Jack Hofsiss

Who is Jack Hofsiss?

Jack Hofsiss is an American theatre, film and television director. He received a Tony Award for his direction of The Elephant Man on Broadway, the youngest director to have ever received it at the time. The production also garnered him the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, an Obie Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

Hofsiss grew up in New York City as a Catholic and served as an altar boy, which he claims was his "first experience of theatre." He is a 1971 graduate of Georgetown University. Jack currently teaches directing at HB Studio in NYC.

After a directing stint at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., he became a casting director in New York for several years. He then directed The Best of Families, a mini-series, for television in 1977. He also directed for TV Out of Our Father's House, 3 by Cheever: The Sorrows of Gin, The Elephant Man, "Family Secrets, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In 1982 he directed the film I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can.

In 1985, Hoffsiss dived into a pool and suffered a spinal cord injury, and he now uses a wheelchair.

Hofsiss appeared in the documentary The Needs of Kim Stanley in 2005.