Sir Anthony Hopkins

Sir Anthony Hopkins 1937-, British actor, b. Port Talbot, Wales. A classically schooled actor, he studied drama in Wales and London, made his stage debut in 1960, and was long a member of the British National Theatre. A brilliant and versatile performer, he has acted in more than 25 plays, 30 films, and 40 television dramas. Although he has performed an enormous variety of roles, Hopkins is especially adept at portraying eccentric characters, from the merely odd to the truly monstrous. Plays in which he has appeared include Equus, Old Times, Macbeth, Pravda (1985), and King Lear (1986). Since his first film, The Lion in Winter (1968), he has appeared in Magic (1978), The Elephant Man (1980), Remains of the Day (1993), and Nixon (1995), among others. He won an Academy Award and achieved Hollywood stardom for his chilling portrayal of the murderous Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Hopkins was knighted in 1993.

Hopkins, Sir Anthony (1937– ) Welsh film and stage actor. His film career experienced several false starts before a dramatic resurgence in the 1990s. His hypnotic performance in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) won him an Academy Award for best actor. He also starred in Shadowlands (1993) and Nixon (1995). August (1995) was his directorial debut.

Hopkins, Anthony (1937– ), Welsh actor. After his London début at the Royal Court in 1964 he joined the National Theatre company, at first in supporting roles but eventually playing Coriolanus (1971) and Macbeth (1972). After his Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (1972) at Chichester he worked mainly in films and television for some years, living in America and appearing on stage there in such productions as Shaffer's Equus (1974) and Pinter's Old Times (NY, 1984). He returned to the London stage in 1985 in Schnitzler's The Lonely Road (Old Vic) and as the South African press baron in Hare and Brenton's Pravda, which were followed by his King Lear (1986) and Antony (in Antony and Cleopatra, 1987). The last three roles, all at the National Theatre, placed him in the front rank of contemporary actors. In 1989 he starred in the West End in David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly. He is also well known in films.