Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar for his performance in the 2005 film Capote. He received three other Oscar nominations, as well as a Primetime Emmy nomination for the 2005 HBO movie Empire Falls. One of the most admired actors of his generation, he also worked widely in the theater.

Born in Rochester, New. York, he began performing in high school stage productions and graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in drama.

Hoffman made his feature film debut in the 1991 independent production Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole and went on to appear in more than 40 others, including Scent of a Woman, Hard Eight, Twister, Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, Happiness, Magnolia, The Talented Mr. Ripley, State and Main, Almost Famous, Punch Drunk Love, Cold Mountain, Mission: Impossible III, Flawless, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Charlie Wilson's War, Doubt, The Ides of March, Moneyball, The Master, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and many others.

He began his television career with a 1991 episode of Law & Order and also appeared in the made-for-TV movie The Yearling and the miniseries Liberty! the American Revolution. In addition, he lent his voice to the animated children's series Arthur and A Child's Garden of Poetry.

For his work in the theater, he received Tony nominations for his performances in productions of Death of a Salesman, True West and Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Hoffman died February 2, 2014, in New York City. He was 46.