Further Oscar nominations came for playing a brutally frank CIA officer in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), a priest accused of child sexual abuse in Doubt (2008), and the charismatic leader of a Scientology-type movement in The Master (2012).

Hoffman received Tony Award nominations for his performances in the Broadway revivals of Sam Shepard's True West (2000), Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (2003), and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (2012).

Remembered for the nuance, depth, and humanity he brought to his diverse roles, Hoffman was described in his obituary in The New York Times as "perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation".

"[11] At age 17, he was selected to attend the 1984 New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, where he met his future collaborators Bennett Miller and Dan Futterman.

After appearing in Joey Breaker and the critically panned teen zombie picture My Boyfriend's Back,[21] he had a more notable role playing John Cusack's wealthy friend in the crime comedy Money for Nothing.

[22] In 1994, he portrayed an inexperienced mobster in the crime thriller The Getaway, starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger,[23] and he subsequently appeared with Andy García and Meg Ryan in the romantic drama When a Man Loves a Woman.

[17][a] Before cementing a creative partnership with Anderson, Hoffman appeared in one of the year's biggest blockbusters,[28] Twister, playing a grubby, hyperactive storm chaser alongside Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.

[35] Between March and April 1998, Hoffman made 30 appearances on stage at the New York Theatre Workshop in a production of Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking, portraying an ex-heroin addict.

[37] Jake Coyle of the Associated Press rated Allen as "one of the creepiest characters in American movies",[38] but critic Xan Brooks highlighted the pathos that Hoffman brought to the role.

[51] He played a "preppy bully" who taunts Matt Damon's Tom Ripley in the thriller, a character which Jeff Simon of The Buffalo News called "the truest upper class twit in all of American movies".

[55][56] This success continued with the 2000 Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's True West, where Hoffman alternated roles nightly with co-star John C. Reilly,[b] making 154 appearances between March and July 2000.

[55] The following year, Hoffman appeared with Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, and John Goodman in a Delacorte Theater production of Chekhov's The Seagull—although Brantley felt that this performance was less fully realized.

[38] Hoffman portrayed the enthusiastic rock critic Lester Bangs, a task by which he felt burdened,[63] but he managed to convey the real figure's mannerisms and sharp wit after watching him in a BBC interview.

[68] Later in 2002, Hoffman starred opposite Adam Sandler and Emily Watson in Anderson's critically acclaimed fourth picture, the surrealist romantic comedy-drama Punch-Drunk Love (2002), where he played an illegal phone-sex "supervisor".

[70] In a very different film, Hoffman was next seen with Anthony Hopkins in the high-budget thriller Red Dragon, a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs, portraying the meddlesome tabloid journalist Freddy Lounds.

[76] The drama Owning Mahowny (2003) gave Hoffman his second lead role, starring opposite Minnie Driver as a bank employee who embezzles money to feed his gambling addiction.

[81] The same year, from April to August, he appeared with Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Sean Leonard in a Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.

[86][87] Portraying the idiosyncratic writer proved highly demanding, requiring significant weight loss and four months of research—such as watching video clips of Capote to help him affect the author's effeminate voice and mannerisms.

[95] Returning to independent films in 2007, Hoffman began with a starring role in Tamara Jenkins's The Savages, where Laura Linney and he played siblings responsible for putting their dementia-ridden father (Philip Bosco) in a care home.

Jake Coyle of the Associated Press stated that it was "the epitome of a Hoffman film: a mix of comedy and tragedy told with subtlety, bone-dry humor, and flashes of grace".

Todd McCarthy wrote of Hoffman's performance: "Decked out with a pouffy '80s hairdo, moustache, protruding gut and ever-present smokes ... whenever he's on, the picture vibrates with conspiratorial electricity.

[106] Hoffman's second role of the year came opposite Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, where he played Father Brendan Flynn—a priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old African-American student in the 1960s.

[109] Ben Brantley, theatre critic of The New York Times, found it to be "exasperatingly misconceived", remarking that even when Hoffman is attempting to "manipulate others into self-destruction, he comes close to spoiling everything by erupting into genuine, volcanic fury".

The film was a critical and commercial success, and Hoffman was described as "perfectly cast" by Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post, but the real-life Art Howe accused the filmmakers of giving an "unfair and untrue" portrayal of him.

[127] Set in 1950s America, the film featured Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a nascent Scientology-type movement who brings a troubled man (Joaquin Phoenix) under his tutelage.

"[127] The Master was praised as an intelligent and challenging drama,[129] and Drew Hunt of the Chicago Reader also felt that it contained Hoffman's finest work: "He's inscrutable yet welcoming, intimidating yet charismatic, villainous yet fatherly.

[150] Although friends stated that Hoffman's drug use was under control at the time,[145] detectives searching the apartment found heroin and prescription medication at the scene and revealed that he had a syringe in his arm.

"[153] A funeral Mass was held at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan on February 7, 2014, and was attended by many of his close friends and former co-stars, including Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Ellen Burstyn, Louis C.K., Ethan Hawke, Laura Linney, Julianne Moore, Paul Thomas Anderson, Mike Nichols, Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Michelle Williams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Diane Sawyer, Ben Stiller, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Maya Rudolph, Brian Dennehy, Sam Rockwell, Josh Hamilton, Justin Theroux, Chris Rock and Eric Bogosian .

With the money received from a libel lawsuit against the National Enquirer which inaccurately claimed that Hoffman and Katz were lovers, the foundation awards an annual prize of $45,000 to the author of an unproduced play.

"[22] Hoffman was praised for his versatility and ability to fully inhabit any role,[13][39] but specialized in playing creeps and misfits: "his CV was populated almost exclusively by snivelling wretches, insufferable prigs, braggarts and outright bullies" writes the journalist Ryan Gilbey.