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 have no education, I have no academic background in painting or in music, but I write music and I compose music and I write and I sell paintings, and my rule is, well, they can't arrest me.
I enjoy painting. I don't know if I'm good at it, but I paint. I paint very quickly.
I was trundling around with my inadequacies, and inner pain and loneliness. I yearned, desperately, to be something. I yearned to get out from where I was ... some deep discontent within myself, actually some deep dislike of myself.
Why love if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore; only the life I have lived. The pain now is part of the happiness then.
If you do things, whether it's acting or music or painting, do it without fear - that's my philosophy. Because nobody can arrest you and put you in jail if you paint badly, so there's nothing to lose.
I said, 'I can't play Nixon. I'm not an American.
Well, it's mission impossible, Mr. Hunt -- not mission difficult.
We're always looking over our shoulders, 'what they will think, what the press will think, what will this one - am I making the right career move?' When you're young you have to do all that to survive, I suppose.
This industry has been really good to me. It's been a great life. I'm not through yet. I'm ready when you are, Mr. DeMille.
I tend to get bored quickly, which means I must be boring.
I don't like freeloaders; I don't like people who are negative.
I hope I would not be so arrogant as to doubt anyone's religion or belief.
I think a certain amount of stress in life is good. The stress of just working, which takes effort - I think it keeps you going.
I do admire Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen, but I'm a philistine. I like the good life too much; I'm not good at going on stage night after night and on wet Wednesday afternoons.