The passing of a talent like Philip Seymour Hoffman is always a difficult experience. It's not just the thoughts about the people they've left behind that are disturbing, but the knowledge that it might have been possible to get more of them in a different (better) world. Yet throughout his career, Hoffman still delivered an incredible variety of performances, playing heroes, villains, tragic figures, wise mentors, and complicated celebrities, and he did so in a wide spectrum of films, from the biggest blockbusters of the time to small independent films that, thanks to their presence, will have a wider audience.
“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with another person when you are unwell.”
Ten years have passed since Hoffman's death on February 2, 2014, but his legacy remains powerful. To pay tribute, let's take a look at just 15 of his incredible roles. Many of these are not protagonists (three of his four Oscar nominations were for his work as a supporting actor), but it is undeniable that his presence in these films was essential to his power.
— Liz Shannon Miller
Senior Entertainment Editor
Scotty J., Boogie Nights (1997)
Hoffman fit perfectly into the unique worlds constructed by Paul Thomas Anderson. And although he does not appear on screen for much of the time Boogie Nights, his presence is unforgettable: Scotty, the sound technician, is the kind of character that is one-of-a-kind in the role and completely forgettable in Hoffman's hands. Despite Scotty's eccentricities, there is a sympathetic quality to him, thanks to Hoffman's nuances as an actor: where someone else's portrayal of the character might have been more full of exaggeration, Hoffman always found undercurrents of humanity. — Maria Siroky
Brandt, The Big Lebowski (1998)
Hoffman's role as Brandt in The Big Lebowski It is small, one of the actor's smallest with just five minutes of screen time, but as with everything he did, his performance was enormous. As the Big Lebowski's own cloying and obsequious assistant, Hoffman turns something that could be annoyingly two-dimensional into something rich and fun. The way he guides The Dude through Lebowski's awards, or sadly takes him to the West Wing, or just the direct way he uses The Dude's nickname, it's all just delightful. Small choices in small roles often reveal true talent, and here's the proof. — ben kaye
Phil Parma, Magnolia (1999)
Few actors are as suited to ensemble casts as Philip Seymour Hoffman was. In a story as complicated and tense as Magnolia – opposite heavyweights like Tom Cruise, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore and John C. Reilly, plus he serves as an essential anchor, and his brilliance illuminates his co-stars as much as himself. In Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 drama, Hoffman plays Phil Parma, a nurse who cares for a former television producer who is dying of cancer, but Phil's task goes far beyond the medical demands of his patient. He is arguably the most genuine and well-intentioned character in Magnolia, helping whoever he can in an emotional epic full of greed, vanity and hedonism. Phil makes no pretense of being as flawed as his peers and delivers a message that only someone of Hoffman's skill could articulate so poignantly: You will rarely, if ever, regret helping someone. — Abby Jones
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