A tragic Oscar winner who succumbed to drug addiction can now be seen in his unearthed high school yearbook photo.
The beloved actor was born and raised in upstate New York, where he graduated high school in 1985 as senior class vice president.
He had already been bitten by the acting bug – the yearbook also contains a photo of him applying makeup for a campus production of Death Of A Salesman.
In the 1990s, he rose to fame as both a critical darling and a bona fide 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 he is?
A tragic Oscar winner who succumbed to drug addiction can now be seen in his unearthed high school yearbook photo
The actor in question is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is pictured in the Fairport High School yearbook in Fairport, New York in 1985, his senior year.
He was known for a staggering variety of movies, from blockbusters like Twister and The Hunger Games series to critical fare like Boogie Nights and Doubt to his Oscar-winning turn 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 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 demise.
His Hollywood career began in earnest in the 1990s, when he acted 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 smash hit action movie Twister, in which he featured 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 foremost character actors in Anderson’s sophomore movie Boogie Nights, playing an awkward boom operator who falls in love with the porn star played by Mark Wahlberg.
The actor in question is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is pictured 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 the Academy Awards that year
He had already been bitten by the acting bug – the yearbook also contains a photo of him applying makeup for a campus production of Death Of A Salesman
Hoffman, pictured right in his high school yearbook 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 in his high school production of the playwright’s most famous work Death Of A Salesman; pictured (bottom) in the high school cast
One 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 pictures, The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett.
Throughout the 2000s, he was showered with acclaim for his character roles in such movies as Almost Famous, Cold Mountain and Synecdoche, New York.
He featured as a rough-hewn 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 molestation in Doubt, starring him with Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Viola Davis.
After years of being feted for his talents, he finally won an Oscar for the 2005 drama Capote, playing Truman Capote during the writing of his most enduring book, the true crime classic In Cold Blood about the murders of a family in Kansas.
The movie was written by Dan Futterman and directed by Bennett Miller, both of 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 movies like 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 movies, including blockbusters like Twister and The Hunger Games series; pictured in The Hunger Games – Catching Fire in 2013
Capote starred 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 pictures, The Talented Mr. Ripley, also starring Matt Damon, Jude Law (left), Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett
Although Hoffman kept a veil drawn over his personal life, he was involved with costume designer Mimi O’Donnell from 1999 until his death.
They welcomed a son called Cooper, 21 – who has followed his father’s footsteps into acting and starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest movie Licorice Pizza – as well as two daughters, Tallulah, 18, and Willa, 16.
Drugs had been an issue for Hoffman early in life – he used heavily in college to the point that he entered rehab at the age of 22.
After that, he was able to remain sober for 23 years, during which he forged his path in Hollywood and built his glittering career.
In 2012, however, he suffered a relapse, and although he briefly attended rehab in 2013, he was unable to wrench himself from his addictions.
O’Donnell has revealed that by the time he died, Hoffman had moved out of their apartment, after his children had become ‘anxious’ over his altered ‘behavior.’
Although Hoffman kept a veil drawn over his personal life, he was involved with costume designer Mimi O’Donnell from 1999 until his death; they are pictured in 2009
Their son Cooper, 21, has followed his father’s footsteps into acting and starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest movie Licorice Pizza, in which he is pictured with Alana Haim
‘We both felt that some boundaries would be helpful, and tearfully decided that Phil should move into an apartment around the corner,’ she wrote in Vogue in 2017.
‘It helped us maintain 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 about 400 people, among them old co-stars like Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Ethan Hawke and Michelle Williams.
Two years ago, a memorial statue of him was inaugurated in his hometown – where he went to high school – and it now stands in nearby Rochester, New York.