Dustin Hoffman

Hoffman grew up in Los Angeles, the son of Lillian, a jazz pianist, and Harry Hoffman, who worked as a prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. Raised in a Jewish family, he showed an early interest in music and performance but struggled to find direction. He attended Santa Monica College and the Pasadena Playhouse, where classmate Gene Hackman became a lifelong friend, before moving to New York in 1958 to pursue acting. There he took odd jobs and trained with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, absorbing the method approach that would define his work.

After years of small off-Broadway and television roles, Hoffman broke through as Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichols's The Graduate (1967), a performance that made him a star and earned his first Academy Award nomination. He followed it with the gritty Midnight Cowboy (1969), playing the sickly hustler Ratso Rizzo opposite Jon Voight, and then a run of 1970s films including Little Big Man, Papillon, and Lenny, in which he portrayed comedian Lenny Bruce.

In 1976 he appeared in both Marathon Man and All the President's Men, playing journalist Carl Bernstein. His role as a divorced father fighting for custody in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. He took a second Best Actor Oscar as the autistic Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man (1988), while his cross-dressing turn in Tootsie (1982) became one of the era's most celebrated comedies.

Hoffman continued working into the 1990s and 2000s in films such as Wag the Dog, Finding Neverland, and the Meet the Parents series. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016. He was married to Anne Byrne and later to Lisa Gottsegen, with whom he raised a family. His insistence on transforming himself for each role helped broaden the range of parts available to leading men in American film.

Dustin Hoffman was born on August 8, 1937 in Los Angeles, California, United States. In Cardology (Destiny Cards), August 8, 1937 corresponds to the Five of Diamonds, making the Five of Diamonds his Birth Card.

In numerology, the name adds another layer to the birth-date profile. The letters of a person’s name are used to explore inner motivation, personality, expression, and the qualities they bring into relationships and everyday life. Explore how her original name Dustin Lee Hoffman influences her life and personality.