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Anthony Hopkins is a Actor, Director, Writer, Producer and Sound British born on 31 december 1937 at Port Talbot (United-kingdom)

Anthony Hopkins

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Birth name Philip Anthony Hopkins
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 31 december 1937 (86 years) at Port Talbot (United-kingdom)
Awards Academy Award for Best Actor, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor of film, stage, and television, and a composer and painter. 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 Richard I.

Considered to be one of the greatest living actors, Hopkins is well known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, its sequel Hannibal, and the prequel Red Dragon. Other notable films include The Mask of Zorro, The Bounty, Meet Joe Black, The Elephant Man, Magic, 84 Charing Cross Road, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Legends of the Fall, Thor, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon, The World's Fastest Indian, Instinct, and Fracture.

Along with his Academy Award, Hopkins has also won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. In 1993, Hopkins was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.

Biography

Hopkins was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and was knighted at Buckingham Palace in 1993 for services to the arts. In 1988, Hopkins was made an Honorary D.Litt and in 1992 was awarded Honorary fellowship from the University of Wales, Lampeter. A few years later in a The Tonight Show with Jay Leno appearance, Hopkins humbly admitted that he liked his American fans and friends to call him "Tony".

As of 2007, Hopkins resides in Los Angeles, California. He had moved to the United States once before during the 1970s to pursue his film career, but returned to London in the late 1980s. However, he decided to return to the US following his 1990s success. Retaining his British citizenship, he became a naturalised US citizen on 12 April 2000, and celebrated with a 3,000-mile road trip across the country.

Hopkins has been married three times. His first two wives were Petronella Barker (1966–1972) and Jennifer Lynton (1973–2002). He has a daughter from his first marriage, Abigail Hopkins (born 20 August 1968), an actress and singer.

He is now married to Stella Arroyave. The couple live in Malibu. On Christmas Eve 2012, Hopkins celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary by having a blessing at a private service at St David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Hopkins has offered his support to various charities and appeals, notably becoming President of the National Trust's Snowdonia Appeal, raising funds for the preservation of Snowdonia National Park in north Wales. In 1998 he donated £1 million towards the £3 million needed to aid the Trust's efforts in purchasing parts of Snowdon. Prior to the campaign, Hopkins authored Anthony Hopkins' Snowdonia, which was published in 1995.

Hopkins has been a patron of the YMCA centre in his hometown of Port Talbot, South Wales for more than 20 years, having first joined the YMCA in the 1950s. He supports other various philanthropic groups. He was a Guest of Honour at a Gala Fundraiser for Women in Recovery, Inc., a Venice, California-based non-profit organisation offering rehabilitation assistance to women in recovery from substance abuse. Although he resides in Malibu, California he is also a volunteer teacher at the Ruskin School of Acting in Santa Monica, California. Hopkins served as the Honorary Patron of The New Heritage Theatre Company in Boise, Idaho from 1997-2007, participating in fundraising and marketing efforts for the repertory theatre.

Hopkins is a recovering alcoholic; he stopped drinking on 25 December 1975. He said that a major help in his recovery was his belief in God. He has criticised atheism, saying "being an atheist must be like living in a closed cell with no windows". He quit smoking using the Allen Carr method.

He contributed toward the refurbishment of a £2.3 million wing at his alma mater, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff: the Anthony Hopkins Centre, which opened in 1999.

In 2008, he embarked on a weight loss programme, and by 2010, he had lost 80 pounds.

Hopkins is a prominent member of environmental protection group Greenpeace and as of early 2008 featured in a television advertisement campaign, voicing concerns about Japan's continuing annual whale hunt. He has also been a patron of RAPt (Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust) since its early days and helped open their first intensive drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit at Downview (HM Prison) in 1992.

He is an admirer of the Welsh comedian Tommy Cooper. On 23 February 2008, as patron of the Tommy Cooper Society, the actor unveiled a commemorative statue in the entertainer's home town of Caerphilly, South Wales. For the ceremony, Hopkins donned Cooper's trademark fez and performed a comic routine.