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Gaby Hoffmann Gabriella Mary "Gaby" Hoffmann is an American
film and television actress. Born to actress Janet Hoffmann, an Andy Warhol superstar,
Hoffmann rose to prominence as a child actor, debuting in Field of Dreams and having roles
in Uncle Buck and Sleepless in Seattle . She began transitioning into teenage and adult
roles with the films Now and Then , 200 Cigarettes , and You Can Count on Me . More recently,
Hoffmann has starred alongside Michael Cera in Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus , and
has had guest appearances in the television series Louie and Girls.
Early life 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. Her father is Anthony Herrera, a soap actor best
known for his role as James Stenbeck from As The World Turns. Hoffmann also has a half-sister,
Alexandra (Alex) Auder, the daughter of director Michel Auder, who is 10 years older. Gaby
was raised by her mother. Her father did not have a significant presence in her life. Her
birth is documented in Brigid Berlin's The Andy Warhol Diaries. An entry dated January
10, 1982, two days after Hoffmann was born, says that a friend of Warhol’s telephoned
Warhol and told him that they were going to the Chelsea Hotel to see Viva and her new
baby. Life at the Chelsea Hotel
Until 1993, Hoffmann lived in Manhattan's fabled, now landmarked, Hotel Chelsea, 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 neighborhood deli at night and get them ice cream. Hoffmann
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 the 1994 sitcom Someone Like Me originated after Gail Berman (former 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, 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 the January 17, 1994 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. Career
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 (as well as 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 a full-time acting career in Hollywood 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
Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. Whose Daughter is She (1995)
In 1995, Hoffmann played Andrea Eagerton in the CBS TV film Whose Daughter Is She?
Now and Then (1995) In the same year as Freaky Friday, Hoffmann
starred in the coming-of-age comedy, Now and Then, with her older counterpart played by
Demi Moore. She played as Young Samantha. Later acting career and college: 1996–2003
Between 1996–2000, Hoffmann landed roles in several films including Everyone Says I
Love You (1996), Volcano (1997), Snapped (1998), The Hairy Bird (1998), 200 Cigarettes (1999),
Coming Soon (1999), Black & White (1999), You Can Count on Me (2000), and Perfume (2001).
In 1999, Hoffmann followed her half-sister's example and entered New York's Bard College
to pursue a degree in literature. Starting in 2001, she put her acting career on hold
to complete her studies. She graduated in 2003, and then spent much of her 20s drifting.
She interned with a chef in Italy, and then trained to be a doula after helping deliver
her sister Alex's children. For a time, Hoffmann and a boyfriend lived in an old trailer in
the Catskills. 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 Theater/Lincoln Center
Theater - 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 Street in New York City, which ran
from September to 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. In 2009, Hoffmann had a supporting role in
Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime, and the thriller 13 with Mickey Rourke (released in
2010). While shooting the 2013 film Crystal Fairy
& the Magical Cactus in Chile, Hoffmann and costar Michael Cera took mescaline for her
performance in a climactic scene, besides not shaving her armpits.
In 2013, she completed work on the lead role of a Web series entitled Lyle, created by
Stewart Thorndike and Jill Soloway. It was shot in NYC. She subsequently acquired an
apartment in Brooklyn's Fort Greene section. In October 2013, she starred in the 1910s
installment of Vanity Fair's The Decades Series, "The First March", directed by Gilly Barnes.
Filmography Television
Awards