Who Is Cooper Hoffman? 7 Facts About the Breakout “Licorice Pizza” Star Everyone’s Googling

Rising star Cooper Hoffman is surging back into the pop-culture conversation this week thanks to a trio of high-profile interviews, fresh festival buzz for his new film “The Long Walk,” and confirmation that he’ll headline Luca Guadagnino’s A.I. thriller “Artificial.” Below is a detailed look at why search traffic on the 22-year-old actor has spiked and what it means for moviegoers and awards handicappers alike. From “Licorice Pizza” breakthrough to “The Long Walk” marathon Hoffman’s debut in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 coming-of-age romance “Licorice Pizza” earned Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations, but his follow-up asked even more of him. Shot largely on foot across rural New Mexico, “The Long Walk” casts Hoffman as a grief-ridden college dropout who attempts a 500-mile pilgrimage to process his mother’s death. In a new Variety profile he calls the production “physically brutal and emotionally cleansing,” noting that director Chloé Zhao filmed most scenes in single takes to capture genuine exhaustion. Carrying Philip Seymour Hoffman’s legacy—on his own terms Every article about Cooper eventually circles back to his father, the late Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. Speaking with The Guardian, the younger Hoffman admitted he still feels he has to “earn [his] stripes” before audiences stop comparing the two, adding that he kept rehearsal journals modeled on his dad’s meticulous process. Deadline reports that shooting “The Long Walk” reopened long-suppressed grief, yet Hoffman found catharsis in pushing that pain into the character’s journey. Next stop: Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial” for Amazon MGM Studios Deadline confirmed in July that Hoffman will star opposite Cate Blanchett and Paul Mescal in “Artificial,” Guadagnino’s techno-noir about an engineer who resurrects a deceased partner via synthetic consciousness. Sources close to the production hint that Hoffman’s role—an ethics investigator within the film’s dystopian setting—could position him as a major player in next year’s awards race, keeping his name firmly in trending columns. Why fans are searching now • Three major interviews (Variety, The Guardian, People) dropped within five days, supplying quotable sound bites about coping with loss and fearing his dad’s hypothetical critiques. • Festival programmers leaked that “The Long Walk” is test-screening to strong reactions, with pundits likening it to “Into the Wild” for Gen Z viewers. • Casting in “Artificial” aligns Hoffman with auteur-driven genre fare, expanding his image beyond nostalgic indie dramas. Industry reaction and critical outlook Early social media chatter from test audiences praises Hoffman’s “unforced vulnerability” and predicts a “Best Actor dark-horse slot,” while agents note a sudden uptick in scripts tailored to his introspective style. Studio insiders say Amazon MGM sees him as a linchpin for their prestige slate, pairing box-office viability with arthouse credibility. Bottom line Between an intensely personal performance in “The Long Walk,” a headline-grabbing role in Guadagnino’s “Artificial,” and candid reflections on his father’s towering legacy, Cooper Hoffman has officially moved from breakout curiosity to must-watch leading man. Expect his name—and search volume—to keep climbing as autumn festival premieres roll out and awards handicappers sharpen their pencils.