As a child actress in film and television, Gaby Hoffmann was known for roles that leaned, as she called it in a recent interview with The Independent, “punchy” and “precocious.” Being a kid of New York City in the ‘80s, surrounded by parents who were actors and their artist friends, perhaps she was always destined to have a unique sense of freedom in her presence. Starring in the recent Netflix miniseries “Eric” with Benedict Cumberbatch, which takes place in ‘80s New York City, Hoffmann plays a mother whose son has gone missing. Stepping back into the past has made Hoffmann reflect on some of the choices she’s made during her career, like giving up acting for college.
“I knew it wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction,” she said of eventually returning to the profession. “Or something I was doing because I had done it and didn’t know what else to do, or because I was afraid of making money. I gave it all up. I let myself go totally broke before I took a step toward acting. And it turns out there was a lot there for me.”
What she found was a greater openness and newfound ability to bring all of herself to the characters she was given to play. With roles on “Girls” and “Transparent,” she became known for her comfort with nude scenes.
“I’ve always been very comfortable being naked. So long as a woman is not being made to feel uncomfortable or isn’t being exploited, it shouldn’t be a big deal,” Hoffmann said. “I’m always shocked that nudity is such a big topic when it seems like in every other film someone gets their head blown off. Do we really need to talk about tits and vaginas? Let’s talk about AK47s, pistols, and the kind of absolutely revolting violence that is not just normal, but expected.”
Expanding on this she said, “I mean, I can barely watch somebody get punched, but a breast? That’s beautiful.”
Hoffmann doesn’t want to stop baring all on screen, but at the same time, she continues to not let it hold her down. In considering what comes next, she said, “If acting is part of my future then that’s wonderful – but I’m certainly not attached to that or sure about it. I still sort of wonder what I’m going to be when I grow up.”
