Biografía

When asked who his acting idols were, he named Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep and Christopher Walken.

Upon accepting his Oscar for Truman Capote (2005), Hoffman asked everyone to congratulate his mother, because "She brought up four kids alone, and she deserves a congratulations for that.".

He won 23 awards for his performance in Truman Capote (2005), including the coveted Oscar.

Beat Heath Ledger for an Academy Award for Best Actor in 2005 for his title role in Truman Capote (2005), and then lost to the late actor for the Best Supporting Actor in 2008 to Ledger's performance in Batman: El caballero de la noche (2008).

Did not drink alcohol. He became sober when he was 22 years old and said that he quit because, "I was 22 and I was panicked for my life.".

A lot of people describe me as chubby, which seems so easy, so first-choice. Or stocky. Fair-skinned. Towheaded. There are so many other choices. How about dense? I mean, I'm a thick kind of guy. But I'm never described in attractive ways. I'm waiting for somebody to say I'm at least cute. But nobody has.

"Being unemployed is not good for any actor, no matter how successful you are. You always remember what it feels like to go to the unemployment office, what it feels like to be fired from all those restaurants".

"Not only couldn't I get a job as an actor, I couldn't hold down the temporary non- acting jobs I managed to get. I got fired as a waiter in restaurants and as a lifeguard at a spa" --On his life before films "If I hadn't gotten into Perfume de mujer (1992), I wouldn't be where I am today. It's been a domino effect ever since".

Actors are responsible to the people we play. I don't label or judge. I just play them as honestly and expressively and creatively as I can, in the hope that people who ordinarily turn their heads in disgust instead think, 'What I thought I'd feel about that guy, I don't totally feel right now' ". -- On his responsibility as an actor.

To have that concentration to act well is like lugging things up staircases in your brain. I think that's a thing people don't understand. It is that exhausting. If you're doing it well, if you're concentrating the way you need to, if your will and your concentration and emotional and imagination and emotional life are all in tune, concentrated and working together in that role, that is just like lugging weights upstairs with your head..And I don't think that should get any easier". -- On acting.