Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is the recipient of numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Hoffman has received numerous honors including the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1997, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012. Actor Robert De Niro described him as "an actor with the everyman's face who embodied the heartbreakingly human".
Hoffman studied at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music before he decided to go into acting, for which he trained at the Pasadena Playhouse. He received two Academy Awards for Best Actor for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), and Rain Man (1988). His other Oscar-nominated roles were for The Graduate (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Lenny (1975), Tootsie (1982), and Wag the Dog (1997). Other notable roles include in Little Big Man (1970), Papillon (1973), Marathon Man (1976), All the President's Men (1976), Ishtar (1987), Dick Tracy (1990), and Hook (1991).
In the 21st century, Hoffman has appeared in films such as Finding Neverland (2004), I Heart Huckabees (2004), and Stranger than Fiction (2006), as well as Meet the Fockers (2004) and the sequel Little Fockers (2010), and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017). Hoffman has done voice work for The Tale of Despereaux (2008) and the Kung Fu Panda film series (2008–2016). In 2012, he made his directorial debut with Quartet.
Hoffman made his Broadway debut in the 1961 play A Cook for Mr. General. He subsequently starred as Willy Loman in the 1984 revival of Death of a Salesman and reprised the role a year later in a television film earning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. In 1989 he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination for his role as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. He received three Drama Desk Awards for his performances in Eh? (1967), Jimmy Shine (1969) and Death of A Salesman (1984).
Dustin Lee Hoffman was born on August 8, 1937, in Los Angeles, California, the younger of two sons of Harry Hoffman (1908–1987) and Lillian (née Gold; 1909–1982). His father worked as a prop supervisor (set decorator) at Columbia Pictures before becoming a furniture salesman.
Hoffman was named after stage and silent screen actor Dustin Farnum. He has an elder brother Ronald, who is a lawyer and economist. Hoffman is Jewish, from an Ashkenazi Jewish family of immigrants from Kyiv, Ukraine (then a part of the Russian Empire), and Iași, Romania. The family's surname was spelled Гойхман (Goikhman) in the Russian Empire.
Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955 and enrolled at Santa Monica College with the intention of studying medicine. But he decided to become an actor, leaving the next year to join the Pasadena Playhouse, although when he told his family about his career goal, his Aunt Pearl warned him, "You can't be an actor. You are not good-looking enough." He also studied with Lee Strasberg and has stated that he did not study with either Sanford Meisner or Stella Adler.
His first acting role was at the Pasadena Playhouse, alongside future Academy Award–winner Gene Hackman. After two years there, Hackman headed for New York City, with Hoffman soon following. Hoffman, Hackman, and Robert Duvall lived together in the 1960s, whilst all three of them focused on finding acting jobs. Hackman remembers, "The idea that any of us would do well in films simply didn't occur to us. We just wanted to work". Hoffman's appearance—Duvall described him as Barbra Streisand in drag—and small size made him uncastable, Vanity Fair later wrote. During this period, Hoffman got occasional television bit parts, including commercials but, needing income, he briefly left acting to teach.
After meeting in 1963, Hoffman married Anne Byrne in May 1969. He adopted Karina (b. 1966), Byrne's child from a previous marriage, and with Byrne had daughter Jenna (born October 15, 1970). In 1970, Hoffman and Byrne were living in Greenwich Village in a building next door to a townhouse occupied at the time by members of the Weathermen, when a bomb was accidentally detonated in the townhouse's basement, killing three. In the 2002 documentary The Weather Underground, Hoffman can be seen standing in the street during the aftermath of the explosion. The couple divorced in 1980.
After Hoffman's separation, he began seeing Lisa Gottsegen, their families having had a relationship together growing up. She was finishing her Juris Doctor degree, and the couple married in October 1980. They have four children: Jacob Edward (born March 20, 1981), Rebecca Lillian (b. March 17, 1983), Maxwell Geoffrey (born August 30, 1984), and Alexandra Lydia "Ali" (born October 27, 1987). Hoffman has two grandchildren.
In an interview, he said that all of his children from his second marriage had bar or bat mitzvahs and that he is a more observant Jew now than when he was younger. He has also lamented that he is not fluent in Hebrew.
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- 1/2 pound pasta
- 4 strips bacon
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 1 large avocado, diced
- 1 cup tomato, diced
- 1/2 cup creamy guacamole dressing (see below)
- Cook the pasta as directed on the package before draining and running cold water over it to cool it.
- Meanwhile cook the bacon and set aside on paper towels to drain and cool before crumbling.
- Mix everything, toss in the dressing and enjoy!
- 1 medium avocado
- 1 small jalapeno
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1 lime, juice
- 1 green onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise (or greek yogurt)
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
- salt and pepper to taste
- Puree everything in a blender until smooth. Store in fridge and finish within a few days.
