Dustin Hoffman

Born: 8 August 1937
Where: Los Angeles, USA

Hoffman burst upon the scene in Mike Nichols' The Graduate as a 21-year-old student seeking seduction from Anne Bancroft's Mrs Robinson.

He went on to become a screen icon of unusual proportions - unglamorous looks, wiry frame and short stature.

Hoffman originally studied to become a doctor, but later opted for acting, performing regularly at the Pasadena Playhouse alongside fellow aspirant Gene Hackman.

Upon relocating to New York, he worked in a series of odd jobs, including a newspaper crier and a toy demonstrator for Macy's.

He once even left acting to teach, but in 1960 he won a role in the off-Broadway production Yes Is for a Very Young Man.

After increasing theatrical success, including Waiting for Godot, he made his film debut with a tiny role in the feature The Tiger Makes Out.

While appearing in the theatrical farce Eh? he was spotted by Graduate director Nichols, who cast him in the lead role despite the fact he was 30.

An Academy Award nomination for The Graduate was followed by another Oscar-nominated performance, as Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy.

The adequate John and Mary and Little Big Man followed and then Hoffman proved fascinating in Sam Peckinpah's controversial Straw Dogs (which has only recently been released uncut).

For Lenny, he was nominated for an Academy Award, again in an unpleasant characterization of the foul-mouthed comedian.

In 1976's All the President's Men, he played Carl Bernstein, the aggressive reporter who helped expose Nixon's Watergate crimes.

Hoffman scored a popular success in 1979 with an atypically accessible performance (and his first Academy Award) in Kramer vs Kramer about a custody battle.

Hoffman's next film, Tootsie, amusingly tried to suggest that a man could be a better woman than a woman.

After the notorious failure of Ishtar, Hoffman won a second Academy Award for his riveting portrayal of an autistic savant in Rain Man, which also gave Tom Cruise his big break.

His reputation as one of America's greatest actors secured, Hoffman proceeded to star in a series of films that disappointed at the box office.

He proved proficient in the Sidney Lumet-directed comedy-drama Family Business and turned in an amusing cameo in Dick Tracy.

He struggled in 1991's Billy Bathgate but fared better with a stylized portrayal of the pirate captain Hook in Steven Spielberg's uneven update of the Peter Pan story.

Hoffman bounced back big in a surprisingly traditional heroic role - first turned down by Harrison Ford -in the hit thriller Outbreak.

He followed with a turn as a petty thief in the film version of David Mamet's play American Buffalo.

Hoffman reteamed with director Barry Levinson for a three-picture run beginning with Sleepers.

The inspired Wag the Dog cast him as a slick Hollywood producer who is called upon to create a fake war to divert the country's attention away from a presidential sex scandal.

Sphere teamed the actor with Sharon Stone, Samuel L Jackson and Peter Coyote as scientists on an underwater mission investigating the crash of a possible alien spacecraft.

In 1999, Hoffman was honored by the American Film Institute in A Tribute to Dustin Hoffman, a televised ceremony in where he was presented with an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award.

His next major role came in 2002's Moonlight Mile in which he played mourning parent (with Susan Sarandon) who find themselves seeking comfort in the company of her fiance (Jake Gyllenhaal).

Then came James Foley's crime drama Confidence with Edward Burns and Rachel Weisz and Finding Neverland alongside Johnny Depp.

Recently Hoffman starred as an existential detective in the philosophical comedy I Heart Huckabees, alongside Lily Tomlin, and appeared in the comedy sequel Meet The Fockers.