Philip Seymour Hoffman

Update: Post-mortem results released on February 28th have stated that the actor died of an accidental overdose caused by a “mixed drug intoxication” including heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and benzodiazepine. The original story is as follows.

Actor, director, father. Phillip Seymour Hoffman passed away on February 4th 2014 in New York from a suspected drug overdose.

The celebrity was found dead in his New York apartment by friend and playwright David Bar Katz. While there has been no confirmed cause of death, investigators searching the apartment found bags of heroin and prescription medication.

Born in New York in 1967 Hoffman grew up in the New York suburb of Rochester with his mother, father and two sisters, Emily and Jill.

His love of acting came after he was forced to give up wrestling following a neck injury. When he was 17 he was selected to attend the 1984 Theatre School at the New York State Summer School of Arts.

There he met future collaborators, Dan Futterman and Bennet Miller, the screenwriter and director who Hoffman worked with on the 2005 film, Capote. A film for which he is most famous for after going on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 78th Academy Awards.

Since then, Hoffman has enjoyed critical and commercial success following his Oscar nomination for his role in Doubt opposite Meryl Streep, Moneyball and The Master, for the latter he gained another Academy Award nomination.

in 2010, Hoffman had his directorial debut with the film Jack Goes Boating, where a limo driver’s blind date sparks a tale of love, betrayal, friendship, and grace centered around two working-class New York City couples. He also appeared in the film as the main character opposite Amy Ryan.

Most recently Hoffman appeared opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the worldwide blockbuster The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as head gamesmaker Pultarch Heavensbee. A role which he is scheduled to reprise in November 2014 in the sequel The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

Hoffman had already completed the filming for Part 1 of the film, but had seven more days of filming left at the time of his death for the second instalment.

Filmmakers, Lionsgate, have announced that there will be no change or delay to the release of the movies and that they will employ the use of CGI technology to replace Hoffman’s final moments in the film.

In recent years it has become public knowledge the Hoffman had suffered from substance abuse.

In 2006 he admitted in an interview that he had suffered from drug and alcohol abuse after graduating from college at the age of 22, for which he went into rehab at the time.

He relapsed more than 20 years later with heroin and addiction to prescription medications. In May 2013 he checked himself into drug rehab for 10 days.

Hoffman is survived by his partner of 15 years Mimi O’Donnell, with whom he had a son and two daughters.