Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many awards and nominations during his career, including two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Olivier Award. He has also received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2005 and the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2008. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama in 1993. After graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 1957, Hopkins trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He was then spotted by Laurence Olivier who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in 1965. Productions at the National included King Lear (his favourite Shakespeare play), Coriolanus, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. In 1985, he received great acclaim and a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in the David Hare play Pravda. His last stage play was a West End production of M. Butterfly in 1989. Hopkins' early films include The Lion in Winter (1968), A Bridge Too Far (1977), and The Elephant Man (1980). He received two Academy Awards for Best Actor for The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and The Father (2020), becoming the oldest Best Actor Oscar winner to date. His other Oscar-nominated films include The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997) and The Two Popes (2019). Other notable films include 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), Howards End (1992), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Shadowlands (1993), Legends of the Fall (1994), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and MCU's Thor franchise (2011–2017). He reprised the role as Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). Since making his television debut with the BBC in 1967, Hopkins has continued to appear on television. In 1973, he received a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance in War and Peace. He received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976) and The Bunker (1981). Other notable projects include the BBC film The Dresser (2015), PBS's King Lear (2018) and the HBO series Westworld (2016-2018), for which he received another Primetime Emmy nomination. Early life and education Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in the Margam district