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Who is Anthony Hopkins?
As the actor who personified evil in his chilling portrayal of a cannibalistic killer in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, Anthony Hopkins is regarded as one of the greatest actors alive. This highly celebrated character actor started his career as a stage performer. Impressed by the young man’s talents and dedication, the great British actor Laurence Olivier invited him to be his understudy at The Royal National Theatre. The young Anthony thrived under the guidance of the senior actor and was on the way to making it big as a theatre artist. However, he was bored of playing the same kind of roles and desired a change. He gradually moved away from the stage and entered the world of television and movies. He made his television debut in the BBC production of the play ‘A Flea in Her ear’ and played a minor role in the short film ‘The White Bus’. He got his first major role in ‘The Lion in winter’ which was a commercial as well as critical success. He went on to portray a variety of on-screen characters over his long and successful acting career. He reached the peak of success when he played the brilliant psychiatrist turned cold-blooded murderer Hannibal Lecter in ‘The Silence of the lambs’ for which he won an Academy Award.
Career
He began his career in 1960 with the play ‘Have a Cigarette’ produced by the Palace Theatre, Swansea.
The celebrated British actor Sir Laurence Olivier recognized the potential of the young man and took him as an understudy at the Royal National Theatre in 1965.
He was having a successful time at the theatre, but soon got bored of the monotony. He desired to break into the world of television and films and acted in the televised broadcast of the play ‘A Flea in Her Ear’ in 1967.
He made his film debut as Richard the Lionheart in ‘The Lion in Winter’ in 1968. The movie was a huge success.
His performance got him noticed, and he received many movie offers. He appeared in three movies within the year 1969: ‘The Looking Glass War’, ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Department S’.
He portrayed the soul-searching Pierre Bezukhov in the television drama series ‘War and Peace’ (1972-73) based on Leo Tolstoy’s novel of the same name. His performance earned him critical praise.
He acted in several films over the 1970s, the notable among them being ‘Audrey Rose’ (1978) and ‘Magic’ (1979).
He had a very productive career in the 1980s as well and appeared in a number of movies playing award winning roles in ‘The Bunker’ (1981), ‘Mussolini and I ’ (1985), and ‘84 Charing Cross Road’ (1987).
In 1991, he portrayed the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme’s ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ adapted from Thomas Harris’s thriller novel of the same name. He won various awards for this role.
He played James Stevens in the 1993 film ‘The Remains of the Day’. The film was reviewed very positively and received several Academy Award nominations.
He portrayed the U.S. president Richard Nixon in the 1995 biographical film, ‘Nixon’. The director Oliver Stone felt that Hopkins was the best person to play the role, and was proved right when the film got nominated for several prestigious awards.
He acted in many other highly successful movies in the late 1990s, including ‘Amistad’ (1997), ‘The Mask of Zorro’ (1998) and ‘Meet Joe Black’ (1998).
This prolific actor was already over 60 years of age by the dawn of the new millennium, yet he never showed any signs of slowing down. He reprised the role of Hannibal Lecter in ‘Hannibal’ (2001), and ‘Red Dragon’ (2002).
In 2005, he played the lead role in the biographical film The World’s Fastest Indian, which is based on the life of the New Zealand speed bike racer Burt Munro.
In 2008, he appeared in The Wolfman, while in 2011, he starred in The Rite.
In 2011, Anthony Hopkins starred in Thor, followed by its sequels, Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
For the 2019 biographical film Two Popes, he won an Academy Award nomination, while for The Father (2020), he became the oldest Best Actor nominee (Academy Awards).
