He played John, the stage manager on the fictional FYI newsmagazine, on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown starring Candice Bergen; he appeared in 65 of the series's 247 episodes from 1988 to 1998.

[1] Following college, Hostetter joined the National Shakespeare Company before relocating to California in 1971 to pursue acting.

[1][3] His films included Into the Night (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), No Way Out (1987), Leonard Part 6 (1987), and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).

[3] A decade later, Hostetter provided English-language voices for Hayao Miyazaki's anime feature, Princess Mononoke, released in 1997.

Hostetter died after a long battle with cancer in Port Orange, Florida, on September 2, 2016, aged 69, a month shy of his 70th birthday.