Biography: Bob Hoskins was born on October 26th, 1942 in Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk, where his mother was living after being evacuated as a result of the heavy bombings. Growing up Hoskins received only limited education and he left school at 15, but with a passion for language and literature instilled by his former English teacher. A regular theatre-visitor, Hoskins dreamt of starring on stage, but before h ... show all Bob Hoskins was born on October 26th, 1942 in Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk, where his mother was living after being evacuated as a result of the heavy bombings. Growing up Hoskins received only limited education and he left school at 15, but with a passion for language and literature instilled by his former English teacher. A regular theatre-visitor, Hoskins dreamt of starring on stage, but before he could do so he had to work odd jobs to make ends meet for a long time. Hoskins' acting career started of more by accident than by design, when he accompanied a friend to watch some auditions, only to be confused for one of the people auditioning, getting a script pushed into his hands with the message "You're next." Hoskins got the part and acquired an agent. After some stage success, Hoskins expanded to television with roles in television series such as "Villains" (1972)" and "Thick as Thieves" (1974)". In the mid-70s he started his film career, standing out when he performed alongside Richard Dreyfuss in John Byrom's "Insects (1975)" and in a smaller part in Richard Lester's "Royal Flash (1975)".
Hoskins broke through in 1978 in Dennis Potter's mini TV series, "The "Pennies from Heaven" (1978) (mini)", playing Arthur Parker, the doomed salesman. After this a string of high-profile and successful films followed, starting with his true major movie debut in 1980's "Long Good Friday (1980)" as the once again doomed Harold Shand. This was followed by such works as "The Cotton Club (1984)", "Mona Lisa (1986)", which won him an Oscar nomination as well as a BAFTA award, Cannes Film Festival and Golden Globe), "Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)", (Golden Globe nomination), "Mermaids (1990)", "Hook (1991)", "Nixon (1995)", "Felicia's Journey (1999)" and "Enemy at the Gates (2001)".
Hoskins has always carefully balanced the riches of Hollywood with the labour of independent film, though leaning more towards the latter than the former. He works at smaller projects such as Shane Meadows' debut "The 24 7: Twenty Four Seven (1997)", in which he starred as Allen Darcy. Besides this, he found time to direct, write and star in "Raggedy Rawney (1988)", as well as direct and star in "Rainbow (1995)", and contributing to HBO classic Tales from the Crypt (1989) and Tube Tales (1999). hide |