Anthony Hopkins

Born in 1937 in Port Talbot, South Wales, Philip Anthony Hopkins was the only child of Dick (a baker by trade) and Muriel Hopkins. His family was peopled with domineering and intimidating stock his grandfather, also a baker, inspired fear in his young grandson, on account of his massive, imposing build and stern, fiery temperament and he grew up a taciturn child in the peculiar atmosphere of wry, dark humor and bleakness that was Wales during the second World War.
Anthony's interest in the dramatic arts was sparked during his time at the Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, from where he moved on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

After graduation, Anthony served in the Royal Artillery for a couple of years and, in 1960, he performed on stage in 'The Quare Fellow', followed by his London stage debut in 'Julius Caesar'.

In 1966 Anthony was invited to join The National Theatre at the Old Vic, where he played King Lear, and Macbeth. A year later he was cast in his film debut, 'The White Bus', which soon led to his TV debut in 'A Heritage and Its History', and his feature film debut in 'The Lion in Winter', opposite Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn.

Anthony experienced his Broadway debut in 'Equus', and won an Emmy for his performance in the TV-movie 'The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case'.
After a decade in the States, Anthony returned to the UK in 1984, with his first role as a British bookseller, in '84 Charing Cross Road'.

It was Anthony's performance as killer Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter, in 'The Silence of the Lambs', which won him his first Oscar, along with the admiration and fear of moviegoers worldwide.
1993 was a monumental year for Anthony, as he received an Oscar nomination for 'The Remains of the Day', and received a Knighthood, making him Sir Anthony. He received other Oscar nominations for both his title role in 'Nixon', and his part in Steven Spielberg's 'Amistad'.

Anthony decided to turn his hand to working behind the camera, with his feature directorial debut in 'August', an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, in which he also starred.
At the turn of the millennium Anthony narrated the live-action version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas', and followed up with a reprisal of his Oscar-winning role in the film adaptation of 'Hannibal'. thebiographychannel.co.uk

Filmography

All the King's Men (2006) .... Judge Irwin
Bobby (2006) .... John Casey
The World's Fastest Indian (2005) .... Burt Munro
Proof (2005) .... Robert
Alexander (2004) .... Old Ptolemy
The Human Stain (2003) .... Coleman Silk
Red Dragon (2002) .... Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Bad Company (2002) .... Officer Oakes
Hearts in Atlantis (2001) .... Ted Brautigan
Hannibal (2001) .... Hannibal Lecter
The Devil and Daniel Webster (2001) .... Daniel Webster
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) (voice) .... The Narrator
Titus (1999) .... Titus Andronicus
Instinct (1999) .... Ethan Powell
Meet Joe Black (1998) .... William Parrish
The Mask of Zorro (1998) .... Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro
Amistad (1997) .... John Quincy Adams
The Edge (1997) .... Charles Morse
Surviving Picasso (1996) .... Pablo Picasso
August (1996) .... Ieuan Davies
Nixon (1995) .... Richard M. Nixon
Legends of the Fall (1994) .... Col. William Ludlow
The Road to Wellville (1994) .... Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
Shadowlands (1993) .... Jack Lewis
The Remains of the Day (1993) .... James Stevens
Selected Exits (1993) (TV) .... Gwyn Thomas
The Innocent (1993) .... Bob Glass
The Trial (1993) .... The Priest
Chaplin (1992) .... George Hayden
Dracula (1992) .... Professor Abraham Van Helsing
Howards End (1992) .... Henry Wilcox
Spotswood (1992) .... Errol Wallace
Freejack (1992) .... Ian McCandless
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) .... Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Desperate Hours (1990) .... Tim Cornell
The Dawning (1988) .... Cassius aka Angus Barrie
A Chorus of Disapproval (1988) .... Dafydd Ap Llewellyn
84 Charing Cross Road (1987) .... Frank P. Doel
The Good Father (1985) .... Bill Hooper
Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce (1985) (TV) .... Count Galeazzo Ciano
The Bounty (1984) .... Lieutenant William Bligh
A Change of Seasons (1980) .... Adam Evans
The Elephant Man (1980) .... Dr. Frederick Treves
Magic (1978) .... Charles "Corky" Withers/Voice of Fats
International Velvet (1978) .... Captain Johnson
A Bridge Too Far (1977) .... Lt. Col. John Frost
Audrey Rose (1977) .... Elliot Hoover
All Creatures Great and Small (1975) .... Siegfried Farnon
Juggernaut (1974) .... Supt. John McCleod
The Girl from Petrovka (1974) .... Kostya
Young Winston (1972) .... David Lloyd George
When Eight Bells Toll (1971) .... Philip Calvert
Hamlet (1969) .... Claudius
The Lion in Winter (1968) .... Richard
The White Bus (1967) .... Brechtian