Born in Wales on December 31, 1937, Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE is a multiple-award winning actor who has starred in films, television, and stage dramas worldwide. His early years will filled with art and music, and his attempts at an ordinary education were unproductive. Eventually Richard Burton convinced him to try acting, and Hopkins eventually graduated from the College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.

After a few years polishing his craft at a repertory theatre, Laurence Olivier asked him to join the National Theatre, where he because Olivier's understudy. Hopkins got his break at the expense of Olivier-when the latter came down with appendicitis during a show, Hopkins took his place. In Confessions of an Actor, Olivier said of Hopkin's performance, "A new young actor in the company of exceptional promise named Anthony Hopkins was understudying me and walked away with the part of Edgar like a cat with a mouse between its teeth."

Hopkins was attracted to the variety in film work, and in 1968 he was cast in The Lion in Winter, portraying Richard I. Over the years he has starred or appeared in over 100 films and television shows, directed three movies, is credited with composition for three films, and is also a writer and producer. He has also appeared in 99 other television documentaries, talk shows, etc. as himself.

This multitalented performer is more than an actor, however: he also makes time for philanthropic causes. For instance, Women in Recovery, Inc., a nonprofit agency for women in substance abuse recovery, invited him to serve as a Guest of Honor and he did. He is also a resident volunteer instructor at the Ruskins School of Acting in Santa Monica, California. He has also been an avid supporter of other various charities.