Cooper Hoffman

Cooper Alexander Hoffman is an American actor. He made his film debut as Gary Valentine in Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza (2021), a performance that earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and a National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance. Since then, he has played Dick Ebersol in Saturday Night (2024) and the lead in the Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk (2025). In 2025, he made his Off-Broadway stage debut in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class. Hoffman is known for his grounded, naturalistic presence and careful choice of projects. [edit]

Cooper Hoffman grew up in New York City, the eldest child of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and costume designer Mimi O'Donnell. He had two younger sisters, Tallulah and Willa. His father died of a drug overdose in 2014, when Cooper was ten. Hoffman attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts but left before completing his degree to pursue acting. He had not seriously considered acting earlier, intimidated by his father's mastery. His only involvement in school theater was as stage crew. He made short films with friends, including director Paul Thomas Anderson's son Jack. At age 17, Paul Thomas Anderson called Hoffman and told him to read a script for what would become Licorice Pizza. Hoffman recalled thinking the call was odd, but he loved the script and told Anderson he wanted the role. He auditioned at 17 and filmed the movie at 18. [edit]

Hoffman's debut in Licorice Pizza (2021) was a critical success. The film earned three Academy Award nominations, and Hoffman's performance was singled out for its natural charm. He shared the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance with co-star Alana Haim. In 2023, he played Manley Pointer in Ethan Hawke's Wildcat, a biopic about Flannery O'Connor. The next year, he portrayed NBC Sports producer Dick Ebersol in Jason Reitman's ensemble comedy-drama Saturday Night, which chronicled the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Also in 2024, he appeared in the action-comedy Old Guy alongside Christoph Waltz and Lucy Liu. In 2025, Hoffman took the lead role of Raymond Garraty in The Long Walk, based on Stephen King's novel. He described the physically demanding shoot to Stephen Colbert, saying he walked 15 miles per day. That same year, he made his Off-Broadway stage debut in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class. Upcoming projects include Poetic License and I Want Your Sex with Olivia Wilde. [edit]

Cooper Hoffman presents as a thoughtful, grounded young actor who avoids Hollywood excess. He dresses in classic, understated styles for red carpet events, often in dark suits or casualwear. The media consistently frames him in relation to his late father while emphasizing his own talent and distinct career path. Coverage focuses on his serious approach to craft and his reluctance to lean on family connections. He does not maintain public social media accounts, which adds to his low-profile image. His fanbase is still developing as his career progresses. [edit]

Cooper Hoffman's fame is a matter of steady, deliberate growth rather than sudden explosion. As of August 2026, iFANN's Global Fame Engine has evaluated him but he does not currently hold a placement in the published rankings, whether the Global Top 1,000 or any Top-100 scope list. This absence from the rankings is notable given his lineage and the critical acclaim of his debut, but it reflects a career still in its early chapters, with a filmography that, while respected, has not yet translated into the broad, sustained global attention that drives high placement.

His fanbase, while devoted, lacks a formal name. There is no codified moniker, no organized fan club, and no coordinated campaigns. Instead, his following is diffuse, living in the comment sections of Letterboxd, niche Reddit threads, and the broader indie-film community. These are cinephiles and admirers of his father's legacy, drawn to Hoffman's own grounded performances and his careful project choices. The absence of a fandom name is not a sign of weak enthusiasm but of a fan community that has not yet coalesced around a shared identity, a common occurrence for actors at this stage.

What his fandom lacks in organization, it makes up for in the stories they tell. The founding legend, retold with reverence, is how Paul Thomas Anderson personally recruited him for Licorice Pizza, plucking him from obscurity with no prior acting experience. This narrative frames him not as a beneficiary of nepotism but as a talent chosen on merit by a master director. More recently, his relationship with Nico Parker has entered the discourse, dubbed a 'nepo baby power couple' by outlets, adding a layer of pop-culture fascination. And his candid reaction to the explicit content of I Want Your Sex, telling The Hollywood Reporter 'I Can't Believe People Are Going to Watch This', endeared him to fans for its honesty. These moments, while not yet legendary, are the seeds of a growing mythology.[edit]

Hoffman's father, Philip Seymour Hoffman, was a frequent collaborator with Paul Thomas Anderson, appearing in five of his films. Cooper first heard about the Licorice Pizza script in a phone call from Anderson. He described his debut as getting your driver's license and being handed the keys to a Lamborghini. For The Long Walk, he walked roughly 15 miles per day during filming. He has expressed discomfort with fame, telling Colbert that being around fame is different from having it directed at you. His mother Mimi O'Donnell wrote a 2017 essay for Vogue about Cooper's birth, describing Philip Seymour Hoffman as beaming with uncontainable joy.

A story fans still retell is how Anderson personally recruited him for Licorice Pizza, a film that marked his unexpected entry into acting. Another recurring theme in fan discourse is his resemblance to his father and the emotional weight of continuing the family's acting legacy. In 2026, his relationship with Nico Parker became a media talking point, with outlets dubbing them a 'nepo baby power couple', adding a layer of pop-culture fascination to his public image.[edit]

Cooper Hoffman is the eldest of three children born to actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and costume designer Mimi O'Donnell. His sisters are Tallulah and Willa. The family lived in New York City. After Philip Seymour Hoffman's death in 2014, Mimi O'Donnell raised the children in Manhattan. Cooper has spoken about feeling close to his father during the filming of Licorice Pizza, describing it as a weird out-of-body experience. He does not have any children or pets publicly known. [edit]

Hoffman is closely associated with director Paul Thomas Anderson, a family friend who cast him in Licorice Pizza. He has worked with Ethan Hawke on Wildcat, Jason Reitman on Saturday Night, and Simon West on Old Guy. His co-stars include Alana Haim, Christoph Waltz, and David Jonsson. He is the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mimi O'Donnell. [edit]

Cooper Hoffman has kept his romantic life extremely private. As of 2026, there are no confirmed public relationships reported in credible sources. He has not been linked publicly to any romantic partners, nor has he made any statements about dating. His current status is single. [edit]

As of 2026, iFANN's editorial analysis estimates Cooper Hoffman's net worth at $1 million. His primary income comes from acting salaries across five film credits: Licorice Pizza, Wildcat, Saturday Night, Old Guy, and The Long Walk. He has no reported endorsement deals, business ventures, or real estate holdings. As the son of Philip Seymour Hoffman, he may have inherited assets from his father's estate, but no public details are available. His earnings are modest for a rising actor with a limited filmography.[edit]

Hoffman won the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance in 2021 for Licorice Pizza, sharing the honor with Alana Haim. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and a Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer for the same role. [edit]