary of film directing.
Originally to be his directorial debut, Straight Time was a pet project of Hoffman's ever since he read Edward Bunker's source novel. Hoffman opted out of directing the picture and instead handed it over to Harry Kellerman director Ulu Grosbard. Hoffman starred as a thief who, upon being released from prison, decides to go straight. His plans are thwarted by a parole officer who causes Hoffman to revert to a life of crime. The film was based on Bunker's experiences.
Hoffman starred opposite John Travolta in popular Greek director Costa Gavras' Mad City, a film about a man who takes a history museum hostage after losing his job. In the movie, Hoffman portrayed Max Brackett, a washed up reporter already in the museum when the event takes place and takes advantage of the situation as a way of reviving his career. Amongst negative reviews and terrible receipts, the film quickly left theatres and plunged into obscurity.
Working with Barry Levinson for the third time, Hoffman played the role of the fiendishly clever movie producer-turned-war producer Stanley Motes in Wag The Dog. The film (co-written by master writer David Mamet) found Robert De Niro playing Washington spin-doctor Conrad Brean, a man hired to invent a war in order to cover up a presidential sex scandal. When De Niro approaches Hoffman, he finds the solution slowly becoming just another big, fat problem.
Hoffman would finally have a chance to work with his friend of fifty years, Gene Hackman, in Gary Fleder's Runaway Jury, an adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling novel. In the film, John Cusack and Rachel Weisz portray two important factors in a large murder trial, one on the jury, working on the inside, and the other playing the outside. Hoffman portrays the plaintiff's attorney, while Hackman plays the jury consultant for the defense. In a pivotal and dramatic scene, Hoffman's and Hackman's characters have an argument in the court bathroom. The two friends rehearsed this scene for days. Receiving good reviews all round, the film performed somewhat poorly at the box office, failing to recoup its $60 million budget domestically.
The rock band Of Montreal made an album called The Early Four Track Recordings which tells a bizarre fictional story about Dustin Hoffman in the song titles, even though the songs themselves have nothing to do with the story. |
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