Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins has reflected on his mortality, his Welsh roots, his new Life Is A Dream album and his battle with alcoholism. in a ITV News special which airs today10:14, 21 Aug 2026Music is his first love but it's taken Sir Anthony Hopkins 88 years to land a record deal.‌The Welsh star tells ITV News Arts Editor Nina NannarIt his latest project is "is beyond his belief" in an exclusive interview in LA, the place he’s called home for five decades.‌His album, Life is a Dream, is being released by Decca Classics, and it reflects where he is in his life right now - remembering his Welsh roots, his parents, the streets where he grew up, the cinema in Port Talbot where he discovered the movies.‌Hopkins arrived for the interview accompanied by his wife, Stella Arroyave, and his niece, Tara, both of whom inspired tracks on the album. "Hello Nina," he says. "You were born in Scunthorpe, weren’t you?.It is later revealed that Scunthorpe means a lot to him because it was where his actress friend Joan Plowright, the wife of Laurence Olivier, was also born.Although he appears a little physically frail, he is bright, funny, perky even and his memory of dates and his acting history going back to the early days in repertory theatre, is truly impressive.‌Anthony started playing the piano at the age of four, on an instrument his mother got for him, but he had no technical training then. He just knew he loved it.Even in the early 60s, when an actor at the Liverpool Playhouse, he would spend downtime in the Green Room backstage, playing the piano, and a couple of the tracks that started there have made it onto his new album.‌Life Is A Dream has six decades of compositions, all brought together and performed by acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Philharmonia Orchestra.Its origins lie in a gesture Hopkins never saw coming. Without telling her husband, his wife Stella sent one of his compositions, And The Waltz Goes On, to the Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu.‌He orchestrated it, and it too is on the album with 10 other compositions by the actor. Beginning a collaboration that ultimately helped bring Hopkins' music to a wider audience.For Hopkins, the album is also an act of remembrance. Born and raised in the Margam area of Port Talbot, South Wales, he describes a childhood shaped by modest beginnings as the son of a baker. At school, he struggled academically and recalls being labelled a "dunce" with little prospect of success.Today, he rejects the idea that academic achievement alone defines a person's potential. He credits a determination to prove doubters wrong, including his father, as a powerful motivation throughout his life and career.Article continues belowSeveral tracks on the album, including Bracken Road and My Fatherland – all about the streets where he lived, pay tribute to the landscapes and communities that shaped him. Hopkins says he regularly uses Google Maps Street View to revisit the streets of Margam, retracing the roads of his childhood and reconnecting with memories of a young boy who often felt like an outsider.Full interview can be seen on ITV News YouTube channel with an extended edit on ITV Evening News at 6:30pm on Friday, August 21