Sir Anthony Hopkins (Philip Anthony Hopkins, born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor who is considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific performers. He has won two Academy Awards for Best Actor, for The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and The Father (2020), four BAFTAs, two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Laurence Olivier Award. He was knighted in 1993. This biography follows his life and career up to November 2026.
Anthony Hopkins at a Glance
| Full name | Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins |
| Born | 31 December 1937, Margam, Port Talbot, Wales |
| Age | 88 (as of November 2026) |
| Profession | Actor, producer and composer |
| Education | Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (1957); Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) |
| Academy Awards | Best Actor, The Silence of the Lambs (1991); Best Actor, The Father (2020) |
| Other Oscar nominations | The Remains of the Day, Nixon, Amistad, The Two Popes |
| Honours | Knighted (1993); Cecil B. DeMille Award (2005); BAFTA Fellowship (2008) |
| Spouse | Stella Arroyave (married 2003) |
Early Life and Training
Anthony Hopkins was born in the Margam district of Port Talbot, the son of the baker Richard Arthur Hopkins and Annie Muriel Hopkins. He was not a successful pupil and preferred painting, drawing and the piano to his studies. His parents sent him to Jones' West Monmouth Boys' School in Pontypool in 1949 to instil discipline, and he was then educated at Cowbridge Grammar School. He was inspired by the Welsh actor Richard Burton, whom he met at 15. He trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, graduating in 1957, and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Stage Career
Laurence Olivier spotted Hopkins and invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in 1965. His roles there included King Lear, Coriolanus, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra. In 1985 he won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in David Hare's Pravda, and his last stage play was a West End production of M. Butterfly in 1989.
Film and Television
Hopkins's early film roles included The Lion in Winter (1968), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Magic (1978) and The Elephant Man (1980). On television he won a British Academy Television Award for War and Peace (1972) and two Primetime Emmy Awards, for The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976) and The Bunker (1981).
He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, a role that the American Film Institute has ranked as the number-one film villain. He played Lecter again in Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). He was also nominated for The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997) and The Two Popes (2019), and his other notable films include 84 Charing Cross Road, Howards End, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Shadowlands, The Mask of Zorro and the Thor films. In 2016 to 2018 he appeared in the HBO series Westworld.
The Father and Oldest Oscar Winner
Hopkins won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for playing an octogenarian with dementia in The Father (2020), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He became the oldest person to win an acting Oscar. He did not attend the ceremony and accepted the award in a video posted from Wales the following day.
Honours
Queen Elizabeth II knighted Hopkins in 1993 for his services to drama. He received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2005 and the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2008. He supports charities and was President of the National Trust's Snowdonia Appeal, to which he donated £1 million in 1998, and the Anthony Hopkins Centre at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama opened in 1999.
Personal Life
Hopkins has been married three times, to the actress Petronella Barker from 1966 to 1972, to Jennifer Lynton from 1973 to 2002, and to Stella Arroyave since 2003. He has said that he has stayed sober since just after Christmas 1975. He moved to the United States in the 1990s and became a naturalised American citizen on 12 April 2000 while keeping his British citizenship. In January 2025 two homes he owned in Pacific Palisades were destroyed in the Palisades Fire.
Legacy
Hopkins is admired for moving between Shakespeare, serious drama and blockbusters, and his two Oscars came 30 years apart. This biography draws on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Hopkins).
