Cooper Hoffman Is Figuring Out How to Succeed — and Survive — in Hollywood

T here’s a ghost following Cooper Hoffman . Luckily for me, he brings it up first.

We’re only around 20 minutes into breakfast at the West Village staple Morandi the first time Hoffman mentions his late father, the beloved actor Philip Seymour Hoffman . The restaurant has long been one of his family’s favorite haunts, and the booth three spots over is where Hoffman recently celebrated his younger sister’s high school graduation and acceptance to either Michigan State or the University of Michigan (Hoffman, laughing and shamefaced, keeps forgetting which). When the conversation turns to the New York Knicks’ unbelievable playoff run, a decades-in-the-making miracle that Hoffman had to watch “drunk in bed” while in London attending a wedding, he invokes the memory of a man he lost just a month before his 11th birthday.

“I’ve waited 23 years for the Knicks to be as good as they are. It’s a crazy thing. I don’t like talking about it because it makes it seem sad, but the whole reason I watch the Knicks is because of my dad,” Hoffman says. “My dad not being here was massive… It added a layer of sadness to it that I wish wasn’t there. And I can’t help but be honest about that.”

The loss of anyone, let alone a parent, is hard enough. But Hoffman is facing an even more unique problem: His private pain is something he has to share with the public. People feel like they knew his dad, who died in 2014 of an accidental drug overdose at 46. So they think they know Hoffman. “People come up to me and talk about loss, people dying,” he says, shrugging. And given that he’s chosen to become an actor as well, comparison is inevitable.

Of course, the family legacy is not all woe: Hollywood giants are in Hoffman’s cell phone, handing out pointers and, in the case of director Paul Thomas Anderson, giving him his big break ( Licorice Pizza ). And if Hoffman feels any pressure, it doesn’t show. His naturalistic acting style and a wide-ranging slate of projects — including this summer’s BDSM comedy I Want Your Sex , the college-set indie Poetic License (Maude Apatow’s directorial debut, due out next year), and Luca Guadagnino’s highly anticipated OpenAI drama Artificial — reflect a refreshingly easygoing approach to his career. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

“You’re gonna be compared no matter what. And by the way, to be compared to that guy is a massive honor. My dad’s my favorite actor. I am trying to figure out who I am outside of it,” Hoffman says. “What I hope to leave behind is a lot of good work. But I think there’s a way to go about it and not take it so seriously.”

THE ONCE PALE BLUE sky outside is threatening a storm by the time Hoffman shows me his playlist of sex songs. With one hand curled around a sweating glass of iced americano — Hoffman was at the Today show for an 8 a.m.