Philip Anthony Hopkins was the only son of a baker born in 1937 in Port Talbot, South Wales. His grandfather, also a baker, was an overbearing and intimidating sort, and instilled fear in his young grandson with his fervent temperament. He stayed mostly to himself in school and didn't have many friends. He describes himself as, "Lousy in school. Real screwed up. A moron. I was antisocial and didn't bother with the other kids. A really bad student. I didn't have any brains. I didn't know what I was doing there. That's why I became an actor." When he was seventeen, he joined a community junior drama club and realized that acting was what he wanted to do. He attended the Welsh College of Music and Drama and in 1961 won himself a scholarship to London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated two years later.

Tony, as he prefers to be called, became a member of the Phoenix Theater Company in 1963 in Leicester. In 1965 he successfully auditioned for a position with the company of National Theater before one of his idols, Laurence Olivier. His success in the Old Vic (as the Theater is known) was immense but decided to try something a little different, film. His first movie role was the acclaimed "The Lion in Winter" (1968) with Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn. Since then he has gone to star in almost 90 films, which has earned him a place among the greatest actors of our time.

The portrayal of Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter in the notorious "Silence of the Lambs" may be the role he is most famous for. The 1991 film won him an Academy Award for his performance. He made Hannibal Lecter one of cinematic histories most powerfully attractive villains. He showed his ability to blend terrifying viciousness with unexpected tenderness to create an extraordinary portrait of what seemed to many as a real, living person.

Tony has won eight British and American Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and four New York Film Critics Circle Awards between 1991 and 1997. Some of his more notable films are: "The Remains of the Day" (1993), "Shadowlands" (1993), "Nixon" (1995), and "Amistad" (1997). In 1996 Hopkins made his debut as a director with "August" and stared in it as well.

In 1987, Hopkins received the honor of Commander, Order of the British Empire, from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and now answers to Sir Anthony. His private life is unsettled and maintains a tempestuous discontentment, characteristic of artists, and has eccentricities to show for it. It's been reported that he has spent hours, days, even weeks driving aimlessly around the United States. Hopkins was a raging alcoholic until 1975 when he finally gave up the bottle for good. Apparently he woke up in a Phoenix hotel room with a gargantuous hangover, and no recollection of how he arrived in Arizona.

Regardless of his peculiar personal habits he is undoubtedly one of the most revered actors of his time. He is an actor who lives to act. His immense body of work is testament to his almost maniacal drive. So is the ferocious clarity of the characters he portrays. He brings characters to life with amazing depth, and who leap off the screen at you. They can make us uncomfortable or comfortable and even haunt our dreams.