Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE is a Welsh actor, composer, director and film producer. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTAs, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. In 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts.

About Anthony Hopkins in brief

Summary Anthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE is a Welsh actor, composer, director and film producer. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTAs, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. In 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. In 2020, Hopkins starred in The Father alongside Olivia Colman. Hopkins was born on New Year’s Eve, 1937, in Margam, a suburb of Port Talbot, Glamorgan. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and was then spotted by Laurence Olivier who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in 1965. His last stage play was a West End production of M. Butterfly in 1989. In 1968, Hopkins achieved recognition in film, playing Richard the Lionheart in The Lion in Winter. In 1991, he portrayed Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor. He reprised the role in its sequel Hannibal and the prequel Red Dragon. Other notable films include: The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, Howards End, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Shadowlands, Legends of the Fall, Meet Joe Black, The Mask of Zorro, as well as Thor and its 2013 and 2017 sequels. Since making his small screen debut with the BBC in 1967, Hopkins has continued to appear on television. In 2015, he starred in the BBC television film The Dresser alongside Ian McKellen, and In 2018, he starring in King Lear opposite Emma Thompson.

He has also starred in HBO television series Westworld for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In a 2002 interview he stated, \”I was a poor learner, which left me open to ridicule and gave me an inferiority complex. I grew up absolutely convinced I was stupid. I suppose it’s because we are both Welsh and grew up near the same town. For the record, I didn’t really know him at all.’’ Hopkins was inspired by Welsh compatriot Richard Burton, whom he met at the age of 15. He later said of Burton, ‘I don’t know where everyone gets the idea we were good friends.  I suppose it’s because we were both Welsh, and grewup near thesame town.’ He has been nominated for four other Academy Awards for the films The Remains of the Day, Nixon, Amistad and The Two Popes. In 2008 he received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. After two years of national service between 1958 and 1960, he served in the Army. He moved to London where he moved to the Royal British Artillery. In 1965, he made his first professional appearance in the Little Theatre’s production of Have a Cigarette in Swansea, Swansea, in 1960.