Anthony Hopkins

Born December 31, 1937 in Margum near Port Talbot Wales, he is the only child of Muriel and Richard Hopkins.  His father was a banker.  He was educated at Cowbridge Grammar School.  At 17, he wandered into a YMCA amateur theatrical production and knew immediately that he was in the right place.  With newfound enthusiasm, combined with proficiency at the piano, he won a scholarship to the Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff where he studied for two years (1955-1957). He entered the British Army in 1958 for mandatory military training, spending most of the two-year tour of duty clerking the Royal Artillery unit at Bulford.

In 1960, he was invited to audition for Sir Laurence Olivier, then director of the National Theater at the Old Vic.  Two years later, Hopkins was Olivier's understudy in Strindberg's Dance of Death.  Hopkins made his film debut in 1967, playing Richard the Lionheart in THE LION IN THE WINTER, starring Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn.  He received a British Academy Award nomination and the film received an Academy Award as Best Picture.

American television viewers discovered Hopkins in the 1973 ABC production of "Leon Uris' QBVII," the first American mini-series, in which he played the knighted Polish-born British physician Adam Kleno who is ultimately destroyed by his wartime past.  The following year, he starred on Broadway in the National Theatre production of Equus, and later mounted another production of the play in Los Angeles where he lived for 10 years, working extensively in American films and television.

After starring as Captain Bligh in THE BOUNTY (1984), he returned to England and the National Theatre in David Hare's Pravda, for which he received the British Theatre Association's Best Actor Award and The Observer Award for Outstanding achievement at the 1985 Laurence Oliver Awards.  During this time at the National he starred in Antony and Cleopatra and King Lear.

Hopkins also appeared in the feature adaptation of Stephen King's HEARTS IN ATLANTIS for director Scott Hicks, the action comedy BAD COMPANY, co-starring Chris Rock, and the box-office hit prequel to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, RED DRAGON, co-starring Ed Norton, Ralph Fiennes and Emily Watkins, and in Miramax Films' adaptation of the Phillip Roth novel The Human Stain, opposite Nicole Kidman and directed by Robert Benton.

Anthony Hopkins received an Academy Award for his performance in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS(1991), and was subsequently nominated in the same category for his performances in THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993) and NIXON(1995).  He was also given the Best Actor Award by the British Academy of Film & Television Arts for THE REMAINS OF THE DAY.  In 1993, he starred in Sir Richard Attenborough's SHADOWLANDS with Debra Winger, winning numerous critics awards in the United States and Britain.  In 1998, he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in AMISTAD.

In 2001, Hopkins starred in the sequel to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, HANNIBAL, in which he starred with Julianne Moore.  Directed by Ridley Scott, the blockbuster film grossed over $100 million domestically.  He also recorded the narration for the 2000 holiday season's hit film DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS.

In 1998, he starred in MEET JOE BLACK, directed by Martin Brest and INSTINCT, directed by Jon Turletaub, and in TITUS, Julie Taymor's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus with Jessica Lange.

In 1992 he appeared in HOWARD'S END and BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA before starring in LEGENDS OF THE FALLand THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE.  He made his directorial debut in 1995 with AUGUST, an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya for which he composed the musical score and also played Vanya.  He starred in the title role in SURVIVING PICASSO and with Alec Baldwin in THE EDGE, a dramatic adventure written by David Mamet and directed by Lee Tamahori.  THE MASK OF ZORRO, directed by Martin Campbell and co-starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, was released in July 1998, and AMISTAD, directed by Stephen Spielberg, was released in December 1997.

Earlier films include 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, THE ELEPHANT MAN, MAGIC, and A BRIDGE TOO FAR.  THE BOUNTY and DESPERATE HOURS were his first two collaborations with Dino De Laurentis Company.  In American television, he received two Emmy® Awards for "The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case" (1976) in which he portrayed Bruno Hauptmann, and "The Bunker" (1981) in which he portrayed Adolf Hitler.

He also starred in Miramax Films' PROOF, opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN, for director Roger Donaldson, ALL THE KING'S MEN for director Steven Zallian and co-starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, and Kate Winslet, and the crime thriller FRACTURE, opposite Ryan Gosling.  He wrote, directed and composed the score for his debut independent feature film SLIPSTREAM, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and was seen in Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of BEOWULF, for Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures' WOLFMAN, opposite Benicio Del Toro, and Woody Allen's YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER in which he co-starred with Josh Brolin and Naomi Watts. Hopkins was also seen in the Warner Bros./Newline Films thriller RITE, and Paramount Pictures' film adaptation of the Marvel Comic THOR.

In addition to his busy filming schedule, Anthony Hopkins is also an accomplished composer, whose work has been performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.  In 2009, he participated as a composer in the Festival Del Sole in Cortona Italy, and recently released a CD collection of his compositions recorded by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Entitled Anthony Hopkins: Composer, the album reached the #1 spot on England's classical music charts.

In 2004 Hopkins started painting, quickly gaining recognition as a prolific contemporary artist.  His work is currently being exhibited in fine art galleries, and has been acquired by prominent art collectors around the world.

Fox Searchlight Pictures