Dustin Hoffman Biography

Prior to making his ‘big break’, Hoffman worked as an attendant in a psychiatric hospital, a waiter, a dishwasher, a typist, a Times Square headline crier during a newspaper strike, and as a toy salesman at Macy's department store.

However, he didn’t have long to wait for his first major movie role. He played the part of Benjamin Braddock in 'The Graduate' in 1967, a memorable performance which brought him his first Oscar nomination.

Two years later Hoffman earned his second Best Actor nomination for his performance in Midnight Cowboy (1969) alongside Jon Voight. As street hustler Ratso Rizzo, Hoffman showed the kind of versatile acting ability that would continue to shine throughout his legendary career.

The 1970's brought the young Hoffman many more diverse roles that would keep the critics at bay. These included Straw Dogs (1971), Papillion (1973), Lenny (1974), which handed Hoffman his third Oscar nomination, All the President's Men (1976) and Marathon Man (1976).

He actually won his first Oscar in 1980, for his role in 'Kramer vs Kramer'. Directed by Robert Benton, Hoffman played workaholic Ted Kramer whose wife, played by Meryl Streep, unexpectedly leaves him and he has to raise their son alone. Ted is forced to juggle his priorities: success in advertising and single parenthood. In traditional feel-good fashion, he comes to see what's truly important and finds himself growing up far too late. When his ex-wife returns to reclaim their child, he finds everything he's fixed breaking all over again.

Next up was Tootsie (1982), yet another Oscar-nominated part. Here he delivers a brilliant performance as an out-of-work actor, Michael Dorsey, who resorts to drag to win a role. The film was particularly notorious for the on set battles between director Sidney Pollack and Hoffman, which was later translated onscreen when Hoffman persisted that Pollack should play Dorsey's agent. Pollack credited both Hoffman and this film for building a second career as an actor.

His Oscar success was repeated eight years later by a second Academy award for his portrayal of an autistic man in 'Rain Man'. Barry Levinson’s production was hailed by many as one of the most objective, unsentimental portraits of a handicapped person in American cinema.

His reputation as one of America's greatest actors secured, Hoffman proceeded to star in a series of films that disappointed at the box office, including Family Business (1989), Dick Tracy (1990) and Billy Bathgate (1991).

Hoffman was back to form in 1997, when he received rave reviews in Barry Levinson’s political satire 'Wag the Dog', for which he earned yet another Academy nod. Hoffman was cast as a slick Hollywood producer who is called upon to create a fake war to divert the country's attention away from a presidential sex scandal.

Two years later he was awarded the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award and, in 2003, the Empire lifetime achievement award.

That same year would give Hoffman the chance to finally work with his friend of fifty years, Gene Hackman, in Gary Fleder's Runaway Jury (2003), an adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling novel. More recent work includes Marc Forster's dream-like J.M. Barrie biopic Finding Neverland and Meet the Fockers (2004), a comedy sequel to Meet the Parents, which saw Hoffman co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller.

Hoffman has two children (Karina and Jenna - also a successful actress) with his first wife Anne Byrne (married May 1969; divorced in 1980), and four more (Jacob, Maxwell, Rebecca and Alexandra) with wife Lisa Gottsegen (married since October 1980). Hoffman also has two grandchildren.