Bob Hoskins Biography

Bob Hoskins

After several small and forgettable roles in British films and television series, Hoskins's first starring role came opposite Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday (1980). Though he continued to work in television, he was enjoying increasingly meaty roles, including Iago opposite Anthony Hopkins as Othello (1981), and the title role (again opposite Hopkins) in Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce (1985). He also began to garner roles in American films around this time, appearing in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1985), Robert Zemeckis's Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991), and Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). But his critical success continued to stem from British films, including his role in Brazil (1985) and an Oscar-nominated performance in Mona Lisa (1986).