“I did not expect to get this award. I really didn’t,” Hopkins said. “I’m very grateful to the Academy, and thank you. I want to pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who was taken from us far too early. And again, thank you all very much.”
Hopkins starred in “The Father” as a man suffering from memory loss. The 83-year-old star, who shot his Instagram video in his native Wales, became the oldest person to win an acting Oscar.
At 83, Hopkins is the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar — male or female — beating out Christopher Plummer who was just 82 when he won in 2012 for Beginners. Plummer received a nomination at the age of 88 for All the Money in the World, making him the oldest person to ever be nominated in any acting category.
This is Hopkins’ second Best Actor victory. He famously won an Oscars in 1992 for his role as Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. In all, he has been nominated six times, for Silence, The Father, The Remains of the Day, Nixon, The Two Popes and Amistad.
