Dustin Hoffman's Life
Dustin Hoffman was born on 8 August 1937 in Los Angeles, California, the son of a props man.
Hoffman studied music at the Santa Monica City College and from 1956 to 1958 he began acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Dustin Hoffman moved to New York and gained the occasional television and theatre role, and also continued his acting studies with Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio.
In the mid-sixties Hoffman gained more work on stage including roles in classics such as Waiting for Godot and The Dumbwaiter.
In 1967 Dustin Hoffman made his film debut with a small part in The Tiger Makes Out. In the same year he was cast by Mike Nichols in the role that would make his name, as awkward college student, Ben Braddock in The Graduate. In the film, Hoffman had the famous line: "Mrs Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?"
The director, Mike Nichols, revealed that after casting Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate" he asked a make-up artist, "What are we going to do with his nose?"
Other great performances by Hoffman were to follow in such films as: Midnight Cowboy (1969), Marathon Man (1976), Kramer vs Kramer (1979) - for which he won the best actor Oscar, Tootsie (1882), and Rain Man (1988) - where Hoffman won another best actor Oscar.
In his autobiography, A Good Life, Ben Bradlee of The Washington Post describes Dustin Hoffman's preparation for the role of Carl Bernstein in All The President's Men (1976):
"Dustin Hoffman showed up in the city room for a couple of weeks to learn first how reporters were supposed to behave, then how Bernstein did behave. He already knew what Bernstein was like. He could become Bernstein, mimicking his voice so that even Woodward was fooled."
Dustin Hoffman was quoted in Empire Magazine in August 1992 as saying:
"If you have enormous talent, it's got you by the balls, it's a demon. You can't be a family man and a husband and a caring person and be that animal."
Dustin Hoffman and his first wife split up in 1980. His second wife is Lisa Gottsegen.
Dustin Hoffman told The Sunday Times: "I get up at 4.30 every morning. It's the best time in the world. You see the break of dawn, and you're on your own and I have my bachelorhood back. For those two hours every day, it's just me, coffee and the dogs."
Dustin Hoffman came 24th in Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars.
Suggested other biographies: Paul Newman | Ashton Kutchner