Anthony Hopkins warns aspiring thespians not to ‘waste’ money on acting schools

Sir Anthony Hopkins has warned aspiring actors not to “waste your money” on acting schools.

The two-time Oscar-winning star, 83, said they are often set up by “failed” thespians and are not worth paying for.

Sir Anthony, who will receive the legend award at this year’s GQ Men Of The Year Awards, told GQ: “Don’t waste your money. They’re failed actors that set themselves up as gurus.

“That’s one of the reasons I left the National Theatre – we had a particular director who was very picky.

“And that’s one of the reasons that I would be angry. This was in my days of raging paranoia and I warned one director, ‘You ever speak to me like that again I’ll punch your face in.’ Obviously, I don’t do that any more.

“There’s one very well-known actor with an acting class here in Los Angeles and he’s the star of the show. And all these other students sitting around paying their fees and he’s the star. He’s on stage with them, interrupting them, being rude to them. No, you don’t do that.”

Welsh actor Sir Anthony added another glorious chapter to his already stellar career earlier this year when winning his second best actor Oscar.

He was recognised for his devastating portrayal of an elderly patriarch struggling with dementia in The Father.

In a stunning upset, Sir Anthony won ahead of the late Chadwick Boseman, but was not in Los Angeles to collect the prize.

He instead later shared a video thanking the Academy for the award and paid tribute to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom star Boseman, who died aged 43 in August 2020 following a private battle with colon cancer.

Sir Anthony, who won his first Oscar for playing cannibal Dr Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s The Silence Of The Lambs, told GQ he was asleep when his name was called at the conclusion of the ceremony in April.

He said: “The Academy had stipulated that the nominees would have to go to either London or Dublin and, at my age, the risk of Covid and all that, I had no intention of going.

“I went to bed, then at about five o’clock in the morning, my buzzer went off on my phone. My agent said, ‘Tony, you’ve just got the second Oscar.’ I couldn’t believe it. We were all up and celebrating. So then I made a little speech and a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, sadly gone so young in his life.”

GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2021, which are set to take place on September 1, are in association with Boss.