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Michael Hoffman

Michael Hoffman has established himself as a selective filmmaker-- capable of creating complex and layered stores, brought to life with remarkable performances. His work is distinct in its exemplary attention to detail and character.

Hoffman began his illustrious career with the Sundance Institute when he was invited to workshop his script Promised Land at the 1983 Filmmaker's Lab. The film was eventually produced by Robert Redford's Wildwood Productions and was released in 1987 starring Meg Ryan and Kiefer Sutherland. Hoffman made a second film for Wildwood, festival favorite Some Girls (a.k.a. Sisters) with Patrick Dempsey and Jennifer Connolly in 1988. In 1991, he made the move to the studio world with Paramount's hit comedy Soapdish starring Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey, Teri Hatcher, and Elizabeth Shue.

He reteamed with Robert Downey to make the period romance Restoration which also starred Meg Ryan, Polly Walker, Hugh Grant, Ian McKellan and David Thewlis. The film, produced by Miramax, won two Oscars in 1996. Hoffman's next film was Fox's romantic comedy One Fine Day with George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer, followed in 1998 by William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream starring Pfeiffer again along with Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart, Sam Rockwell and Rupert Everett for which he also wrote the screenplay. In 2001, he worked again with Kevin Kline and newcomer Emile Hirsch on the classroom drama The Emperor's Club which was a critical favorite of the year.

In 2000, Hoffman directed Michael Keaton, Robert Downey and Griffin Dunne in award winning novelist Don Delillo's Game Six for his own company, Serenade Films; the film premiered at the Sundance Film festival in 2005. He also made a documentary for ESPN, Out of the Blue, a film about Life and Football and wrote an HBO pilot about the American intelligence community in the Middle East with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh.

Born in Honolulu Hawaii in 1955, Hoffman spent his early life in rural Idaho and earned his first degree, a Bachelor's in Theater Arts, from Boise State University where he was a founding member of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. While there, he won a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University. He read English Literature at Oriel College, where he made his first feature film, Privileged, a student drama starring Hugh Grant, Imogen Stubbs and James Wilby.

Hoffman currently lives in Boise, Idaho with his wife, writer Samantha Silva, and his three children, and is an ardent supporter of Manchester United Football Club.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2010.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Michael Hoffman Facts

OccupationDirector
BirthdayNovember 30, 1956 (67)
SignSagittarius
BirthplaceHawaii, USA

Selected Filmography

Soapdish
The Best of Me
The Best of Me: Tears of Joy Edition
William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
One Fine Day
Midsummer Night's Dream, A
The Last Station
Gambit
The Emperor's Club
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