Best actor winner Philip Seymour Hoffman poses with his Oscar for his work in "Capote" at the 78th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood in this March 5, 2006, file photo. Hoffman, who was found dead in his apartment in New York City on February 2, 2014, died of an apparent drug overdose, a New York city police source said. [Photo/Agencies]

Born in upstate New York near Rochester, Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar for the 2005 biographical film "Capote," in which he played writer Truman Capote. He also received three Academy Award nominations as best supporting actor, for "The Master" in 2013, "Doubt" in 2009 and "Charlie Wilson's War" in 2008.

After more than a dozen earlier roles, Hoffman burst onto the film scene in 1997's "Boogie Nights," in which he played a lovelorn gay man in a movie about the porn industry that helped make Mark Wahlberg a star.

PORTRAYED DISTURBING CHARACTERS

Hoffman appeared in blockbusters such as "Twister" and "The Hunger Games" series. But he was more often associated with the independent film world for his intense portrayals of often disturbing and complex characters in such films as "Happiness," in which he played an obscene phone caller, and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."

In the latter, he played a son who schemes to rob his parents' jewelry store, resulting in their deaths. Hoffman could also play nice, as in his portrayal of an angelic nurse in "Magnolia."

Other noteworthy films included "Moneyball," "The Savages," "Cold Mountain" and "Scent of a Woman," one of his earliest films, which garnered its star, Al Pacino, an Oscar.

Lionsgate, the studio behind "The Hunger Games" called Hoffman "one of the most gifted actors of our generation."

"We're very fortunate that he graced our Hunger Games family. Losing him in his prime is a tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Philip's family," the studio said in a statement.

Hoffman also frequently appeared on Broadway, earning Tony award nominations for "Death of a Salesman," "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "True West."

Showtime, the cable television network which had just ordered a 10-episode comedy, "Happyish," starring Hoffman and produced by his company, Cooper's Town Productions, mourned the loss of the talented actor.

"Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of our generation's finest and most brilliant actors. He was also a gifted comedic talent. It was a great privilege and pleasure to work with him and we are all absolutely devastated by this sudden loss," it said.

Hoffman appeared last month at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah for the premiere of "A Most Wanted Man," an espionage thriller based on the John le Carre novel in which he played German spy Gunther Bachmann.

At the premiere, Hoffman told Reuters that he connected to Gunther's personality, a man driven by the shame of previous failure into an obsessive pursuit of capturing terrorists by any means necessary.

"I think it'd be hard for anyone not to connect with the loneliness. He's pretty lonely, driven, obsessive guy, unforgiving of himself in a lot of ways. A lot of traits that a lot of people carry in one grade or another," Hoffman said.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said via Twitter: "Saddened by Philip Seymour Hoffman's tragic and untimely passing. Today New York mourns the loss of one of stage and screen's greats."