Anthony Hopkins is an Academy Award winning Welsh film, stage and television actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest living actors, Hopkins' career spans over five decades, in the course of which he has appeared in over 75 films, numerous theatrical productions and television shows. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Hopkins made his professional stage debut at the age of 23, in the 1960 production Have a Cigarette. In the same year, the actor made his television debut in the series A Matter of Degree. The acclaimed 1968 historical drama The Lion in Winter marked Hopkins' feature film debut, and his portrayal of Richard I of England in the film earned him a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
In the years that followed, Hopkins underlined his acting prowess through his performances in films like Young Winston (1972), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Elephant Man (1980), The Bounty (1984) and 84 Charing Cross Road (1987). However, it was the 1991 horror-thriller The Silence of the Lambs that made Hopkins a household name around the world. His spine-chilling portrayal of the cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter received universal acclaim, and earned Hopkins an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor that year. The years that followed The Silence of the Lambs marked the most prolific period of the actor's career. He received three more Academy Award nominations in the 1990s, courtesy of his performances in films like The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995) and Amistad (1997). He was also the highest paid British actor during this period. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Chaplin (1992), Legends of the Fall (1994) and The Mask of Zorro (1998) were some of Hopkins' other high-profile roles in the decade. He subsequently reprised the role of Hannibal Lecter in two more film - Hannibal (2001) and The Red Dragon (2002).
The biographical sports drama The World's Fastest Indian (2005), the crime drama Fracture (2007), Hitchcock (2012) and Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) are some of the significant recent films of the veteran actor. In 2011, Hopkins essayed the role of Odin in the Marvel superhero film Thor, and has since reprised the character in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).