Dustin Lee Hoffman

Dustin Lee Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, United States on August 8, 1937. His parents were Lillian and Harry Hoffman. He was raised with his brother in a relatively secular household. His brother is a lawyer and economist. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955 and enrolled at Santa Monica College with the intention of studying medicine but left after a year to join the Pasadena Playhouse. His acting career started at age 19, after completing college. He became friend of another young actor, Gene Hackman. Eventually, they both moved to New York City together, looking for work in television and in off-Broadway plays. He was not good-looking enough and had difficulty to get roles in film industry primarily looking for pretty faces. He took odd jobs and the occasional bit role. He later recounted: "I lived below the official American poverty line until I was 31". Slowly he began building a strong reputation through smaller roles. In 1966, Mike Nichols invited him to do a screen test for his upcoming movie "The Graduate". He was stunned when he knew that he had gotten the lead role in the film by beating out Hollywood heavyweights like Robert Redford and Charles Grodin. The very popular movie made him an unlikely star. Before returning to the big screen, the newly minted Academy Award nominee acted in a few Broadway productions, one of which earned him a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. In 1969, he struck gold again with the gritty Midnight Cowboy, in which he played the role of Ratso Rizzo, a homeless man in New York City. This performance garnered him a second Oscar nomination. In the 1970s, he was cast in several hit movies. He finally won an Academy Award for his performance in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), with co-star Meryl Streep also nabbing an Oscar. He was asked about working with the actress. He said, "She's an ox when it comes to acting. She eats words for breakfast. Working with her is like playing tennis with Chris Evert, she keeps trying to hit the perfect ball". In 1982, playing yet another antihero, he performed in Tootsie as Michael Dorsey, a down and out actor who must dress up as a woman to get a part on a daytime soap opera. He also perfomed at the stage plays like Death of a Salesman and in The Merchant of Venice. He appeared in the Hollywood break Rain Man (1988) alongside Tom Cruise. His charactor of an autistic genius earned him a second Academy Award and remains one of his most iconic performances. The 1990s brought appearances a series of big-budget movies that proved largely disappointing at the box office. His next critically acclaimed role come with the political satire Wag the Dog in 1997. Playing an unscrupulous Hollywood executive out to fool the public into thinking the country was at war, he scored yet another Oscar nomination. In 2004, he was starred with Lily Tomlin in an offbeat movie about a detective team that solves existential crises, I Heart Huckabees. He also appeared in the Ben Stiller comedies Meet the Fockers and Little Fockers (2010) and the children's fantasy Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007). He continues to perform in blockbuster films like Stranger than Fiction (2006). He also seeks out new and different projects, such as lending his voice to the animated children's movies Kung Fu Panda and The Tale of Despereaux. He made his directorial debut in 2012 with Quartet and in 2014 he joined the ensemble cast of Jon Favreau's critically acclaimed Chef.