US actor Philip Seymour Hoffman found dead in New York

New York: Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment.

He died of an apparent drug overdose, a New York City police source said.

The source said Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment after a 911 emergency call from a friend of his. Police responded to the scene in Manhattan's West Village after receiving the call at about 11:15 am (1615 GMT), said the official on condition of anonymity.

The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, said Hoffman was found with a needle in his arm by a screenwriter in the bathroom of his apartment.

Hoffman – whose recent movies included “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “The Master” – won an Oscar for best actor in 2006 for “Capote” and was seen as one of the pre-eminent actors of his generation.

Born Philip Hoffman in July 1967 in New York state, he was the third of four children of a Xerox executive and a feminist housewife who divorced when he was nine.

In 1997, he made a quiet splash as a closeted gay crew member who makes a tentative pass at star Mark Wahlberg in Paul Thomas Anderson's porn industry tale “Boogie Nights,” followed by a quirky turn as a toady in the Coen brothers' “The Big Lebowski” (1998).

The hard-working actor played music reporter Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe's “Almost Famous” (2000) and then took on the role of a lonely lecher in Todd Solondz's “Happiness” (1998).

He also had striking roles in Anderson's “Magnolia,” starring Tom Cruise (1999); in “Flawless,” in which he plays a melodramatic drag queen, opposite Robert De Niro; in “Punch-Drunk Love”; and in big-budget pictures like the 2003 Oscar winner “Cold Mountain.”