With over a hundred film and TV credits and numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, Anthony Hopkins has well and truly left his mark on Hollywood. The 88-year-old has called the US home for more than five decades while working as an actor. But while he's settled into the glitz and glamour of the film industry overseas, Anthony has reserved a special place in his heart for his Welsh hometown.
The Silence of the Lambs star once admitted: "I would like to go back to Wales. I'm obsessed with my childhood and at least three times a week dream I am back there." And the actor has kept his deep-rooted love for Wales alive all these decades later.
Now, 26 years after he became a US citizen in April 2000, Anthony has travelled back to his homeland to film a very special project. The star wished his followers on social media "Sunday greetings from Wales" on 22 March as he filmed a dramatic video in the Welsh countryside. He recited poetry by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who is the subject of Anthony's latest film, titled A Visit To Grandpa's.
"This is a powerful and profoundly beautiful story, one that allows me to return to my Welsh roots while exploring the remarkable vision and prose of Dylan Thomas," Anthony told Deadline about his new project.
Anthony's childhood in Wales
Before he had two Best Actor Oscars to his name, Anthony grew up in the Welsh town of Port Talbot, the same place the late actor Richard Burton hailed from, and where his father owned a bakery.
While he's a big Hollywood star now, the actor once revealed that the people in his hometown don't pay much attention to his career. "I don't think they really take it seriously, which is very good, it keeps my feet on the ground," he admitted to the BBC while visiting his native Wales in 1986.
The star, who has spoken in the past about his struggles at school, admitted during the BBC segment that he was a "bit lonely" as a child. "I think that's why I became an actor," he explained. For the interview, he paid a visit to the local abbey where he used to play as a child.
"40 odd years later, I'm still coming back here. This was paradise. It was beautiful, and this was so much a part of my childhood," he said.
Moving to Hollywood
© Getty ImagesAnthony's upbringing in Wales eventually paved the way for his Hollywood dreams to become reality. He studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff before getting into theatre. He then moved to the US in the '70s to pursue a career in acting, and became a citizen in 2000.
"When I became an actor my dream was to come here to Hollywood," Anthony said while receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003. "This is synonymous with the dreamland of the movie business, and that's where I always wanted to come."
In 2001, he purchased a property in Malibu that he ended up selling in 2020. He then moved into a home in the Pacific Palisades, which was sadly burnt down in the Californian wildfires in January 2025.
He still visits his hometown
Even before he began filming in the Welsh countryside this year for his upcoming Dylan Thomas movie, Anthony has travelled to Wales on occasion over the years. In January 2025, he delighted locals at a fish and chips shop in Port Talbert with a surprise appearance.
The actor smiled for a selfie posted to Facebook by the owner of Steve’s Fish Bar. "He is never bothered when he visits home, we love him & he loves us!" one local commented.
Filming for his upcoming Dylan Thomas film began in Wales in March.
