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 wanted to be a musician. I just wanted to be famous because I wanted to escape from what I felt was my limitation in life. I wanted to write music and I didn't know what I was doing and I never had the technique or the understanding of it. But I've always played the piano, and I can improvise on the piano. The problem is that I can't write down what I play. I can read music but I can't write it down.
I play piano and that's my love. I read and I paint and I compose music, so I've got a pretty full creative life. And it's not because, I'm obsessively creative.
We have a Boesendorfer piano that I play every day. It keeps my brain and my fingers active.
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.
The Welsh people have a talent for acting that one does not find in the English. The English lack heart.
I have dual citizenship; it just so happens I live in America. I would like to go back to Wales. I'm obsessed with my childhood, and at least three times a week dream I am back there.