Heralded as a remarkable character actor capable to deliver outstanding dramatic effect to every role he played, Philip Seymour Hoffman certainly has added one superior point within himself to stand out among the teeming crowd of Hollywood actors. A New Yorker born to a former Xerox executive and a family court judge on July 23, 1967 in Fairport, a principal suburb of Rochester, he originally put most of his interest in sports rather than in acting, even became an avid athlete in wrestling during the early period of his high school study before experienced a neck injury in his second year there. Since the incident prevented him from exercising any sports that require much body contacts, including his favorite one, this fair-haired guy began to turn his attention toward something else and unexpectedly found himself drawn into the wonder of performing characters.

Nurtured this new fondness through several school productions, he then came up with a decision to pursue a professional career as an actor thus headed for New York City to polish his skills at Circle in the Square Professional Theatre School while also enrolled in NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he smoothly obtained a BFA degree in drama by 1989. With this academic background, Philip optimistically commenced his first step in the film industry, nabbing a supporting part in Amos Poe's "Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole" (1991), followed quickly by others in the 1992 features of "Leap of Faith" and "Scent of a Woman" in which he satisfyingly gained public attention through his enactment as a backstabbing classmate to Chris O'Donnell.

The success of "Scent of a Woman" to hit box-office and later became an Oscar contender at the 1993 Academy Awards unquestionably brought grand impact to Philip's career for it paved his way to move further quite well in securing major roles as seen in "Money for Nothing" (1993), "The Getaway" (1994), "When a Man Loves a Woman" (1994), and "Twister" (1996). However, what positively elevated him to wide recognition he had aimed for was his 1997 project of "Boogie Nights" which established the talented actor as one of the most potential young stars at that time, giving him larger opportunity to shine more in the following years.

Not wasting any single chance bestowed upon him, Philip wonderfully managed to deliver fine turns in the next movies he starred in, such as "Flawless", "Magnolia", and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" which all came out in 1999, the former even acquired him an Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role nomination at the 2000 Screen Actor Guild Awards. Also appearing in "Almost Famous" (2000), "Red Dragon" (2002), "Owning Mahowny" (2003), plus "Cold Mountain" (2003), he kept garnering huge praise from the critics to finally get an Emmy Award nomination by 2005 in Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie category for his role in HBO's "Empire Falls" (2005).

Much to people's amazement, Philip continued to score another attainment, this time was through his brilliant portrayal of the title character alongside Chris Cooper and Bruce Greenwood in "Capote" (2005), a compelling biopic of writer Truman Capote directed by Bennett Miller. Not only gained a Golden Globe Award in Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama category in 2006, he also succeeded to grab handfuls of other prestigious accolades besides the Screen Actor Guild Awards' honor he failed to win previously. This then culminated on March 5, 2006 as AMPAS ultimately granted him the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role trophy at its 78th annual Academy Awards.

Next joined the star-studded cast of "Mission: Impossible 3" (2006) together with Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, and Michelle Monaghan, Phillip really did not have difficulties to round up a slew of acting stints up to the end of 2000s. Prior to those in "Synecdoche, New York" (2008) and "Doubt" (2009), he even saw three of his movies get released in the same year of 2007, namely "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead", "The Savages", and "Charlie Wilson's War." While the former two did cast him alongside other well-known talents, it was probably the latter that became the brightest of all, boasting a lineup consisting of fellow Oscar winners Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts as well as Oscar nominee Amy Adams plus Golden Globes winner Emily Blunt.

In addition to his film career, Philip has developed a long yet magnificent resume of theater works either on or off-Broadway, like "Defying Gravity", "The Author's Voice", "True West", plus "Long Day's Journey into Night", the latter two being such great vehicles for him to twice earn Best Actor nomination at Tony Awards held in 2000 and 2003. He has also distinguished himself with several stage projects he has helmed, namely "Our Lady of 121st Street", "In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings", and "Jesus Hopped the A Train" for New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company in which he serves as a co-artistic director. It was through this theater that he ultimately met his sweetheart, Mimi O'Donnell, who later gave him a son named Cooper Alexander in 2003 and a daughter, Talluhlah, in November 2006.