Winner of the 1992 Best Actor Academy Award for
The Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins has now
overwhelmingly confirmed his international star status.

From early screen success in The Lion in Winter to his
chilling performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter and his
celebrated role in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, and
taking in a string of major stage triumphs on the way,
the Welsh-born actor has established a magnetic
presence and a dangerous vitality.

Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in Port Talbot, Wales, on December 31, 1937, to Richard Arthur, "Dick", and Muriel Hopkins. He is an only child, whom at birth was 7 3/4 pounds and "didn't have much hair".

The name "Philip", which came from his grandmother, was quickly ignored, and the "Anthony" was eventually shortened by request to "Tony".

Hopkins attended the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, later won a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated Silver Medalist in 1963.

After 2 years in repertory theatre, he was invited to audition for Sir Laurence Olivier, then director of the National Theatre. Two years later he was Olivier's understudy in Strindberg's "Dance of Death".

Hopkins' other theater credits include the National Theatre production of Equus on Broadway and in Los Angeles; David Hare's Pravda at the National, which earned him the British Theatre Association's Best Actor Award and the Observer Award for outstanding achievement at the 1985 Laurence Olivier Awards; and the London production of M Butterfly.

The knighted actor has won several honors, including the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, and has earned 3 additional Academy Award Nominations, one for his role as the rigidly proper butler Stevens in The Remains of the Day, another for his portrayal of President Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone's film, and the most recent one for his role of President John Quincy Adams in Amistad.

Hopkins received the Showest Actor of the Year Award on March 12, 1998; and the European Lifetime Achievement Award, Donostia Europeo, at the 46th San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain on September 20, 1998. He has also been nominated for several Golden Globe Awards: Magic, The Remains of the Day, Nixon, and Amistad.

On TV, Hopkins has earned two Emmy Awards as best actor -- for The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and The Bunker -- and was nominated for his outstanding performance in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Some of his other films include The Mask of Zorro, The Edge, Shadowlands, Surviving Picasso, Howards End, 84 Charing Cross Road, The Elephant Man, and August, which marks his directorial debut.

Meet Joe Black opened on November 13, 1998, and Instinct was released on June 4, 1999. Upcoming films include Titus (December 1999?) and Mission Impossible II (May 2000).