Simply Dustin Hoffman
The unoffical website dedicated
to the American actor Dustin Hoffman
General
Name: Dustin Lee Hoffman
Gender: Male
Nationality: 
Date of birth: August 8th, 1937
Delivered at: The Queens of Angels Hospital
Place of birth: Los Angeles, CA (USA)
Parents:
Lillian Hoffman
Harry Hoffman
Spouse(s):
Anne Byrne Hoffman (1969 - 1980)
Lisa Gottsegen (1980 - Present)
Children:
Karina Hoffman/Birkhead
Jenna Hoffman/Byrne
Jake Hoffman
Rebecca Hoffman
Max Hoffman
Alexandra Hoffman
Grandchildren: Three
Daisy Joe (Jenna's)
Gus (Jenna's)
??? (Karina)
Siblings: Ronald Hoffman
Older brother Ronald Hoffman, wife Lisa and Dustin
Height: 5' 7" (1m70)
Zodiac: Leo
Chinese Zodiac: Ox
Religion: Jewish
Politics: Liberal/Democrat
MORE: Click on the picture to go to the page:
The Hoffman Kids
Here you can read a little info about Dustin Hoffman's children
Lisa Hoffman
Here you can read about Dustin Hoffman's second and current wife, Lisa Hoffman. There are some brief details about how they met, her work, and their life together
Early Life
Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, delivered at The Queens of Angels Hospital, in August of 1937 by Lillian Gold (A jazz pianist) and Harry Hoffman (A once prop supervisor/set decorator working for Columbian pictures). 
Hoffman was named after stage and silent screen actor Dustin Farnum, though his mother (in interviews) seems to say otherwise. As the Depression hit, his father was forced into working as a furniture salesman. His father tried to launch his own store called Harry Hoffman Furniture Company but it was short lived. Also due to the Depression, his mother had to leave her theater dreams behind her to raise Hoffman and his older brother. Their family was of Jewish background, but Hoffman remembers not having too much religious background and even says he didn't know he was Jewish until the age of ten, where he also learned that his father was an atheist. His mother set Hoffman up with a piano and a teacher from the age of five.
School
Due to wanting to please his peers and get cheap laughs, he was the class clown in Elementary school and a restless student who frustrated parents and teachers, who he remembers as old and cruel. With his poor grades he was first kicked out of school in the first grade, repeating these instances until the fourth. He remembers being very adventureous during the age around girls. In Junior High he was known for being one of the shortest students in school and even got the part of Tiny Tim in his school play, which (Due to wanting to get more laughs, said "God Bless 
us Everyone, Goddamit" during the play) he got expelled. In High school he admits to never being in the "It" crowd. He felt as though he never went from becoming cute to sexy and was very self-conscious about his looks, espiecally his nose. Contact with girls soon failed as he tried relationships but soon was used to rejection, not to mention an embarressing time when talking to a girl someone ran over and pulled down his pants. During these years, he harbored dreams of becoming a jazz musician, studying piano at with the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, but he eventually became frustrated with what he felt was his limited talent, giving up music in his late teens to try his hand at something else. It was because of this talent though that soon lead to his first meeting with his future wife, Lisa Gottsegen. At the age of seventeen, he played piano at a family friend's house where Lisa's mother was still pregneat with her. Ten years later, at the age of twenty-seven he came back and met the ten year old Lisa. Even at such a young age, after displaying ballet dances to Hoffman, she predicted to her mother she would marry him someday.
College Life When he graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, Hoffman enrolled at Santa Monica City College (Aparently because his grades weren't good enough for him to get into a university). He also did not want to join the military. Within a year though, he was in danger of flunking out. His major was in music, but his other academic courses he would fail. He was desperately looking for a way to boost his grades when a friend suggested an acting course, which would be an easy three credits and a guaranteed no-fail. Hoffman found much more than just an un-flunkable class. Hoffman admits he took it mostly to get the easy credits and to meet girls, but he found himself completely absorbed. He was not the greatest actor right out of the gate, but for the first time in his life, he found himself focusing for hours on end, completely oblivious of the clock that used to tick so ominously when he would practice piano or wade through schoolwork. After College After barely making it through a year at Santa Monica College, Hoffman convinced his parents to fund his newfound passion with tuition to the Pasadena Playhouse, where he became fast friends with fellow student Gene Hackman. At the time, the Playhouse was populated with square-jawed matinee types hoping to become the next Rock Hudson or Tab Hunter, while Hoffman and Hackman stood apart with their anti-establishment reverence for Beat poetry and Method acting. Factor in their average looks – and Hoffman’s 5’5” height – and they seemed destined for character actor status. They shared the stage in a number of productions over the next two years, including “Of Mice and Men” and “The Taming of the Shrew,” before Hackman heeded the call of New York City. Hoffman soon followed his friend. To this day though, the Pasadena Playhouse has recently closed due to the recession. It is planned to come back into buisness again though in the future. New York Dustin Hoffman arrived in New York in 1958 and spent his first few weeks too scared to leave Hackman and his wife’s postage stamp-sized apartment, where he spent nights nestled between the refrigerator and the bathtub. Eventually the newlyweds wanted their kitchen back and Hackman sent Hoffman to live with his friend Robert Duvall. The three remained close during the ensuing decade of Off-Off Broadway productions, workshop training, and odd jobs. They shared a dedication to the art of acting, playing bongos on rooftops in homage to their hero Marlon Brando, and resigning themselves to a broke, bohemian existence rich with meaning. Becoming movie stars was never even a goal for the budding thespians, who would have been happy scraping by in the low-profile nether regions far from the Great White Way. Jobs included being a waitor, which Hoffman was frequently fired from when he displayed a clever rudeness to the customer or not delivering drinks to tables on time. He also was a coat checker at Longacre Theater and a typer for the Yellow Pages for Reuben H. Donnelley, where he would act up around all the women. He had to work in loads of department stores such as Macy's just to earn income and even worked in a mental institution called New York Psychiatric Institute as an attendant. But it would be several years before Hoffman would grace even the smallest stages; instead starting his New York career working in a mental institution and typing phone books while auditioning for roles for which he was consistently rejected. By 1960, he was ready to give up acting altogether, when he finally landed onstage in one of Gertrude Stein’s final plays, “Yes is for a Very Young Man.” The following year, he had a small part on Broadway and his first walk-on TV role. Just as he was beginning to build some momentum, however, an accident left Hoffman hospitalized with burns so severe that he was not expected to live. Following extensive surgery, he was able to make a full recovery, but his brush with death made him more determined than ever to pursue his passion. The Actor's Studio When he was able to resume a normal life in New York, Hoffman wanted to gain admission into the famous Actor's Studio. In order to get into the studio, he had to go through preliminary auditions. He states he had never been so nervous in his life. Because he couldn't relax the audition was a disaster. He was rejected, but audtioned four more times until he almost decided to quit. Several months later another actor needed his help in a scene he was going to do in front of The Actors Studio. The actor had failed the audition but they had passed Dustin. Training with the Method acting legend Lee Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio. It was there would refined his technique as an actor and began to hone the dramatic approach that would become his trademark. In between classes he took unusal jobs in order to support his living. He spent a year onstage with the Theater Company of Boston before returning to the New York stage in 1965 in "Harry, Noon and Night.” He gained further theatrical experience as an assistant director on "A View From the Bridge” and as manager on the Broadway play “The Subject Was Roses" – both directed by Ulu Grosbard. All the while, the starving actor was hawking toys at Macy’s and waiting tables. In 1966, Hoffman began to receive critical recognition for his work, earning Drama Desk and Theater World Awards for the farce “Eh?” and an Obie for the war drama “Journey of the Fifth Horse,” which was recorded and shown on public television the same year. The Big Break The Graduate Little did Hoffman know that his years of Method training and his non-traditional looks would be tailor-made for the filmmaking renaissance that exploded in the late 1960s with character-based dramas that boldly explored the darker side of the American dream. Hoffman was among the establishing figures in “New Hollywood” when director Mike Nichols His career breakthrough was followed by a trip back to the unemployment line – where a Life magazine photographer happened to capture the unglamorous moment – before Hoffman returned to Broadway in Murray Shisgal’s “Jimmy Shine.” The film offers poured in, but most were pale “Graduate” variations and none captured Hoffman’s interest until John Schlesinger approached him for a very different role. Midnight Cowboy Advisors told Hoffman he was nuts for following up an Oscar-nominated starring role with a supporting one opposite some unknown named Jon Voight, but his instincts were spot on when it came time to choose his next project – Midnight Cowboy. 1970's On a definite roll moving into the 1970s, Hoffman starred in a new take on Wayne’s Western genre with the satirical Little Big Man earning a BAFTA nomination for the subtle anti-war protestation. This also earned him a spot on the Guinness Book of World Records for the greatest age span in one movie. Greenwich Village Townhouse Explosion In March 6th of 1970, Dustin escaped death yet again when a bomb went off next store to his apartment. Dustin at the time was out when the explosion took place, but his house was in ruins. The bomb was set off while it was being assembled by a radical group known as the Weatherman or Weather Underground. Three people were killed, all members of the leftist group. Mel Gussow, who's aparement was just above Dustin's, recalls the neighborhood always being peaceful and quiet. Dustin lived on the second floor in a garden apartment with his then wife Anne Byrne and his daughter Karina. Gussow recalls a certain isolation that revolved around Dustin and other celebrities around the area before the explosion though they had been friendly with them. Their daughters happened to be friends also and used to play inside the apartment. (To the right is a picture of Dustin in front of the explosion) Anne was only two months pregnant at the time and decided to go shopping with her daughter. Dustin then decided to leave the house and met them at 11:30, when forty five mintues later the townhouse next to theirs would explode. Though Dustin was out of the house, his daughter's babysitter was not. She was there when the fire place in the living room came crashing down. She recalls walking into the kitchen and telephoning Dustin about the accident. Then she went outside to wait for the fire department taking Dustin's pet terrior O.J. with her. As Gussow went into his apartment to grab some of his most valuable belongings, he and Dustin almost collided into each other at the entrance. Dustin was carrying out three modern paintings and Tiffany Lamp before the police stopped him. Some days perhaps after the explosion Dustin went The Dick Cavett Show, expressings his fear for his family and the country because of the bombers. Today, you can even spot Dustin standing in the streets in a documentary about the explosion called The Weather Underground. Here are some of Dustin's comments regarding the explosion: (On hearing his wife was a member of the activist group) "She never told me. I found out about a year later. I wasn't mad (because) she wasn't involved in (the Village blast)." To read more info or if you want to check my resources, you can go: In 1971, Dustin joined director Sam Peckinpah for Straw Dogs playing an expatriate mathematician caught up in escalating violence with local English toughs. It was possibly the most violent movie Hoffman had even been in, it's rape scene not only being the stuff of legend but controversy as well. Dustin's performance was still well received though. Papillon After Straw Dogs, Hoffman then turned to an opposite role of Steve McQueen in the prison escape drama Papillon. The story was possibly the closest to Midnight Cowboy, as it revolved around two men trying to escape a prison and finding a somewhat brotherly love with each other along the way. Dustin has commented on the difficulties of finding the character from the very start. The real life Degas from the book was actually comprised of several different people and the screenplay didn't help Dustin at all in helping to find the character. At one point of the making, Dustin had an idea of making his character somewhat blind, but the script did not support it. There was also a point during the production where he was so desperate to find the key that would unlock the character of Degas, he would study paintings of tortured i Marathon Man Hoffman was again recruited by John Schlesinger for the thriller “Marathon Man” in 1974, now portraying a troubled college student caught up in a conspiracy plot with former Nazi Laurence Olivier. He was partly chosen because he had the body of a runner, as he used to run track in high school. His specialty was long distance running. In 1974’s Lenny Hoffman was nominated for an Academy Award for his complex, multi-dimensional portrait of hard-driving social comedian Lenny Bruce. The same year he made his directorial debut on Broadway with Murray Schisgal's “All Over Town.” Hoffman tackled the portrayal of another real-life figure in the gripping Watergate docudrama, All the President's Men, playing aggressive young Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein who, along with Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) tirelessly unraveled the crimes of the Nixon administration. Straight Time, Dustin's next project, failed to attract popular attention, but Hoffman's acclaimed performance as a hard-core criminal stands as a hallmark of his approach to performance: one which eschews easy sentiment in favor of three-dimensional grit. Kramer vs. Kramer Hoffman scored both a critical and popular success in 1979 with Kramer vs. Kramer. In the film, his role as a father left to forge a relationship with his young son after his wife leaves them, hit close to home for the actor who was simultaneously struggling with the end of his own marriage. 1980's Tootsie His next outing, Tootsie was considerably more light-hearted but also explored the evolving role of gender in society. Hoffman’s well-informed performance as a struggling New York actor may have induced nostalgia, for he next returned to Broadway for a revival of Death of a Salesman, winning a Drama Desk Award, but curiously overlooked by the Tony committee for his run as Willy Loman in the Arthur Miller classic. Competing with the ghost of Lee J. Cobb's original stage performance, some found Hoffman too slight and too young – ignoring the fact that he was almost a decade older than Cobb when he played the role on Broadway. However, a taped version of the play aired on CBS in 1985 and Hoffman was recognized with Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. Sadly, a charming Elaine May script called Ishtar suffered from highly-publicized budgetary failures, forever tarnishing the enjoyable Dustin Hoffman/Warren Beatty comedy about a pair of cut-rate lounge singers. Rain Man Returning to the beloved immediacy of the stage, Hoffman next enjoyed a long run on London’s West End as Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice.” In 1990, he reprised the role on Broadway, receiving a Tony nomination. There was no question that Hoffman had a solid reputation as one of America's greatest actors, but even his high performance standards were not enough to boost a string of failures like Family Business, Dick Tracy and Hero. 1990's In Steven Spielberg’s lavish but uneven update of the Peter Pan Hook Hoffman's villain was more comical than menacing to critics and though curiously successful overseas, Hook was seen as a flop at home. Years later though it is still considered a somewhat cult classic, and many have turn into Dustin Hoffman fans just because of the role. Hoffman bounced back in a surprisingly traditional heroic role in the hit thriller Outbreak. As a military specialist in epidemiology, Hoffman's serious and dedicated Colonel Sam Daniels was a thorn in the side of Army brass but the best man for the job when an unknown virus in the African rain forest spreads to the United States. Hoffman reunited with director Barry Levinson for a three-picture run beginning with Sleepers, in which the actor offered a scene-stealing turn as a pony-tailed defense lawyer with substance abuse problems. Sphere teamed Hoffman with Sharon Stone, Samuel L Jackson and Peter Coyote as scientists on an underwater mission investigating the crash of a possible alien spacecraft. In 1999, Hoffman produced his first feature, the Vietnam era family portrait A Walk on the Moon, and was honored by the American Film Institute in "A Tribute to Dustin Hoffman," a televised ceremony during which he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. 2000's What should have been a career highlight was followed by several years of doubt and anxiety over his work. Having temporarily lost his spark, Hoffman reevaluated his career as an actor in his mid-50s and toyed with ideas of writing and directing. Ultimately, he decided to cast aside many of his self-imposed limitations and approach offers with a new openness and renewed zeal for his art. He returned with a run of wonderful, mature dramas beginning with Moonlight Mile, where he played half of a married couple grieving over the death of their daughter with the aid of her fiancé, Jake Gyllenhaal. He was surprisingly intimidating as a nightclub owner and crime boss in the neo-noir caper Confidence For the first time opposite longtime friend Gene Hackman in Runaway Jury, In the adaptation of the John Grisham bestseller, Hoffman played a courtly Southern attorney drawn into a deadly confrontation over the attempts of a ruthless jury manipulator (Hackman) to influence the verdict of a case. Hoffman joined the cast of writer-director David O. Russell's eccentric I Heart Huckabees, playing opposite Lily Tomlin as a husband-and-wife team of "existential detectives." The movie didn't receive many good reviews as the plot confused the viewers and critics. Hoffman even admits that the plot was even hard for him to understand when he first read the script. He continued his career upswing with a supporting turn in Finding Neverland as the nervous but charming financier of "Peter Pan" creator J.M. Barrie, only thirteen years prior from when he first played Captain Hook in Hook. There was actually a scene in the script where his character was suppose to dress up in a Captain Hook costume, but Hoffman said to the director that he was not playing Hook again. Hoffman earned equal comedic accolades for Stranger Than Fiction and his considerably more understated performance as a literary expert enlisted to help the protagonist identify the author he hears narrating his own life in his head. The pair’s rapid-fire exchanges were among the film’s comedic highlights and the movie received many positive reviews. Hoffman infact recalls being extremely proud of his work in the film. Hoffman’s next work was a role as a French perfume maker in the stylish period thriller Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. It was well-reviewed though little-seen in the United States; the film however was a box office hit internationally. He returned to mainstream cinema in the cartoonish title role of Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. A film about an enchanted toy store and its 243-year-old proprietor. Unfortunately, the suspiciously “Willy Wonka”-like tale failed to inspire critics – though its whimsical promise lured a fair amount of families to the multiplex. Hoffman actually thought his work as a serious actor was over when he was approached to voice a character in the animated comedic movie Kung Fu Panda."The film received many good reviews and success though as Hoffman played a kung fu fighting red panda. Hoffman delivered a comically touching performance in Last Chance Harvey, playing a down-and-out jingle writer 2010's At the current moment Dustin is working on a new HBO Television series called "Luck." He's also involved with another three movies. 
improbably cast the unknown in The Graduate. Despite playing a protagonist that the novel characterized as a tall, blonde, athletic New England blueblood, Hoffman happened to possess the perfect blend of awkwardness, goofiness, and disaffected melancholy in his portrayal of Benjamin Braddock — a recent college graduate reluctant to sign up for the empty, post-Atomic lifestyle of his cocktail chugging parents. Benjamin’s complicated relationship with the older generation – further complicated by an affair with family friend Mrs. Robinson – resonated strongly with young audiences battling with their own value systems. Due to his career-making performance in this – his first of many hit films – Hoffman became a symbol of that generation, despite being 30 years old when the film was released. For skillfully navigating the treacherous strait between satiric caricature and Method drama, Hoffman received an Academy Award nomination for his subtly hilarious yet profoundly moving performance. Hoffman’s payday for the landmark film was paltry – a concession he had made in order to avoid signing a multi-picture deal that would put him at the mercy of the studio. 
Because of The Graduate, Dustin had a sense that critics looked at his role in the movie as a fluke. A performance that anyone could do and Dustin was just lucky enough to get the part. To prove these critics wrong and show he was a character actor and a true artist, Dustin ignored all the voices telling him not to take the role and took it. In order to hide his all American image to the casting directors, he would dress up as a homeless man begging people for money nearby as he made dates to met the crew. The absorbing film adaptation of Leo Herlihy’s novel about a pair of desperate outsiders barely surviving New York’s sordid underbelly became a landmark of American cinema. Hoffman was again nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo, a limping, tubercular nickel-and-dime conman who forms an unlikely support system with a Texas hustler (Voight). Upon Hoffman’s second nomination, a Life magazine cover featured a sketch of Hoffman and fellow nominee John Wayne, with the headline "A Choice of Heroes.” The Academy was apparently not ready to embrace the new face of Hollywood; instead awarding the statue to Wayne. Dustin has commented on John Wayne's win saying he, himself, rooted for Wayne and was happy it ended how it did. 
(To the left is a picture of Ethan Gussow and Karina Hoffman in the Gussow home during the holidays.) 
mages, mainy ones belonging to that of Francis Bacon. However, the trick failed to work for him and that key was never found. Because of the emotional demands of the role (and the new tropical climate they were filming in), he lost twenty pounds. Though Dustin still states that even though Degas was his most challenging roles (at that time) it was also one of his favorites. When it came out, the movie was a box office hit. However, the critics weren't as nice towards the movie. Many said it lacked depth and beauty that it pretended to have. Though Dustin got some positive reviews from his performance, Steve McQueen usually got the praise. Dustin was usually criticized for his performance not only being too flat but also it being too much like his character in the stage play Journey Of the Fifth Horse. Critics seemed to have agreed with Dustin in that Degas was a very two dimensional character due to the screenplay, but claimed it was Dustin's fault for not bringing this character to life. Even though the movie is still to this day somewhat unkown and underrated, it is still considered a great movie with two brilliant performances. The movie is even listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. 
Nothing worried Dustin more than his age. He was going to be playing a college student while he was slowly making his way into his forties. Dustin, as he did in every movie, did everything in his power to find the key to his character to the point where, sometimes, it even annoyed the crew. When the movie came out, the reviews weren't good. The film was cited as being too violent and one of the worst disappointments of the year. The box office returns were just as bad. It is said the story's main problem is the complex plot. Dustin's performance was usually praised though, and many years later the movie is remembered as one of the best thrillers of all time, making number fifty on The American Film Institute 100 Thrillers. The "Is it safe?" scene is particularly famous and has underwent many spoofs. Also out of Marathon Man came one of the greatest stories told around acting circles. To read more about this go to Miscellaneous and Try Acting. 
Dustin was reported as saying that he did not want the part in the beginning because, reflecting back on his own experiance of divorce, he didn't feel the material was as deep as it really should've been. There would then be long sessions where he, along with the director, helped to rewrite the script. He would later be asked to also share credit but denied it, which he states he now regrets. During the production, Dustin (along with some other cast members) would exercise the art of improvisation. Such scenes included the diner scene where Hoffman mets up with Streep. Nowhere in the script did it tell about Hoffman's character chucking his glass at the wall. Dustin did it without telling anyone, except the camera man, and there on the screen you have Meryl Streep's real surprised reaction. He was nominated for a academy award and, for the first time since The Graduate, won the Oscar, beating out other actors such as Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon. During his acceptance speech he was noted as thanking his parents for not practicing birth control. Finally, after turning in over a decade of incredible performances, he received his first Oscar for his painfully honest portrait.
The story – developed by Hoffman and Shisgal with an uncredited Elaine May – revolved around a desperate unemployed actor who masquerades as a woman in order to get a part on a soap opera, and unwittingly becomes a role model of the liberated, modern woman. For the film, Dustin was required to sit for hours in makeup as he was made as a woman. The experiance hit Hoffman hard as he learned what being a woman was really like. The film was a hit and even got numder two on The American Film Institute's 100 Laughs. 
Hoffman rebounded from this embarrassment with a second Academy Award for his riveting portrayal of an autistic savant in Rain Man, hailed by some as one of the most objective, unsentimental portraits of a handicapped person in the American cinema. Hoffman and co-star Tom Cruise spent months in preparation for their roles, befriending real-life counterparts to the film’s brothers to bring as much realism as possible to Hoffman’s behavior and the pair’s strained relationship. 
Wag the Dog cast him as a slick Hollywood producer called upon to create a fake war to divert the country's attention away from a presidential sex scandal. The actor's droll turn – reputedly inspired by Robert Evans – was the highlight of the film.
He teamed with Barbra Streisand – in her first return to madcap comedies in over 30 years – to play Ben Stiller's eccentric parents in Meet the Fockers. Hoffman nearly stole the entire film with his genial, ever-smiling characterization of proud papa Bernie Focker. His children even said that it was the only movie where he played himself. He received a MTV movie award just for the performance, showing that he is still well known and liked by younger movie viewers. 
and spurned father who finds his life and romantic passions renewed when he meets an intelligent and compassionate woman (Emma Thompson) at the airport. Hoffman made a long-awaited return to award contention when he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical category. He also enjoyed working with Emma Thompson. 
