Philip Anthony Hopkins (photo ©gdcgraphics) was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, a suburb of the industrial area of ​​Port Talbot, Wales.

As a student, Anthony Hopkins had several problems that led him to pursue the arts, which for a few years meant painting and playing the piano. Eventually, he got involved in acting at the YMCA and found his passion there. He managed to join the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff and after taking his diploma he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

In 1960 Anthony Hopkins began his career as a professional actor with his first appearances on stage and in television productions. A big step forward came in 1965, when Laurence Olivier invited him to go to work at the Royal National Theater in London, where in 1967 he replaced Olivier in “The Dance of Death” when he was struck with appendicitis.

In 1966 Anthony Hopkins got married for the first time, with Petronella Barker. Their marriage lasted until 1972. The two of them had a daughter, Agibail, also an actress.

Anthony Hopkins debut at the cinema was brilliant, playing Richard the Lionheart in the movie “The Lion in Winter” (1967). For some years, the actor devoted himself mainly to cinema and television, even if he never completely left the stage. He was also offered to work on some Broadway productions and this allowed him to work in other American productions as well.

In 1973 Anthony Hopkins got married for the second time, with Jennifer Lynton. Their marriage lasted until 2002.

While the profession of actor was giving him growing success, in those years Anthony Hopkins had big problems with alcoholism. At the end of 1975, he finally managed to quit.

In 1980 Anthony Hopkins had a great new success at the cinema in the movie “The Elephant Man” by David Lynch, with a great cast that also included John Hurt. In the following years he worked hard but to overcome that success he had to wait until 1991, with the release of the movie “The Silence of the Lambs”, in which he played for the first time the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, which earned him the Oscar as best actor and other awards despite the fact that his part was rather limited in length.

Anthony Hopkins was also an Oscar nominee for his roles in the 1993 movie “The Remains of the Day”, “Nixon” (1995) and “Amistad” by Steven Spielberg (1997) but at least for now he has won one. The actor was the protagonist of the sequels to that great success, “Hannibal” by Ridley Scott (2001) and the remake of the prequel “Red Dragon” (2002), but they did not have as much luck.

In 2003 Anthony Hopkins married Stella Arroyave.

Among the movies to which Anthony Hopkins has participated in the following years there’s a particular one, “Slipstream” (2007), given that he was also its director, author of its screenplay and its music.

In 2011 a piece of music composed by Anthony Hopkins in 1964 was directed and published in an album by the musician André Rieu.

In this decade Anthony Hopkins had great exposure at the cinema in particular playing Odin in some Marvel movies: “Thor” (2011), “Thor: The Dark World” (2013), and “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017).

For several years Anthony Hopkins left television but in 2016 he reappeared with a bang among the regulars of the acclaimed TV show “Westworld“.

Anthony Hopkins is an actor very meticulous in the preparation of his roles and the results can be seen in the great quality of his performances. At his age he must be selective in the choices of his works but we can hope we can see him for more years.