Oscar winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been found dead in his Manhattan apartment after an apparent drugs overdose.
Hoffman, who was 46, won the Academy Award for Best actor for the 2005 film, Capote.
The American actor and father of three was found in his bathroom on Sunday morning on the 4th floor of his West Village Apartment according to law enforcement officials with a syringe still sticking out of his arm surrounded by bags of heroin.
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Dead at 46: Philip Seymour Hoffman with his Oscar for Capote at the 78th Academy Awards press room, Los Angeles, in 2006
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is to determine exact cause of death - but law enforcement sources speaking to the New York Post have said that a drug overdose is to blame.
The actor was discovered fully clothed in the bathroom of his fourth floor apartment in the Pickwick House around 11:15 am his screenwriter friend David Katz, who called 911 - and it is believed that the actor's body is still inside.
The news of the death of Hoffman comes just one day after representatives for the actor issued a statement denying he was dead after an internet hoax claimed the star had passed away on Saturday.
Hoffman admitted struggling with drug addiction in the past, and reportedly checked himself into rehab in May last year for heroin abuse after 23 years of being clean.
The family of the actor issued a statement to the media in the aftermath of his death to thank everyone for their support.
'We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone.
'This is a tagic and sudden loss and we ask that you respect our provacy during this time of grieving.
'Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers.'
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Scene: This is a Google Street view image of the exterior of Philip Seymour Hoffman's West Village home in Manhattan, New York
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Guarded: Police stand by the door of the apartment building where actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of an alleged drug overdose in New York City
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West Village: This is the apartment where Philip Seymour Hoffman was discovered dead and where he is still reportedly inside
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Tragic: The Oscar winning actor was found by a screenwriter friend on Sunday morning - reportedly after a heroin overdose
The actor was also nominated for three Best Supporting Actor Oscars, for The Master, Doubt, and Charlie Wilson's War.
He most recently appeared in Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
The Fairport, New York, native is survived by longtime partner, Mimi O'Donnell, and their three children, daughters Tallulah and Willa and son Cooper.
In May, Hoffman reportedly told TMZ in May that he began taking heroin again after progressing from prescription pills and then ultimately snorting heroin.
He claimed that he only used heroin for a week before he realized he needed help and checked himself into a detox facility on the East Coast.
He spent 10 days receiving treatment and credited a 'great group of friends and family' for helping him recover.
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Family: (from left)Tallulah Hoffman, Willa Hoffman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and his partner Mimi O'Donnell walk around New York City in April of 2013, while (right) Seymour Hoffman and Mimi O'Donnell with their son Cooper in December 2013 in New York
Hoffman was seen in public at the Sundance Film Festival last month promoting his movie, 'God's Pocket'.
He appeared 'slightly disheveled and pasty' according to the New York Post and declined interviews.
At the time his representative said 'He needed a minute and didn't feel like coming down yet.'
In 2006, Hoffman admitted his history of substance abuse afte he graduated from NYU's drama school.
'It was all that drugs and alcohol, yeah. It was anything I could get my hands on…I liked it all,' he told 60 Minutes at the time.
Hoffman, who was no matinee idol figure with his tubby, lumpy build and limp blond hair, made his career mostly as a character actor. He was nominated for Oscars four times in all.
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One of his last public appearances: Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman attends the premiere of the film A Most Wanted Man at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in this January 19, 2014
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On the mend: Philip Seymour Hoffman enjoyed an afternoon stroll with his partner Mimi O'Donnell in New York, in June after he returned from his stint in rehab
In one of his earliest films, he played a spoiled prep school student in 'Scent of a Woman' in 1992. One of his breakthrough roles came as a gay member of a porno film crew in 'Boogie Nights,' one of several movies directed by Paul Thomas Anderson that he would eventually appear in.
He often played comic, slightly off-kilter roles in movies like 'Along Came Polly,' ''The Big Lebowski' and 'Almost Famous.
More recently, he was Plutarch Heavensbee in 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' and was reprising that role in the two-part sequel, 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay,' which is in the works.
And in 'Moneyball,' he played Art Howe, the grumpy manager of the Oakland Athletics who resisted new thinking about baseball talent.
Just weeks ago, Showtime announced Hoffman would star in 'Happyish,' a new comedy series about a middle-aged man's pursuit of happiness.
In 'The Master,' he was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role as the charismatic leader of a religious movement.
The film, partly inspired by the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, reunited the actor with Anderson.
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Award winning: Philip Seymour Hoffman seen here with actress Catherine Keener won the Oscar for his 2005 portrayal of Truman Capote
He also received a 2009 supporting nomination for 'Doubt,' as a priest who comes under suspicion because of his relationship with a boy, and a best supporting actor nomination for 'Charlie Wilson's War,' as a CIA officer.
Born in 1967 in Fairport, N.Y., Hoffman was interested in acting from an early age, mesmerized at 12 by a local production of Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons.'
He studied theater as a teenager with the New York State Summer School of the Arts and the Circle in the Square Theatre. He then majored in drama at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
Trained in the theater, with a versatility and discipline more common among British performers than Americans, he was a character actor who could take on any role, large or small, loathsome or sympathetic.
On the stage, he performed in revivals of 'True West,' ''Long Day's Journey Into Night' and 'The Seagull,' a summer production that also featured Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. In 2012, he was more than equal to one of the great roles in American theater — Willy Loman in 'Death of a Salesman,' a performance praised as 'heartbreaking' by Associated Press theater critic Mark Kennedy.
'Hoffman is only 44, but he nevertheless sags in his brokenness like a man closer to retirement age
, lugging about his sample cases filled with his self-denial and disillusionment,' Kennedy wrote. 'His fraying connection to reality is pronounced in this production, with Hoffman quick to anger and a hard edge emerging from his babbling.'
, lugging about his sample cases filled with his self-denial and disillusionment,' Kennedy wrote. 'His fraying connection to reality is pronounced in this production, with Hoffman quick to anger and a hard edge emerging from his babbling.'
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