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Gabriella Mary "Gaby" Hoffmann (born January 8, 1982) is an American actress.

Birth

Hoffmann was born in New York City. Her mother, Viva (aka Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann), is an actress and writer and appeared in many of Andy Warhol's movies during the 1960s. Hoffmann also has a half-sister, Alexandra Auder, who is 11 years older than she and who also once worked as an actress before becoming a yoga teacher and author. In her autobiography Famous for 15 Minutes: My Years With Andy Warhol, Isabelle Collin Dufresne (known as 'Ultra Violet' and who was a member of Warhol’s 'Factory' clique along with Hoffmann’s mother) says that Gaby Hoffman's father was a soap opera actor who denied paternity. She did not name him. Hence, Hoffmann’s last name is her mother's maiden name. Her birth is documented in Brigid Berlin's The Andy Warhol Diaries. An entry dated January 10, 1982, two days after Hoffman was born, says that a friend of Warhol’s telephoned Warhol up and told him that they were going to the Chelsea Hotel to see Viva and her new baby.

Early life at the Chelsea Hotel

Until 1993, Hoffmann had lived in the well-known Chelsea Hotel in New York City, which Hoffmann later said she enjoyed. According to Hoffmann, she and her best friend Talya Shomron would roller-skate in the hallways, spy on the drug dealer across the hall, and persuade the bellman to go to the neighbourhood deli at night and get them ice cream. Hoffman and her mother left the Chelsea Hotel in July 1993 after a dispute of long standing with the management, but the hotel ended up featuring prominently in Hoffmann’s future. The idea for her 1994 sitcom Someone Like Me originated after Gail Berman (now president of Viacom's Paramount Pictures), the show's producer, read a New York Times article about the Hotel which referred to a children's book which Viva and friend Jane Lancellotti wrote entitled Gaby at the Chelsea (a take on Kay Thompson’s 1950’s classic Eloise books). After leaving the Chelsea Hotel, Hoffmann and her mother (and their two Eskimo dogs) moved to a two-bedroom rented house in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California which ended up being badly damaged in a January 17, 1994, earthquake, known as the Northridge Earthquake. While regrouping their living situation, Gaby and her mother temporarily lived at The Oceana Suites Hotel in Santa Monica, not too distant from Malibu.

Early acting career

Hoffmann began her acting career at the age of four to help pay the family bills by acting in commercials. However, she tired of the tough schedules and temporarily retired. Nevertheless, upon hearing that Macaulay Culkin was making a lot of money from his movies her "competitive spirit got the best of her", as she later put it, and she re-entered the profession. In 1989, she starred in her first movie, Field of Dreams, with Kevin Costner. She followed this up with 1989’s Uncle Buck with John Candy, (which also starred Macaulay Culkin) and then went on to star in This Is My Life (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) with Tom Hanks and The Man Without a Face with Mel Gibson. According to Hoffmann, it was the praise she received for her performance in This is My Life which encouraged her to pursue an acting career in Hollywood full time as it gave her the confidence she needed to handle major roles.

Someone Like Me (1994)

In 1994, Hoffmann was given the starring role in her own sitcom Someone Like Me (on NBC) about a young girl, Gaby, and her dysfunctional family. Although generally well received, the show only lasted six episodes. Publicity work for the show included personal appearances by Hoffmann on late night talk shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman.

Freaky Friday (1995)

After Someone Like Me, Hoffmann won the lead role in the TV film Freaky Friday, a remake of the 1976 film of the same name starring Shelly Long. Hoffmann received very good reviews for her performance. Later in 1995, Hoffmann would star as the object of a custody battle in the 1995 CBS TV film Whose Daughter Is She?. Hoffman also played the role of Samantha in the 1995 film, "Now and Then."

Later acting career and university: 1996–2003

Between 1996–2000, Hoffmann landed lead roles in several important films including Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Volcano (1997), Snapped (1998), 200 Cigarettes (1999), Coming Soon (1999), Black & White (1999), You Can Count on Me (2000), and Perfume (2001). She received excellent reviews for her performance as Odette in All I Wanna Do (1998), which also starred Kirsten Dunst and Rachael Leigh Cook. The film (released as Strike! in some parts of the world and The Hairy Bird in others) is a comedy about an all-girls school during the early 1960s where the students protest at a proposed merger with an all-boys school. In 1999, Hoffmann entered Bard College in New York to pursue a degree in literature. Starting in 2001, she put her acting career on hold to complete her studies. She graduated in 2003.

Theatre work in New York: 2003–2007

Between 2003 and 2007, Hoffmann largely concentrated on a theatre career in New York. Roles included 24 Hour Plays (as Denise at the American Airlines Theatre), The Sugar Syndrome (Williamstown Theatre Festival - July/August 2005), and Third (Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre/Lincoln Centre Theatre - September - December 2005). In late 2005, she starred in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She also appeared in the Broadway play Suburbia, alongside Kieran Culkin and Jessica Capshaw at the Second Stage Theatre on 43rd St in New York City which ran from September - October 2006. Hoffmann then returned to the 24 Hours Plays where she acted alongside Jennifer Aniston.

Return to film work: 2007–present

Since 2007, Hoffmann has made a gradual return to film acting. In 2007, she starred in the film Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America. In 2008, she appeared in Guest of Cindy Sherman, a documentary on art-scene commentator Paul Hasegawa-Overacker's relationship with enigmatic photographer Cindy Sherman. Later in 2008, Hoffmann appeared in the documentary Chelsea on the Rocks, which is a tribute to the Chelsea Hotel where she grew up. Directed by Abel Ferrara, the documentary highlights the many personalities and artistic voices that have emerged from the legendary residence.

Hoffmann is currently making two films, the comedy drama Life During Wartime with Ally Sheedy (to be released in late 2009) and the thriller 13 with Mickey Rourke and Ray Liotta (to be released in 2010).

Filmography

External links

• Gaby Hoffmann at the Internet Movie Database
• 1997 Index Magazine Interview With Gaby Hoffmann