Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE, is a Welsh actor of film, stage, and television. After graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 1957, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and was then spotted by Laurence Olivier who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre. In 1968, he got his break in film in The Lion in Winter, playing King Richard the Lionheart...
NationalityWelsh
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth31 December 1937
CityMargam, Wales
I think Julianne Moore is very, very good. I've worked with her. We did Surviving Picasso. I remember one scene we did together. She had to have a nervous, a mental, breakdown in this one scene.I didn't have many lines. I just had to make sure I knew I came in on cue all right. And I was just watching her walking though the rehearsal. I thought I know what she's doing, "This is going to be terrific." So they said, "Are you ready" and she said, "Yeah," "Ok, roll the camera." And all in one take.
I always distrust the word art when it is applied to acting.
I just remember Kathy Bates getting on the stage and "The Oscar goes to Anthony Hopkins." I looked around, because I really thought Nick Nolte would get it. I really thought Nick would get it. I was very surprised. It was neck and neck with Nick Nolte and myself. So I really was expecting that to happen, and I went in there without any expectations.
I don't mind being a commodity. It's given me a good life.
My weak spot is laziness. I have a lot of weak spots - cookies, croissants; my wife is always lecturing me about this, I tend to put it all down as habit or it's just acting.
I have no illusions about my position in this world as an actor or anything like that. I'm very realistic. Reality is a very liberating thing.
Hitchcock was such a master of putting on screen things that made you uneasy. Somebody once asked him what frightened him most, and he said the police. He came from a poor background. I think he understood those fears.
I could stay making nice safe BBC movies for the rest of my life, so I decided to risk it. It was a challenge, to work with Oliver Stone.
I don't have any [favourite role]. I'm just a working actor.
I love traveling. I like to keep moving. I love the big open spaces in America.
I thought I did play one villain, Hitler, [who is] like Lecter in some ways, but he's a mythical figure, anyway.
Non-expectation, non-acceptance because the expectation leads to resentment and depression, so I have no expectations.
I visualized a lot of things happening to me, because I was a lonely kid because I didn't understand anything about school.
I look in the mirror and I see the lines, but I don't care. It's a good time. I don't know why it's such a good time, but it's a good time.