Anthony Hopkins

Welsh actor known for his iconic roles on screen and stage.

On 31 December 1937, Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in the Margam district of Port Talbot, Wales.^[1] Queen Elizabeth II conferred a knighthood on him in 1993 for his services to drama.^[2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Born

31 December 1937

Birthplace

Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales

Birth name

Philip Anthony Hopkins

Education

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Occupation

Actor
director
producer
composer

Years active

1960–present

Children

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Hopkins attended Jones' West Monmouth Boys' School in Pontypool from 1949 and later Cowbridge Grammar School.^[3] Hopkins won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1991 for playing Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.^[4] He portrayed C. S. Lewis in the 1993 biographical film Shadowlands.^[5] Hopkins played Odin in the 2011 Marvel film Thor and its sequels.^[6]

He completed his studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 1957 and later finished at RADA in 1963.^[7][8] In the 2019 film The Two Popes, directed by Fernando Meirelles, he played Pope Benedict XVI while Jonathan Pryce portrayed Pope Francis.^[9] The Father, released in 2020, featured Hopkins as a character suffering from Alzheimer's disease.^[10]

What the cited sources add

A Guardian interview from 2018 reports that Hopkins believes Lear is terrified of women and cannot understand them.^[11] The same interview notes that Hopkins has a daughter from his first marriage but they do not have a relationship.^[11] A Radio Times interview states that Hopkins drew on his father and his childhood for his portrayal of Lear.^[12] The Radio Times interview also reports that Hopkins's second wife Jennifer Lynton helped him give up drinking.^[12]

An Evening Standard article notes that Roger Allam's Lambert lacks the menace of Anthony Hopkins, who chillingly created the role in Pravda.^[13] A Seattle Times article reports that trainer Lynne Seus said Hopkins was "absolutely brilliant" with Bart the Bear.^[14]

References

Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Turner, "Sir Anthony Hopkins offers to buy Welsh childhood home", WalesOnline, 5 January 2013; "Anthony Hopkins"; Stated in interview on Inside the Actors Studio, 2007.; Coyle, "Anthony Hopkins feels personal connection to role as Jewish-American grandfather", The Times of Israel, 25 October 2022; "Anthony Hopkins: 'I don't have a single friend who is an actor'", The Daily Telegraph, 27 October 2017}}{{cbignore (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "AP: Hopkins to Receive Cecil B. DeMille Award", IndieWire; "From Lewis Hamilton to Twiggy: All the Celebrities Knighted by the British Royal Family", Vogue, 7 November 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lidz, "FILM; The Scenery, Though, He Won't Chew", The New York Times, 29 September 2002 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains", AFI.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Actor in a Leading Role in 1994", BAFTA, 27 October 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fleming, "Anthony Hopkins cast in 'Thor'", Variety, 30 October 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Crace, "Anthony Hopkins: 'I've never really been close to anyone'", The Guardian, 23 January 2012; Sir Anthony Hopkins portrait The Daily Telegraph, 26 June 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2011. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "King Lear's Anthony Hopkins on Shakespeare, family break-ups, life … and death", Radio Times; Lidz, "FILM; The Scenery, Though, He Won't Chew", The New York Times, 29 September 2002 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dawn, "Anthony Hopkins won't dissect his 'Two Popes' role. Here's why", Los Angeles Times, 30 January 2020; Kay, "Netflix confirms Argentine cast and production team on 'The Pope'", Screen Daily, 26 October 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony Hopkins" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Thompson, "With 'The Father,' Anthony Hopkins Joins the Oscar Race for Best Actor", IndieWire, 14 September 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Sawyer, "Anthony Hopkins: 'Most of this is nonsense, most of this is a lie'", The Guardian, 26 May 2018. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
"King Lear's Anthony Hopkins on Shakespeare, family break-ups, life … and death", Radio Times. facts only, no text reused. radiotimes.com
"Pravda's prescience", Evening Standard. facts only, no text reused. standard.co.uk
Foy, "Bart the Bear, a veteran of several films, dies at 23", The Seattle Times, 19 May 2000. facts only, no text reused. archive.seattletimes.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Anthony Hopkins (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.