Anthony Hopkins is one of the most active top actors on social media, posting once every few days, sometimes less often, funny images and videos or subjected to filters of trendy applications and even short films with motivational messages on which, feels, he conveys them with great affection to his fans.
The actor joined the social media platforms in the year 2016 with the help of Mark Wahlberg, since then and until now enjoying the reactions full of admiration and love from those who follow him.
“There are millions and millions of people who can’t move from their environment, so I try to send happy, encouraging messages. And as complicated as we are as human beings, I believe we can still find a way out. I for one live with optimism.” (Anthony Hopkins for the New Yorker, 2021)
The 84-year-old Welsh actor was born in Margam, UK and moved to the US in the late 1970s (he now lives in Malibu, Los Angeles, California).
Anthony Hopkins has an impressive career with roles in 144 films and more than 30 awards won, including two Oscars for Best Actor (Silence of the Lambs, 1992 and The Father, 2020), three BAFTA Awards for Best Actor (The Father, The Remains of the Day and The Silence of the Lambs), a Golden Globe Award, the New York Film Critics Award and the list goes on, as the actor has been rewarded with many accolades for his film roles over the years.
Under the wing of Laurence Olivier
He started his career at a very young age, being discovered by another legend of the small and big screen, Laurence Olivier (1907 – 1989), who invited him to be his student in acting classes at The Royal National Theatre from London. Under Olivier’s tutelage, young Hopkins had every chance of becoming a well-known stage actor, but it wasn’t what he wanted, so he turned quietly to film and television, making his debut in the BBC production A Flea in Her Ear ” and playing a minor role in the short film “The white bus”. His first major role was in the drama The lion in winter, produced in 1968 and starring Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn. Dozens of other films followed in which he portrayed a wide variety of characters.
“You’re weird”
The pinnacle of his career was considered by many to be the role in “Silence of the Lambs”, a film in which he played Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist turned cold-blooded killer, his artistic act being, moreover, rewarded with the Oscar for the best actor. During the filming of The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins improvised many of the scenes and lines featured in the American Oscar production, and also took his role so seriously that he didn’t even blink while speaking, making Lecter in an even creepier character than he was.
I remember the discussion I had with Jonathan Demme (director of the film “The Silence of the Lambs”, 1944 – 2017) who asked me on the first day of shooting. “How do you want Jodie to find you when she comes down the hall”? “Standing in the middle of the cell, I told him.” “Standing? Don’t want them to see you reading? Why?” “Because I can smell it from a distance.” “You’re weird,” John told me.
Miscellaneous facts
Sir Anthony Hopkins struggled for many years with alcohol-related problems, managing to rehabilitate himself starting in 1975. He has dual citizenship (Welsh and American – he obtained the second one in 2000), suffers from dyslexia (a learning that involves reading difficulties due to problems identifying sounds and how they relate to letters and words. The condition is also called a reading disability).
He used to read the scripts of the movies in which he acted more than 200 times, he was in the books for the role of Mr. Freeze in “Batman and Robin”, but later the director Joel Schumacher changed his mind, choosing Arnold in the end Schwarzenegger because he wanted an actor with a much more robust and imposing build. He is an ardent fan of horror films, his favorite being Rosemary’s Baby (a 1968 horror film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes). Before embarking on an acting career, being a lover of music, he aspired to become a famous pianist.
He became a famous actor, but the world also noticed him as a musician, not infrequently appearing in private performances or in clips filmed at home playing the piano.
“I was five years old when I started playing the piano. My mother is the one who directed me to study the piano. Now I try to play more difficult arias by composers like Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Scriabin. I have no ambitions to play at Carnegie Hall or anything like that, I do it for pure pleasure and passion. I have a Bösendorfer piano that I set up in the basement because I don’t want to disturb people.” (Anthony Hopkins in an interview given last year to the publication The New Yorker)
Famous roles of Anthony Hopkins
Hopkins is a versatile actor, skillfully playing very diverse roles. There was Richard Nixon, Alfred Hitchcock, Pope Benedict XVI, King Lear twice, John Quincy Adams, Pablo Picasso, and even though we mentioned this character above, it’s worth mentioning again – Hannibal Lecter. The most recent film in which he starred is “The Father” (Father), directed by Florian Zeller, a psychological drama released on the big screens on January 8, 2021, which brought together, among others, the actors Olivia Colman, Imogen Poots and Rufus Sewell. Hopkins was awarded an Oscar and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the film in turn received many awards including an Oscar for Best Screenplay, a Cesar Award for Best Picture foreigner, BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay, etc.
Anthony Hopkins is in his third marriage, the current wife being Stella Arroyave (66 years old), actress and producer, known from films such as The human stain and Slipstream. Sir Hopkins has a daughter with first wife (Petronella Barker), Abigail Hopkins (54). Abigail is an actress, singer, songwriter and theater director.