Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment in New York City on Sunday, NBC News has confirmed.
Two law enforcement sources told NBC that Hoffman was found in his home in New York's West Village neighborhood. They characterized the death as an apparent drug overdose.
"We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone," Hoffman's family said in a statement it gave to CNBC. "This is a tragic and sudden loss and we ask that you respect our privacy during this time of grieving. Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers."
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has yet to determine the exact cause of death, and a police investigation is underway.
A friend of Hoffman found the actor fully clothed in the bathroom of his home.
Hoffman had three children with his longtime partner, Mimi O'Donnell.
Hoffman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 2005 biographical film "Capote" and received three Academy Award nominations as Best Supporting Actor, for "Charlie Wilson's War" in 2008, "Doubt" in 2009, and most recently for "The Master" last year.
Born in upstate New York, Hoffman burst onto the film scene after more than a dozen earlier roles, including 1997's "Boogie Nights," in which he played a lovelorn gay man in the movie about the porn industry.
While he appeared in blockbusters such as "Twister" and "The Hunger Games" series, Hoffman was more associated with the independent film world for his intense portrayals of often disturbing and complex characters in such films as "Happiness," in which he played an obscene phone caller, and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."
In the latter film he played a son who schemes to rob his parents' jewelry store, resulting in their deaths. But Hoffman could also play nice, as in "Magnolia," in which he played the role of an angelic nurse.
Hoffman spoke in the past of struggling with drugs, including a 2006 interview in which he told CBS he had abused "anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all."
—By CNBC.com. Reuters contributed to this report.