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Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won a best actor Oscar for the title role in the 2005 film 

, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment at the age of 46.


A New York Police Department spokesman tells NPR that authorities are "investigating Hoffman's death as a possible drug overdose."

 quotes a police official as saying the actor was found dead in the bathroom of his West Village apartment late Sunday morning.


 notes that last year Hoffman "completed a 10-day substance abuse program for heroin. The actor later revealed that he had been addicted to the drug when he was younger." 

 says Hoffman has spoken in interviews about "falling off the wagon" last year after staying clean for 23 years.


A statement issued by the actor's family said: "We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone."

"This is a tragic and sudden loss and we ask that you respect our privacy during this time of grieving. Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers," the statement read.


Hoffman's first role was as a defendant in a 1991 episode of 

 (1998). He was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for the 2007 film 

 and was in the process of filming a sequel to 

, Hoffman, who was then appearing on Broadway in the lead role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's 

, said it is a play that provokes thinking on all aspects of life, including family.


"It really seeps into why we're here," Hoffman told host Steve Inskeep. "What are we doing, family, work, friends, hopes, dreams, careers, what's happiness, what's success, what does it mean, is it important, how do you get it?"

"What it takes to be a great athlete is the same thing that it takes to be a great actor," Hoffman said. "That kind of concentration, that kind of privacy in public and that kind of unselfconscious kind of experience are very similar."

Hoffman was born in 1967 in Fairfort, N.Y., and became interested in acting at an early age.


The AP says that in his Oscar acceptance speech for 

, he thanked his mother for raising him and his three siblings alone and for taking him to his first play. 

Arts and Culture

The New York Police Department and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are investigating to determine a cause of death.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar-winner, found dead at 46

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