A tragic Oscar winner who succumbed to drug addiction can now be seen in the photograph unearthed from his high school yearbook.
The beloved actor was born and raised in upstate New York, where he graduated high school in 1985 as vice president of his senior year.
He had already been bitten by the acting bug: the yearbook also contains a photo of him applying makeup for a university production of Death Of A Salesman.
In the 1990s, he rose to prominence as a critical darling and bonafide Hollywood star, known for his versatile and layered performances.
His Oscar came in 2006 for his portrayal of one of America’s most famous authors, but eight years later, he was found dead of an overdose in his bathroom.
Can you guess who it is?
A tragic Oscar winner who succumbed to drug addiction can now be seen in the photo unearthed from his high school yearbook.
The actor in question is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who appears in the Fairport High School yearbook in Fairport, New York, in 1985, his senior year.
He was known for an astonishing variety of films, from blockbusters like Twister and the Hunger Games series to critical films like Boogie Nights and Doubt, to his Oscar-winning role as the title character in Capote, a biopic of Truman Capote.
Hoffman fell in love with acting as a child when he saw a production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons and, a few years later, he was in his high school’s production of the playwright’s most famous work, Death Of A Salesman.
In a full circle moment, Hoffman was nominated for a Tony Award in a Broadway revival of Death Of A Salesman just two years before his own death.
His Hollywood career began in earnest in the 1990s, when he starred alongside names like Al Pacino in Scent Of A Woman and Alec Baldwin in The Getaway.
He became a star in his own right in 1996 with the hit action film Twister, in which he appeared alongside Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.
The same year, he began his long professional association with Paul Thomas Anderson, appearing in the director’s debut Hard Eight.
In 1997, Hoffman cemented his status as one of Hollywood’s leading character actors in Anderson’s second film, Boogie Nights, playing a bumbling boom operator who falls for the porn star played by Mark Wahlberg.
The actor in question is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who appears in the Fairport High School yearbook in Fairport, New York, in 1985, his senior year.
His Oscar came in 2006 for his portrayal of one of America’s most famous authors, Truman Capote; He is pictured at that year’s Academy Awards.
He had already been bitten by the acting bug: the yearbook also contains a photo of him applying makeup for a university production of Death Of A Salesman.
Hoffman, pictured in his high school yearbook photo, fell in love with acting as a child when he saw a production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons.
A few years after seeing All My Sons, he was at his high school’s production of the playwright’s most famous work, Death Of A Salesman; Pictured (below) with the high school cast.
A year later, he was part of the cast of the Coen brothers’ beloved The Big Lebowski, acting alongside Jeff Bridges, who led the cast as ‘The Dude’.
He closed out the 1990s with one of his most famous films, The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett.
Throughout the 2000s, he received praise for his character roles in films such as Almost Famous, Cold Mountain, and Synecdoche, New York.
He appeared as a rugged CIA agent during the Soviet-Afghan War in the political satire Charlie Wilson’s War alongside Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.
Hoffman also memorably played a charismatic priest accused of child abuse in Doubt, starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Viola Davis.
After years of being praised for his talent, he finally won an Oscar for the 2005 drama Capote, playing Truman Capote while writing his most enduring book, the true crime classic In Cold Blood about the murders of a family in Kansas.
The film was written by Dan Futterman and directed by Bennett Miller, whom Hoffman met during his high school years, when they all attended the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs in 1984.
Capote also continued acting with Anderson in films such as Magnolia and The Master, the latter of which earned him his final Oscar nomination in 2013 for the role of a cult leader inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
He was known for a wide variety of films, including box office hits such as the Twister and The Hunger Games series; photographed in The Hunger Games – Catching Fire in 2013
Capote portrayed Hoffman as Truman Capote during the writing of his most enduring book, the true crime classic In Cold Blood about the murder of a family in Kansas.
Hoffman (right) closed out the 1990s with one of his most famous films, The Talented Mr. Ripley, also starring Matt Damon, Jude Law (left), Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett.
Although Hoffman kept a veil over his personal life, he was involved with costume designer Mimi O’Donnell from 1999 until his death.
They welcomed a son named Cooper, 21, who followed in his father’s acting footsteps and starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, Licorice Pizza, as well as two daughters, Tallulah, 18, and Willa , 16.
Drugs had been a problem for Hoffman from an early age: he used them heavily in college to the point that he entered rehab at the age of 22.
After that, he was able to stay sober for 23 years, during which he forged his path in Hollywood and built his brilliant career.
In 2012, however, he relapsed, and although he briefly attended rehab in 2013, he was unable to free himself from his addictions.
O’Donnell has revealed that when he died, Hoffman had moved out of his apartment, after his children became “anxious” about his altered “behavior.”
Although Hoffman kept a lid on his personal life, he was involved with costume designer Mimi O’Donnell from 1999 until his death; They are photographed in 2009
His son Cooper, 21, followed in his father’s acting footsteps and starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, Licorice Pizza, in which he appears alongside Alana Haim.
“We both felt that some boundaries would be helpful and, through tears, decided that Phil should move to an apartment around the corner,” she wrote on Fashion in 2017.
“It helped us keep a little distance, but allowed us all to be together as much as possible – he still walked the kids to school and we still had family dinners.”
Hoffman was found dead in the bathroom of his separate New York apartment on February 2, 2014 at the age of just 46, with a needle in his arm and several drugs in his system, including cocaine and heroin.
His funeral mass was reportedly attended by around 400 people, including former co-stars Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Ethan Hawke and Michelle Williams.
Two years ago, a statue in his memory was unveiled in his hometown, where he attended high school, and it now stands in nearby Rochester, New York.