Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman Bio

Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. 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. Among his numerous accolades are two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. He was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1997, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012.

Early Life and Background

Dustin Lee Hoffman was born on August 8, 1937, in Los Angeles, California, the younger of two sons of Harry Hoffman and Lillian Hoffman. His father worked as a prop supervisor at Columbia Pictures before becoming a furniture salesman. Hoffman was named after stage and silent screen actor Dustin Farnum, and he has an elder brother named Ronald, who became a lawyer and economist. Hoffman is Jewish, from an Ashkenazi family with roots in the Russian Empire and Romania, and his upbringing was largely nonreligious.

He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955 and enrolled at Santa Monica College intending to study medicine. While there, he took an acting class on a whim and caught the acting bug, eventually deciding to pursue performance full time. He left Santa Monica College the following year to study at the Pasadena Playhouse, the school where his interest in acting first took root. He also later studied with Lee Strasberg as a dedicated method actor.

Path to Acting

After two years at the Pasadena Playhouse, Hoffman joined his classmates, including future Oscar winner Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall, in moving to New York City in the early 1960s to find work. The three lived together while struggling to land acting jobs, with Hoffman’s appearance and small frame making him difficult to cast. He supplemented his early theater work with occasional television bit parts and commercials, and at one point briefly left acting to teach.

He made his Broadway debut in 1961 with A Cook for Mr. General, and went on to appear in off-Broadway productions and summer stock theater throughout the mid-1960s. His performance in the 1966 off-Broadway play Eh? earned him his first Drama Desk Award and brought him to the attention of producers who would soon give him his first film roles.

Dustin Hoffman Career

Early Career (1960-1969)

Hoffman made his film debut in the 1967 black comedy The Tiger Makes Out alongside Eli Wallach. That same year, he was cast in his breakthrough role as Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate, a performance that earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. The film became a cultural touchstone and turned Hoffman into a star of the New Hollywood movement.

He followed The Graduate with Midnight Cowboy in 1969, playing the ill-fated Ratso Rizzo opposite Jon Voight. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Hoffman’s performance earned him a second Best Actor nomination, cementing his standing as one of the most exciting actors of his generation.

Breakthrough (1970-1989)

The 1970s saw Hoffman take on a string of ambitious projects, including Little Big Man (1970), Papillon (1973), and Lenny (1974), the last of which brought him another Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of comedian Lenny Bruce. He continued to work at a high level through the decade with Marathon Man (1976) and All the President’s Men (1976), in which he portrayed Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein opposite Robert Redford as Bob Woodward.

In 1979, Hoffman starred in Kramer vs. Kramer as a father navigating a custody battle, winning his first Academy Award for Best Actor. Nearly a decade later, he took on the role of Raymond Babbitt, an autistic savant, in Barry Levinson’s Rain Man (1988) opposite Tom Cruise, earning his second Academy Award for Best Actor. Other defining performances of the era include Tootsie (1982), which brought him a fifth Oscar nomination, and the 1984 Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, a role he reprised in a 1985 television film that won him an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe.

Notable Works and Milestones

Among Hoffman’s most celebrated screen performances are The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, and Rain Man, the last two of which earned him Academy Awards. His career is also marked by signature stage work, including his 1984 Willy Loman and his 1989 turn as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, the latter of which brought him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play.

Dustin Hoffman Award Nominations

Across his career, Hoffman has received seven Academy Award nominations for Best Actor: The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, and Wag the Dog. He has also earned multiple Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations, a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play, and a British Independent Film Award nomination for Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.

Dustin Hoffman Awards Won

Hoffman has won two Academy Awards for Best Actor, for Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man, along with four BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Drama Desk Awards. His lifetime honors include the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1997, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, an Honorary César in 2009, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012, and a 2017 Gotham Awards Actor Tribute.

Dustin Hoffman Family

Hoffman was born to Harry Hoffman, a former set decorator at Columbia Pictures who later became a furniture salesman, and Lillian Hoffman. He has an older brother, Ronald, who works as a lawyer and economist. Hoffman was married to Anne Byrne from 1969 until their divorce in 1980, and he married Lisa Gottsegen in 1980. He is a father of six children: Karina, Jenna, Jacob Edward, Rebecca Lillian, Maxwell Geoffrey, and Alexandra Lydia.

Personal Life

Hoffman has been married to Lisa Gottsegen since 1980, after his previous marriage to Anne Byrne ended in divorce. He has noted that 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, though he has lamented that he is not fluent in Hebrew. In 2013, he was successfully treated for cancer.