Gaby Hoffmann

Gabrielle Mary Antonia Hoffmann (born January 8, 1982) is an American actress. She made her film debut in Field of Dreams and found success as a child actress in Uncle Buck (1989), This Is My Life (1992), The Man Without a Face (1993), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and then later as a teenager with Now and Then (1995), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Volcano (1997), All I Wanna Do (1998), and 200 Cigarettes (1999).

After a hiatus from the industry, Hoffmann returned in 2007, appearing in various independent projects that garnered critical acclaim. This has been described as a career "resurgence", due to her roles in Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus (2013), Obvious Child (2014), Wild (2014), and C'mon C'mon (2021). On television, she played April in the FX series Louie (2012), Caroline Sackler in the HBO series Girls (2014–2017), and Ali Pfefferman in the Amazon Prime series Transparent (2014–2019), earning three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the latter two.

Early life Hoffmann was born in New York City to actor parents. Her mother, Viva, is a retired actress, writer and former Warhol superstar. Her father, Anthony Herrera, was a soap opera actor best known for his role as James Stenbeck in As the World Turns. Herrera was raised in Wiggins, Mississippi, by his maternal grandparents. His own father, Gaby's paternal grandfather, was of French and Spanish descent. Hoffmann's birth is documented in Pat Hackett's The Andy Warhol Diaries. An entry dated January 10, 1982, two days after Hoffmann was born, says a friend telephoned Warhol and told him they were going to the Chelsea Hotel to see Viva and her new baby.

Hoffmann attended elementary school in Manhattan at P.S. 3 on Hudson Street in the West Village, then another school in Hell's Kitchen. After she moved to Los Angeles in 1994, she attended the Buckley School, before finally graduating from Calabasas High School in 1999.

Life at the Chelsea Hotel Until July 1993 at age 11, Hoffmann lived in Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel, which she later said she enjoyed. According to Hoffmann, she and her best friend, Talya Shomron, roller-skated in the hallways, spied on the drug dealer across the hall, and persuaded the bellman to go to the neighborhood delicatessen at night to fetch them ice cream.

Hoffmann recalled, "I grew up in downtown New York in the '80s. I have a friend who grew up with me, and she puts it well. She says, 'If you grew up where we grew up, if you weren't an artist, a drag queen, queer, or a drug addict, then you were the freak.' I grew up in a world where I guess what is considered unusual or abnormal for the rest of America was very much considered the norm." She also reported in an interview that there had been gunfire and a rape at the hotel shortly before they moved out. to help pay the family bills. In 1989, she starred in her first movie, Field of Dreams, with Kevin Costner, playing his character's daughter, Karin. 1989's Uncle Buck followed, working beside John Candy and child star Macaulay Culkin. After Uncle Buck, Hoffmann grew tired of the rigors of screen performance and temporarily retired. Upon hearing of co-star Culkin's income from his following feature films, She starred 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, the reception from This is My Life gave her confidence and solidified her desire to return to acting full-time. After Someone Like Me, Hoffmann led alongside Shelley Long in the 1995 TV film Freaky Friday, a remake of the 1976 film of the same name starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. In the same year as Freaky Friday, Hoffmann starred as Young Samantha, the childhood counterpart to Demi Moore's character, in the coming-of-age feature film Now and Then.

The same year, Hoffmann played Andrea Eagerton in the CBS TV film Whose Daughter Is She?. Between 1996 and 2001, 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).

2003–2009: Theatre work in New York Between 2003 and 2007, Hoffmann concentrated on theater 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.

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. Sherman was married to Hoffmann's stepfather, Michel Auder, from 1984 to 1999.

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 hotel.

2010–present: Career expansion Several years later, Hoffmann starred alongside Michael Cera in the adventure comedy film Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus (2013) directed by Sebastián Silva. While shooting the film in Chile, she and Cera took mescaline for her performance, which was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. In 2013, she joined the Web series entitled Lyle, created by Stewart Thorndike and Joey Soloway. As the series was shot in NYC, she subsequently acquired an apartment in Brooklyn's Fort Greene section.

In 2012 she portrayed April, a love interest and neurotic ex-girlfriend of the title character portrayed by Louis C.K. in the FX series Louie. Hoffmann took a recurring role portraying Caroline Sackler, the sister of Adam Sackler (Adam Driver) on the Lena Dunham created HBO series Girls from 2014 to 2017. and earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2015.

Joey Soloway, who had watched Hoffman in the third season of Louie, would subsequently write the role Hoffmann plays in Transparent. In 2016, she appeared in pre-recorded video as an onstage "stand-in" during Sia's Nostalgic for the Present concert tour, for the song "Unstoppable." Her performance is featured on the song's official music video, released in 2021. In 2021, she acted in the Mike Mills drama C'mon C'mon. She acted opposite Joaquin Phoenix playing his estranged sister, Viv, whose husband is going through mental problems. She was nominated for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance. From 2022 to 2023, she appeared in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. In 2024, she co-led the Netflix miniseries Eric alongside Benedict Cumberbatch.

Personal life Hoffmann has a daughter, born in 2014, with longtime boyfriend, cinematographer Chris Dapkins.

She lives in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Acting credits

Film

Television Year Title RoleNotes 1994 Someone Like Me Gaby Stepjak 5 episodes1995 Freaky Friday Annabelle Andrews Television film Whose Daughter Is She? Andrea Eagerton Television film 2005 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Rachel Burnett Episode: "The Good Child" 2009 Dr. Sally Eastman Unsold television pilot 2010 Private Practice Emily Episode: "Just Lose It"2011 Rhonda Cerone Episode: "Killer Song" Homeland CNN Producer Episode: "Clean Skin" 2012 Louie April Episode: "Something Is Wrong" 2014–2017 Girls Caroline Sackler Recurring role (seasons 3–6), 8 episodes 2014–2019 Transparent Ali Pfefferman 42 episodes 2016 High Maintenance Gaby Episode: "Tick" 2022–2023 Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Claire Rothman 17 episodes 2024 Eric Cassie Anderson Miniseries 2025 Zero Day Monica Kidder Miniseries Poker Face Fran Lamont Episode: "The Taste of Human Blood"

Theatre Year Title Role Playwright Venue Ref.2005 The Sugar Syndrome Dani Lucy Prebble Williamstown Theatre Festival Third Emily Imbrie Wendy Wasserstein Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, Lincoln Center 2006 SubUrbia Sooze Eric Bogosian Second Stage Theatre, Off-Broadway 2007 The Machine Ensemble Betty Shamieh The Duke On 42nd Street, Off-Broadway 2010 The 24 Hour Plays Performer Various American Airlines Theatre, Broadway

Music videos Year Title Artist(s)2021 "Unstoppable" Sia

Awards and nominations Organizations Year Category Work Result Ref. Gotham Awards 2021 Outstanding Supporting Performance C'mon C'mon Independent Spirit Award 2013 Best Female Lead Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus Primetime Emmy Awards 2015 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Girls (episode: "Home Birth") 2015 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Transparent (episode: "Rollin") 2016 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Transparent (episode: "Bulnerable") Screen Actors Guild Awards 2016 Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series Transparent (season 2) Young Artist Award 1990 Best Young Actress Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Field of Dreams 1993 Best Young Actress Under Ten in a Motion Picture This Is My Life 1994 Best Youth Actress in a Motion Picture Drama 1995 Best Youth Comedienne in a TV Show Someone Like Me 1996 Best Young Ensemble – Feature Film or Video Now and Then 1997 Best Young Actress in a Comedy Film Everyone Says I Love You