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Bob Hoskins

One of England's most distinctive actors, Bob Hoskins has found success on both sides of the Atlantic, frequently acting in both English and American productions. Among his best-known films are Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Cotton Club, Mermaids, Nixon, Maid in Manhattan, and Mrs. Henderson Presents.

Born in Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, Hoskins left school at 15 with dreams of an acting career. He supported himself with odd jobs (including working in a circus as a fire eater) before gaining regular employment as a working actor on stage and in British television.

American viewers first noticed him as the lead in the original British miniseries of Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven. Hoskins made his motion picture debut in John Byrum's Inserts in 1975, but his breakthrough was in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1987). For that film he received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor, and won a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe, a Cannes Film Festival award, and awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics, the London Film Critics, the New York Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics. Most recently, Hoskins received both a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a British Independent Spirit Awards nomination for Best Actor for his work opposite Dame Judi Dench in Mrs. Henderson Presents.

Hoskins has also starred as two 20th-century dictators in the TV miniseries Noriega: God's Favorite and Mussolini: Decline and Fall of Il Duce, as well as Winston Churchill in the CBS live broadcast television movie World War II: When Lions Roared. He directed himself in the film Rainbow, and wrote, directed and starred in The Raggedy Rawney. He also produced and starred in the 1996 film Secret Agent, based on the novel by Joseph Conrad.

His extensive filmography includes The Long Good Friday, Brazil, A Prayer for the Dying, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Shattered, Hook, The Inner Circle, Michael, 24 7: Twenty Four Seven, Cousin Bette, Felicia's Journey, Enemy at the Gates, The Last Orders, Vanity Fair, Beyond the Sea, Stay, Elizabeth Rex, and Unleashed.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2009.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Bob Hoskins Facts

Birth NameRobert William Hoskins
OccupationActor
BirthdayOctober 26, 1942 (81)
SignScorpio
BirthplaceBury St. Edmunds, England, United Kingdom
Height5' 5½" (1m66)  How tall is Bob Hoskins compared to you?
Awards1987 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (for Mona Lisa)

Selected Filmography

Hook
Maid In Manhattan
Doomsday
Enemy At The Gates
Balto
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Michael
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: 25th Anniversary Edition
Part One
Snow White & the Huntsman
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