In pictures: Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has died aged 46, was one of Hollywood's most respected and versatile actors. He won an Oscar in 2006 for best actor for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote.

Scent of a Woman

One of his first big screen roles was as a bullying student in Al Pacino's 1992 drama Scent of a Woman (front right). That performance caught the eye of director Paul Thomas Anderson, who went on to cast him in Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love.

Flawless

Hoffman's first lead role came in 1999's Flawless, in which he played a drag queen who taught a police officer, played by Robert De Niro, to sing after he had suffered a stroke.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote

In his portrayal of Truman Capote, The New York Times said the actor achieved "an impressive physical and vocal transformation" but also conveyed "with clarity and subtlety, the complexities of Capote's temperament".

Charlie Wilson's War

Hoffman earned his second Oscar nomination two years after his win for Capote for playing a CIA bureaucrat opposite Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson's War.

Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays Father Flynn, right, and Meryl Streep portrays Sister Aloysius in a scene from "Doubt."

Hoffman receive two further Oscar nominations - for The Master and the 2008 film Doubt (pictured), in which he played a priest alongside Meryl Streep.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ryan Gosling

He starred in the 2011 drama The Ides of March, playing a campaign manager in a presidential election, opposite Ryan Gosling (pictured) and George Clooney. The role earned Hoffman a Bafta nomination.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Hoffman had also moved behind the camera, directing and starring in 2010's Jack Goes Boating. He had just announced plans to direct another film, which was to have starred Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee, left, and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy in a scene from "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire."

His recent film credits included the Hunger Games series of films, in which he played Plutarch Heavensbee (pictured here with Woody Harrelson).

Actors Willem Dafoe, Rachel McAdams, and Philip Seymour Hoffman and director Anton Corbijn pose for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival

His most recent public appearance came at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah last month, where he was promoting his new thriller A Most Wanted Man with director Anton Corbijn (right) and his co-stars Willem Dafoe and Rachel McAdams.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (picture from December 2013)

The actor - seen here in December 2013 - told celebrity news website TMZ last year that he had sought treatment for drug abuse, having used prescription drugs and briefly heroin.