Dustin Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Lillian, a jazz pianist, and Harry Hoffman, who worked as a prop supervisor/set decorator at Columbia Pictures before becoming a furniture salesman. Hoffman's family was Jewish, although he did not have a religious upbringing. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955.

Hoffman began acting at the Pasadena Playhouse with fellow actor Gene Hackman. After two years at the playhouse, Hackman headed for New York City and Hoffman soon followed. He worked a series of odd jobs, including coat checking at restaurants, working in the typing department of the city Yellow Pages directory, while getting the occasional bit television role. To support himself, he left acting briefly in order to teach. He worked as a professional fragrance tester for Maxwell House. He also did the occasional television commercial. An often-replayed segment on programs that explore actors' early work is a clip showing Hoffman touting the Volkswagen Fastback.

In 1960, Hoffman landed a role in an off-Broadway production and followed with a walk-on role in a Broadway production in 1961. Hoffman then studied at the famed Actors Studio and became a dedicated method actor.

Through the early and mid-1960s, Hoffman made appearances in television shows and movies, including Naked City, The Defenders and Hallmark Hall of Fame. Hoffman made his theatrical film debut in The Tiger Makes Out in 1967, alongside Eli Wallach. Between acting jobs, Hoffman also taught acting at a community college night school, and directed off-Broadway and community theater productions.

In 1966, Mike Nichols began casting The Graduate. Negotiations with Warren Beatty and Robert Redford fell through, and Hoffman auditioned for the role. Hoffman had been set to play the role of Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in Mel Brooks' 1968 movie The Producers, but dropped out when he landed the role of Benjamin Braddock, opposite Anne Bancroft. Hoffman received an Academy Award nomination for his performance.

Hoffman's next role was Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. He received his second Oscar nomination for Midnight Cowboy, while the film won the Best Picture honor. This was followed by his role in Little Big Man, where he played Jack Crabb, who ages from teenager to a 121-year-old man in the film. The film was widely praised by critics, but was overlooked for an award except for a supporting nomination for Chief Dan George.

Hoffman continued to appear in major films over the next few years. Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, Straw Dogs, and Papillon were followed by Lenny in 1974, for which Hoffman received his third nomination for Best Actor in seven years.

Hoffman and Robert Redford starred as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, respectively, in All the President's Men. Hoffman next starred in Marathon Man, a film based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, opposite Laurence Olivier.

Hoffman's next starred in Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer as workaholic Ted Kramer whose wife unexpectedly leaves him and he must raise their son alone. Hoffman starred alongside Meryl Streep in the film, which earned Hoffman his first Academy Award. The film also received the Best Picture honor, as well as Supporting Actress (Streep) and Director.

In Tootsie, Hoffman portrays Michael Dorsey, a struggling actor who finds himself dressing up as a woman to land a role on a soap opera. His co-star was Jessica Lange Tootsie earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Hoffman's fifth nomination.

Hoffman then turned to television in the role of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, for which he won the 1985 Emmy Award for Outstanding lead actor in a TV movie or miniseries. He would also go on to win a Golden Globe for the same performance.

In Barry Levinson's Rain Man, Hoffman starred an autistic savant, opposite Tom Cruise. His performance garnered him his second Academy Award. After Rain Man, Hoffman appeared with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderickin Family Business. Throughout the 1990s, Hoffman appeared in many large, studio films, such as Dick Tracy, Hero and the ill-fated Billy Bathgate. Hoffman also played the title role of Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg's Hook, earning a Golden Globe nomination; in this movie, Hoffman's costume was so heavy that he had to wear an air-conditioned suit under it. Hoffman played the lead role in Outbreak, alongside Rene Russo Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland. Following that, he appeared in Sleepers with Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, and Kevin Bacon. He starred opposite John Travolta in the Costa Gavras vehicle Mad City.

Hoffman gained his seventh Academy Award nomination for his role in Wag The Dog. He next appeared in Barry Levinson's adaptation of Sphere, opposite Sharon Stone Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote, Queen Latifah and Liev Schreiber

More recently, Hoffman played theater owner Charles Frohman in the J.M. Barrie biopic Finding Neverland, costarring Johnny Deppand Kate Winslet Hoffman co-starred with Barbra Streisand Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller in 2004's Meet the Fockers, the sequel to Meet the Parents. Hoffman won the 2005 MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.

In 2006, Hoffman appeared in Stranger than Fiction, played the perfumer Giuseppe Baldini in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, and had a small cameo in the 2006 film, The Holiday.