NEW YORK: Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment, a law enforcement official said Sunday.
He died of an apparent drug overdose, a New York city police source said.
The source said Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment after a 911 emergency call from a friend of his. The source gave no further details.
Police responded to the scene in Manhattan's West Village after receiving the call at about 11:15 am (1615 GMT), said the official on condition of anonymity.
The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, said Hoffman was found with a needle in his arm by a screenwriter in the bathroom of his apartment.
Hoffman – whose recent movies included “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “The Master” – won an Oscar for best actor in 2006 for “Capote” and was seen as one of the pre-eminent actors of his generation.
Born Philip Hoffman in July 1967 in New York state, he was the third of four children of a Xerox executive and a feminist housewife who divorced when he was nine.
An avid athlete, the stocky youth became involved in school theatrics after suffering an injury. He earned a drama degree from New York University in 1989, though he fell into alcohol and drug abuse for a while.
After inserting his grandfather's name, Seymour, between his existing names, he made his big screen debut in a 1991 independent film called “Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole.”
In 1997, he made a quiet splash as a closeted gay crew member who makes a tentative pass at star Mark Wahlberg in Paul Thomas Anderson's porn industry tale “Boogie Nights,” followed by a quirky turn as a toady in the Coen brothers' “The Big Lebowski” (1998).
In Anthony Minghella's unique crime thriller “The Talented Mr Ripley,” he stole the show from co-stars Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow with his stealthy supporting role as slippery and duplicitous preppie Freddie Miles.
The hard-working actor played music reporter Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe's “Almost Famous” (2000) and then took on the role of a lonely lecher in Todd Solondz's “Happiness” (1998).
He also had striking roles in Anderson's “Magnolia,” starring Tom Cruise (1999); in “Flawless,” in which he plays a melodramatic drag queen, opposite Robert De Niro; in “Punch-Drunk Love”; and in big-budget pictures like the 2003 Oscar winner “Cold Mountain.”