Sir Anthony Hopkins is a legendary actor, film director, and film producer known for his extensive and diverse body of work in film, television, and theatre. He has garnered an impressive array of awards & accolades, including two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a British Academy Television Award.
His contributions to the arts were further acknowledged with an honorary Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Fellowship, and a knighthood bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993. In 2003, he earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, cementing his legacy for his exceptional achievements in the motion picture industry.
Our existence is beyond our explanation, whether we believe in God or we have religion or we’re atheist. Our existence is beyond our understanding. No one has an answer.
Anthony Hopkins
Early Life
Anthony Hopkins was born Philip Anthony Hopkins on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Port Talbot, Wales. His father Richard Arthur Hopkins was a baker, while his mother, Muriel Anne was a homemaker. Growing up in a working-class family, Hopkins was influenced by his father’s strong work ethic and values. He attended Cowbridge Grammar School and later studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, graduating in 1957. Hopkins then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
Anthony Hopkins On Stage
His breakthrough came when the legendary Laurence Olivier invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in 1965, marking the beginning of a distinguished stage career. Notable productions included the timeless “King Lear,” his personal favourite among Shakespeare’s works. He spent several years performing in various productions, including “King Lear,” “Coriolanus,” “Macbeth,” and “Antony and Cleopatra.” His performance in David Hare’s play “Pravda” earned him critical acclaim and a Laurence Olivier Award in 1985. Hopkins’ last stage play was a West End production of “M. Butterfly” in 1989.
Anthony Hopkins On Screen
In 1968, Hopkins garnered acclaim in film for his portrayal of Richard the Lionheart in “The Lion in Winter,” which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
During the mid-1970s, director Richard Attenborough, who collaborated on five films: Young Winston (1972), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Magic (1978), Chaplin (1992), and Shadowlands (1993), with Hopkins, hailed him as “the greatest actor of his generation.”
In 1980, Anthony Hopkins took on a remarkable role in David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man.” Portraying the English doctor Sir Frederick Treves, he tends to Joseph Merrick, portrayed by John Hurt, a severely deformed man in 19th-century London. The film not only garnered critical acclaim but also earned eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture.
In 1981, Anthony Hopkins took on the role of portraying Adolf Hitler in the CBS television film “The Bunker.” The film delves into the weeks in and around Hitler’s underground bunker in Berlin before and during the Battle of Berlin. Hopkins’ portrayal earned him wide spread recognitionand. He also get a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Hopkins’ portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer in “The Silence of the Lambs (1991),” earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. The role became iconic and is considered one of the greatest performances in film history. He reprised the role in its sequel, “Hannibal (2001),” and the prequel, “Red Dragon (2002).”
Hopkins played the role of Stevens, a dedicated butler, in “The Remains of the Day (1993),” which is an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel. His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Hopkins portrayed President Richard Nixon in this biographical drama, “Nixon (1995),” directed by Oliver Stone. His performance earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Hopkins played John Quincy Adams, the former U.S. President, in the historical drama “Amistad (1997),” directed by Steven Spielberg.
Some of his other notable films include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982), The Bounty (1984), 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), Howards End (1992), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Shadowlands (1993), Legends of the Fall (1994), Meet Joe Black (1998), The Mask of Zorro (1998), The World’s Fastest Indian (2005), Fracture (2007), The Rite (2011), and many more.
Later Career
He famously played Odin in Marvel’s Thor series films Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), and Thor: Ragnarok (2017). In 2012 he portrayed Alfred Hitchcock in Sacha Gervasi’s Hitchcock. some of his other notable films in this period were Transformers: The Last Knight (2017),Where Are You (2019), Elyse (2020), The Virtuoso (2020), and Zero Contact (2020), among others.
His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Hopkins played Pope Benedict XVI in “The Two Popes (2019).” His performance earned him critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Hopkins played an elderly man struggling with dementia in “The Father (2020).” His performance earned him his second Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the oldest Best Actor Oscar winner to date.
More recently, he starred in memorable films like Florian Zeller’s acting in “The Son (2022),” James Grey’s “Armageddon Time (2023),” Matthew Brown’s “Freud’s Last Session (2023),” and Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon (2023).”
Hopkins stars as Nicholas Winton, who rescued 669 Jewish children from the Nazis—alongside Helena Bonham Carter in James Hawes’s 2023 historical drama “One Life.”
Other Work
Since his TV debut with the BBC in 1967, Anthony Hopkins has maintained a presence on the small screen. He received 6 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in “The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case” (1976), “The Bunker” (1981), “The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982),” “Great Expectations (1990),” “Westworld (2017),” and “Mythic Quest (2021).
In 2015, he graced the screen in the BBC film “The Dresser” with Ian McKellen. The following years saw him in noteworthy roles, including King Lear (2018), opposite Emma Thompson, and the historical drama Those About to Die (2024).
Anthony Hopkins has been married three times. His first marriage was to actress Petronella Barker, with whom he has a daughter, Abigail Hopkins. He later married Jennifer Lynton, and the couple divorced in 2002. Hopkins is currently married to Stella Arroyave, a Colombian actress and producer.
Anthony Hopkins on IMDB
