S Hoffman Popular Books
S Hoffman Biography & Facts
Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical productions, including leading roles, from the early 1990s until his death in 2014. He was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a 2022 readers' poll by Empire magazine. Hoffman studied acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He gained recognition for his supporting work, notably in Scent of a Woman (1992), Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and Almost Famous (2000). He began to occasionally play leading roles, and for his portrayal of the author Truman Capote in Capote (2005), won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Further Oscar nominations came for playing a brutally frank CIA officer in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), a priest accused of child sexual abuse in Doubt (2008), and the charismatic leader of a Scientology-type movement in The Master (2012). While he mainly worked in independent films, including The Savages (2007) and Synecdoche, New York (2008), Hoffman also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Twister (1996) and Mission: Impossible III (2006). He played Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games series (2013–2015), in one of his final roles. The feature Jack Goes Boating (2010) marked his debut as a filmmaker. Hoffman was also an accomplished theater actor and director. He joined the off-Broadway LAByrinth Theater Company in 1995, where he directed, produced, and appeared in numerous stage productions. Hoffman received Tony Award nominations for his performances in the Broadway revivals of Sam Shepard's True West (2000), Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (2003), and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (2012). Hoffman struggled with drug addiction as a young adult and relapsed in 2012 after many years of sobriety. In February 2014, he died of combined drug intoxication. Remembered for bringing nuance, depth, and humanity to the versatile roles he inhabited, Hoffman was described in his New York Times obituary as "perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation". Early life and education Philip Hoffman was born on July 23, 1967, in the Rochester suburb of Fairport, New York. His mother, Marilyn O'Connor (née Loucks), came from nearby Waterloo and worked as an elementary school teacher before becoming a lawyer and eventually a family court judge. His father, Gordon Stowell Hoffman, was a native of Geneva, New York, and worked for the Xerox Corporation. Hoffman had one brother, Gordy, and two sisters, Jill and Emily. His ancestry included Irish and German. Hoffman was baptized a Catholic and attended Mass as a child, but did not have a heavily religious upbringing. His parents divorced when he was nine, and the children were raised primarily by their mother. Hoffman's childhood passion was sports, particularly wrestling and baseball, but at age 12, he attended a stage production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons and was transfixed. He recalled in 2008, "I was changed—permanently changed—by that experience. It was like a miracle to me". Hoffman developed a love for the theater, and proceeded to attend regularly with his mother, who was a lifelong enthusiast. He remembered that productions of Quilters and Alms for the Middle Class, the latter starring a teenaged Robert Downey Jr. were also particularly inspirational. At the age of 14, Hoffman suffered a neck injury that ended his sporting activity, and he began to consider acting. Encouraged by his mother, he joined a drama club, and initially committed to it because he was attracted to a female member.Acting gradually became a passion for Hoffman: "I loved the camaraderie of it, the people, and that's when I decided it was what I wanted to do." At the age of 17, he was selected to attend the 1984 New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, where he met his future collaborators Bennett Miller and Dan Futterman. Miller later commented on Hoffman's popularity at the time: "We were attracted to the fact that he was genuinely serious about what he was doing. Even then, he was passionate." Hoffman applied for several drama degree programs and was accepted to New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. Between graduating from Fairport High School and beginning the program, he continued his training at the Circle in the Square Theatre's summer program. Hoffman had positive memories of his time at NYU, where he supported himself by working as an usher. With friends, he co-founded the Bullstoi Ensemble acting troupe. He received a drama degree in 1989. Career 1991–1995: Early career After graduating, Hoffman worked in off-Broadway theater and made additional money with customer service jobs. He made his screen debut in 1991, in a Law & Order episode called "The Violence of Summer", playing a man accused of rape. He made his film debut the following year, when he was credited as "Phil Hoffman" in the independent film Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole. After this, he adopted his grandfather's name, Seymour, to avoid confusion with another actor. More film roles promptly followed, with appearances in the studio production My New Gun, and a small role in the comedy Leap of Faith, starring Steve Martin. Following these roles, he gained attention playing a spoiled private school student in the Oscar-winning Al Pacino film Scent of a Woman (1992). Hoffman auditioned five times for his role, which The Guardian journalist Ryan Gilbey says gave him an early opportunity "to indulge his skill for making unctuousness compelling". The film earned US$134 million worldwide and was the first to get Hoffman noticed. Reflecting on Scent of a Woman, Hoffman later said, "If I hadn't gotten into that film, I wouldn't be where I am today." At this time, he quit his job in a delicatessen to become a professional actor.Hoffman continued playing small roles throughout the early 1990s. After appearing in Joey Breaker and the critically panned teen zombie picture My Boyfriend's Back, he had a more notable role playing John Cusack's wealthy friend in the crime comedy Money for Nothing. In 1994, he portrayed an inexperienced mobster in the crime thriller The Getaway, starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, and he subsequently appeared with Andy García and Meg Ryan in the romantic drama When a Man Loves a Woman. He then played an uptight police deputy who gets punched by Paul Newman—one of Hoffman's acting idols—in the drama Nobody's Fool.Still considering stage work to be fundamental to his career, Hoffman joined the LAByrinth Theater Company of New York City in 1995. This association lasted the remainder of his life; along with appearing in multiple productions, he later became co-artistic director of the theater company with John Ortiz, and directed variou.... Discover the S Hoffman popular books. Find the top 100 most popular S Hoffman books.
Best Seller S Hoffman Books of 2024
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Be Safe I Love You
Cara HoffmanThis widely acclaimed novel about a female soldier who returns from Iraq haunted by a tragic mistake is “beautifully written…suspenseful and smart and tender in unexpected moments”...
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Operation White Rabbit
Dennis McDougalA search for the truth behind the DEA’s life imprisonment of acid's most famous martyr. Operation White Rabbit traces the rise and falland rise and fall againof the psychedel...
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Plain Truth
Jodi PicoultFrom the bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper comes the riveting story of a murder that shatters the picturesque calm of Amish countryand tests the heart and soul of the lawyer...
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Operation Valuable Fiend
Albert LulushiIn 1949, a newly minted branch of the CIA (the precursor of today’s National Clandestine Service), flush with money and burning with determination to roll back the Iron Curtain, em...
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History of a Suicide
Jill Bialosky“It is so nice to be happy. It always gives me a good feeling to see other people happy. . . . It is so easy to achieve.” Kim’s journal entry, May 3, 1988 On the night of April 15,...
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True To Form
Elizabeth BergIn this warm and engaging novel, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg revisits the heroine she so lovingly brought to life in Durable Goods and Joy School. It is 1961,...
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Salem Falls
Jodi PicoultFrom #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult comes a compelling and “multilayered tale of smalltown intrigue” (Glamour) about a prep schoolteacher accused of rape by a gr...
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Love in the Afternoon
Karen HawkinsA woman with a legendary green thumb, a man living in an emotional desert, and a small boy unable to connect with others. Can the three of them, with a little help from the charmed...
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Lone Wolf
Jodi PicoultA life hanging in the balance…a family torn apartNew York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult tells an unforgettable story about family secrets, love, and letting go. On an icy w...
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House Rules
Jodi PicoultFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and the modern classics My Sister’s Keeper, The Storyteller, and more, comes a “complex, compassionate, and smar...
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Nineteen Minutes
Jodi PicoultJodi Picoult, bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper and Small Great Things pens her most riveting book yet, with a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath o...
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The Flying Circus
Susan CrandallThe awardwinning, national bestselling author of Whistling Past the Graveyard sends an unlikely trio on an exhilarating adventure high above the American Midwest of the 1920s in a ...
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The Book Charmer
Karen HawkinsPrepare to fall under the spell of “this sometimes whimsical, often insightful, always absorbing story” (Shelf Awareness) following two fiercely independent women and their truly m...
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Light Years
Emily Ziff Griffin“A searingly beautiful pageturner.” Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author “A thrilling, thoughtful meditation on life and death.” Hello Giggles “Gorgeously written.” Sc...
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Second Glance
Jodi PicoultThis breathtaking novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult asks: Do we love across time, or in spite of it?“Sometimes I wonder....Can a ghost find you, if she w...
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Raising the Barre
Lauren KesslerLike generations of little girls, Lauren Kessler fell in love with ballet the first time she saw The Nutcracker, and from that day, at age five, she dreamed of becoming a ballerina...
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Vanishing Acts
Jodi PicoultThe #1 New York Times bestselling author of modern classics such as My Sister’s Keeper and Small Great Things weaves a “richly textured and engaging” (The Boston Globe) tale that e...
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Whistling Past the Graveyard
Susan CrandallFrom an awardwinning author comes a wise and tender comingofage story about a nineyearold girl who runs away from her Mississippi home in 1963, befriends a lonely woman suffering l...
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Time and Again
Jack FinneyThe 50th anniversary edition of the beloved classic that Stephen King has called “THE great timetravel story.” Featuring a brandnew introduction by the New York Times bestselling a...
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The Tenth Circle
Jodi PicoultFrom New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult, a powerful novel that explores the unbreakable bond between parent and child, and questions whether you can reinvent yourself i...
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Handle with Care
Jodi PicoultWhen Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastatedshe will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. In this provocative st...
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It Occurs to Me That I Am America
Jonathan SantloferA provocative, unprecedented anthology featuring original short stories on what it means to be an American from thirty bestselling and awardwinning authors with an introduction by ...
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Second Nature
Alice HoffmanA suburban woman discovers her own wild spirit in this “suspenseful...dark, romantic meditation on what it means to be human”(The New Yorker) from the bestselling author of Th...
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Good Karma
Christina KellyA charming, heartfelt tale of love lost and regained in a gated community in Savannah, Georgia.After almost forty years in New Jersey, Catherine, Ralph, and their beloved Boston Te...
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About Time
Jack FinneyAbout Time offers a delightful return to the world of time travel and light comedy that distinguished Jack Finney's alltime classic Time and Again. The protagonists of these twelve...
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The Dovekeepers
Alice HoffmanAn ambitious and mesmerizing novel from the bestselling author of Rules of Magic. The Dovekeepers is “striking….Hoffman grounds her expansive, intricately woven, and deepest new no...
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Circus of Wonders
Elizabeth MacnealFrom the #1 internationally bestselling author of the “lush, evocative Gothic” (The New York Times Book Review) The Doll Factory comes an atmospheric and spectacular novel about a ...
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Local Girls
Alice HoffmanThe New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic is at her haunting, thoughtprovoking best with these interconnected stories about a Long Island fami...
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From Time to Time
Jack FinneyJack Finney's beloved sequel to his classic, New York Times bestselling illustrated novel Time and Again.Simon Morley, whose logicdefying trip to the New York City of the 1880s in ...
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The Heart of the Ritz
Luke DevenishFour women join forces, with conviction, courage ... and styleFrance, April 1940. Orphan Polly Hartford has been sent across oceans to her Aunt Marjorie, known only from lett...
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Never Change
Elizabeth BergYou know people like me. I'm the one who sat in a folding chair out in the hall selling tickets to the prom but never going, the one everybody liked but no one wanted to be with. ...
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Change of Heart
Jodi PicoultThe beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author and “master of the craft of storytelling” (Associated Press) weaves a spellbinding tale of a mother’s tragic loss and one man’s cha...
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Powerhouse
James Andrew Miller“Magisterial. ... A must read for anyone who wants to work in Hollywood or just know how Hollywood works.” The Hollywood ReporterA New York Times b...
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A Cup of Silver Linings
Karen HawkinsDiscover the “sometimes whimsical, often insightful, always absorbing” (Shelf Awareness) Dove Pond series with this novel that explores the magic in the tea leavesfrom New York Tim...
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The White Hare
Jane JohnsonFor fans of Alice Hoffman and Kate Morton, The White Hare is a spellbinding novel about mothers and daughters finding a new home for themselves, the secrets they try to bury, and t...
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Sing You Home
Jodi PicoultFrom the awardwinning, #1 New York Times bestselling author whom USA TODAY calls a “master of the pageturner,” comes the spectacular story of a woman’s complex quest to form a fami...
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Next Job, Best Job
Rob Barnett"This generous and useful book strips away the shame and fear from a job search and can help you get past the resume and see a better way forward." Seth Godin, bestselling author o...
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Perfect Match
Jodi PicoultPicoult brings to life a female prosecutor whose cherished family is shattered when she learns that her fiveyearold son has been sexually abused.What does it mean to be a good moth...
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The Marriage of Opposites
Alice Hoffman“A luminous, Marquezesque tale” (O, The Oprah Magazine) from the New York Times bestselling author of The Museum of Extraordinary Things: a forbidden love story set on a tropical i...
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The Museum of Extraordinary Things
Alice HoffmanThe “spellbinding” (People, 4 stars), New York Times bestseller from the author of The Dovekeepers: an extraordinary novel about an electric and impassioned love affair“an enchanti...
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Songs of the Humpback Whale
Jodi PicoultJodi Picoult’s powerful novel portrays an emotionally charged marriage that changes course in one explosive moment.Sometimes finding your own voice is a matter of listening to the ...