Anthony Hopkins wins Best Actor at the Oscars 2021
Anthony Hopkins wins the Best Actor Oscar at the 2021 Academy Awards
Anthony Hopkins has won the Best Actor award at the Oscars 2021 for his performance in The Father. He beat Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), Gary Oldman (Mank), and Steven Yeun (Minari).
Hopkins – who was not able to attend the ceremony – plays Anthony in The Father, a man suffering from dementia and losing his hold on reality as his memory deteriorates. Olivia Colman portrays his daughter Anne, and the film includes supporting roles for Mark Gatiss and Rufus Sewell.
The Father was nominated for multiple Oscars, including Best Supporting Actress for Colman – she took home the gold for Best Actress in 2019 for The Favourite. The film won Best Adapted Screenplay earlier in the evening.
Hopkins' victory was a surprise to many, with Boseman being the frontrunner beforehand. His performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was widely praised and won multiple awards, though the Oscar did not prove to be one of them. Viola Davis was also nominated for the same movie, though failed to win the Best Actress category, with Frances McDormand winning for her role in Nomadland.
Meanwhile, Nomadland went on to win Best Picture, and director Chloé Zhao won Best Director. To some surprise, Best Actor was the final award of the evening – an honor usually given to Best Picture.
For more from the Oscars, check out the Oscar 2021 winners list in full.
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I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.