Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman, described by some critics as the “Greatest character actor” of all times died at the age of 46.He played significant parts in Scent of a Women, Twister, Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, Patch Adams, Magnolia, Almost Famous, Red Dragon, 25th Hour, Punch-Drunk Love and Cold Mountain before landing his Oscar winning outing in Capote that got him other best actor awards as well. He had three other Academy Award nominations, in addition to being an accomplished theatre actor and director. Describing his craft in an interview, Hoffman had said, “There’s always something about that job that’s exhausting, and that’s what’s exhausting about acting, is the level concentration over very long period of time”. Even though his death gave fresh push to the debate on celebrity drug addiction, the genius of his acting was applauded internationally with one newspaper referring to him as “Perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation”.