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Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead in NYC

Jetboogieman said:
It's a tough one.

When I think back to it all, I've always been somewhat depressed...

But going career acting forces you to face your issues more than regular people.

Now I can't speak for every persons method of acting but generally what acting school/training does is try to break down your walls.

We had to talk about intensely personal stuff in class, there was crying, there was anger.

the reason for this is you have to be able to bring that stuff up in your performance, you have to be able to let your heart break to make that scene work.

Add to that an already depressed state of mind and a pre-disposition for substance abuse and you got yourself a powderkeg.

I actually once brushed shoulders with Mr. Monteith there as we had the same acting teacher... great guy but underneath there were serious issues but I'll say no more.
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Thanks for sharing that. I too have wondered how actors/actresses can suffer from depression. That brought an insight that I have not thought of before. I can understand how sharing deep, emotional, and painful issues to bring about those feelings during acting can take a toll on someone over time.
 
jonny5 said:
Whats this got to do with politics?

Art & Entertainment
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It has nothing to do with politics, which is why it wasn't posted in a politics forum and was posted in a breaking news forum, which it was when I posted the thread. At the time, the news was 17 minutes old - sounds like breaking news to me.

However, if that's the only point you want to make, perhaps you should start a thread in off-topic nonsense discussions.
 
DDD said:
Sounds like an incredible self-backstabbing, self-controlling, emotion selling profession done all in the name of audience.
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You know what man, that's one of the reasons I walked away.

The allure of fame is very strong and I don't like to blow my own horn and this is the first time in a long time I've talked about this, but according to some of my mentors at the time, I had the potential but what was stronger was my fear.

Probably my biggest fear was actually making it, I would constantly sabotage myself with drinking or drugs, one time I turned up to an audition so drunk they told me halfway through to stop and "they'd be in touch".

Eventually I realized I wasn't happy with what I was doing, my substance abuse caused me to lose my fiance, they wouldn't allow me to renew my lease because of all the trouble, I lost my agent all in the same week.

Eventually I retreated from the city to a small mountain town where I took a job as a Night Audit and began to rebuild myself, took some time but I now have a beautiful wife and an amazing son who was born 3 months ago, I'm now Hotel junior management with a major company and reaping the rewards.

Am I famous? No.

Do I still have issues with depression? Yes.

But yah know what, I think I'm alot happier (and aliver) than I would have been if I'd have kept going, you can't take fame with you when you die, what you've done in life is so much less important than how you live, you can easily see by looking at my posts on DP from back then that something was seriously wrong.

Mr. Hoffman was the elite, best of the best at what he did, he was dedicated and masterful and no one can ever take that away from him, but obviously underneath it all there was serious trouble and I hope my story shows that while there is the glam, the glitz, money... it can never take away the pain.
 
in Korea, at least when my husband was there for many years, actors and actresses were not put on a pedestal as they are here. They were actually second-class citizens.
 
Superfly said:
Why do you think that is? .
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Maybe because everything you do is public and is judged. And you always have to rise to some (perceived or real) standard.
 
Too bad. I really liked him as an actor. It's just too bad he decided to piss his life away.
 
Jetboogieman said:
Mr. Hoffman was the elite, best of the best at what he did, he was dedicated and masterful and no one can ever take that away from him, but obviously underneath it all there was serious trouble and I hope my story shows that while there is the glam, the glitz, money... it can never take away the pain.
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It seems to me that many of the artistic/imaginative types have serious problems with depression, thus self-medicate. It's a good thing that I didn't have unlimited resources when I was younger, of I could very well have spent my life slowly dying of drug abuse. Fortunately, I managed to eventually learn to live with the ups and downs of life, without self-destructing, but it took a lot of knocks. I still take the knocks from time to time, but have reached the point that I can stare them in the face, rather than trying to escape.
 
lizzie said:
It seems to me that many of the artistic/imaginative types have serious problems with depression, thus self-medicate. It's a good thing that I didn't have unlimited resources when I was younger, of I could very well have spent my life slowly dying of drug abuse. Fortunately, I managed to eventually learn to live with the ups and downs of life, without self-destructing, but it took a lot of knocks. I still take the knocks from time to time, but have reached the point that I can stare them in the face, rather than trying to escape.
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My guess is that depression is everywhere...I'm constantly surprised to read how prevalent it is (or is diagnosed) in our society. But we hear about it because they are 'famous.'. However I can see that public attention could exacerbate it.
 
That is what happens when you mess with drugs. you end up dead in jail or shot. in this case he ended up dead. no different than some guy on the street that put to much into his arm.

I don't know why we get all emotional over actors or musicians that kill themselves on that garbage yet the guy on the street is just one less druggy.
 
And of course, without fail, anytime a celebrity dies in an unseemly manner, the internet brings out the usual troglodytes who feel the urge to soapbox about drugs or the culture of celebrity. I hope it makes you feel better up in the ivory towers in which you guys reside.
 
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