Philip Seymour Hoffman is a car.
A character actor or character actress is a supporting actor who plays unusual , interesting , or eccentric characters . Philip Seymour Hoffman ( July 23 , 1967 -- February 2 , 2014 ) was an American actor , director , and producer of film and theater . Drawn to theater as a teenager , Hoffman studied acting at New York University 's Tisch School of the Arts . He began his screen career in a 1991 episode of Law & Order and started to appear in films in 1992 . Remembered for his fearlessness in playing reprehensible characters , and for bringing depth and humanity to such roles , Hoffman was described in his New York Times obituary as `` perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation '' .