Robert Hoffman Movies
A screen performer who entered show business via his finesse as a professional dancer, Gainesville, FL, native
Robert Hoffman reportedly gravitated to footwork at the tender age of five, with enrollment in professional dance classes.
Hoffman discovered his lifelong passion via the experience of watching superstar
Michael Jackson perform, and then (inspired by this) subsequently moved to Madison, AL, with his family and enrolled in dance classes there; years later he studied formally under the esteemed dance instructor Kim Wolfe. In time,
Hoffman's tenacity and passion for the art form led him to train with the Alabama Ballet, and when he opted to move to Hollywood and pursue film acting, dancing enabled him to carve out an unusual niche via a related series of movie roles.
Hoffman bowed as a beach dancer in the
Ben Affleck gangster farce
Gigli (2003), then eked a similar bit part in the dance-themed
You Got Served (2004) and gradually ascended to higher billing (and expanded his range) with supporting roles in the big-screen romantic comedy
She's the Man (2006), the prime-time missing person-themed series
Vanished (2006), and the supernatural horror movie
Shrooms (2007).
Jon M. Chu's urban drama
Step Up 2 the Streets, however, represented
Hoffman's breakthrough and brought him his first lead; in that film, he played a professional dancer who joins forces with a newcomer (
Briana Evigan) to participate in an underground dance contest. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide