Jodie Foster
Foster was awarded an Oscar in the Best Actress category for her performance as Clarice Starling, her second, the first coming in 1988 for her performance in the gritty and critically acclaimed legal drama The Accused. Foster was not the first choice for the role of Clarice; she had wanted the role as soon as she read the novel upon which the movie was based, but Jonathan Demme was not convinced that she was right for it. She was, though, the only actress he had considered who was actually interested in the role, since both Michelle Pfeiffer and Meg Ryan, his preferred choices for the part, were put off by the subject matter.
Foster began her career as a child and was obviously more talented than the average youngster; her breakthrough role came in Martin Scorsese's psychological drama Taxi Driver, and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. However, despite a very successful career as a child,
After the success of Silence of the Lambs, Foster made her directorial debut with Little Man Tate, before starting her own production company; the company's first project was Nell, in which she also starred, and for which she received Academy Award nomination number four. More recently Foster has concentrated on directing rather than acting, collaborating frequently with Netflix on several episodes of Orange is the New Black.
Sir Anthony Hopkins
Four time nominee Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for his performance as Hannibal Lecter; he also won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Cecil B. De Mille Award for creating what is widely agreed to be one of the most chillingly psychopathic characters in cinema history.
Hopkins' big break after graduating from drama school came when Sir Laurence Olivier spotted him in a college production and invited him to join the Royal National Theater Company. Jonathan Demme cast him as Lecter on the strength of his performance in The Elephant Man opposite John Hurt; that same year, he received widespread acclaim for his portrayal of land speed world record holder Donald Campbell in a made for television movie produced for the BBC.
Hopkins recreated the role of Lecter twice, in Ridley Scott's Hannibal in 2001, and Red Dragon the year after. Hopkins admitted to rather liking Lecter, calling him the Robin Hood of serial killers, directing his psychopathy on the terminally rude. His original Lecter portrayal has been given the honor of best cinematic villain by the American Film Institute.
Scott Glenn
It was not until leaving Hollywood, discouraged, that Glenn actually began to get the breaks he had been hoping for; after appearing in a stage production in Seattle he was cast in Frances Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, which led to an opportunity to work with Robert Altman. Ten years of continual work in films was followed by a successful run on Broadway, The 'nineties turned out to be his most succesful decade; he made The Hunt for Red October, Silence of The Lambs, Backdraft and The Player back to back before making the move from blockbusters to edgy indie movies, including one directed by his daughter Dakota.
Ted Levine
Levin played the most controversial character in the film largely because the LBGTQ community felt the inclusion of a trans-sexual serial killer in the screenplay was anything but inclusive. It remains his best known and most successful role on the big screen; he also achieved success in television drama by playing the role of Leland Stottlemeyer for seven years on the television series Mpnk. In 2019 he was one of the co-stars of Jurassic World, Fallen Kingdom.
Anthony Heald
Because Chilton is the nemesis of Dr Lecter, Heald has become best known for playing the sleazy prison director, although he has actually seen more success in his career on the stage than on the screen. He has received two Tony award nominations. He is also a popular voice actor, having recorded over sixty audio books, including John Grisham's The Pelican Brief; he also played the role of a criminal in the movie version of the best-selling thriller.
Brooke Smith
Smith is one of the few actors in the movie who is more famous for a role in another production, in Smith's case, Grey's Anatomy, in which she played Dr Erica Hahn. After her character was cut from the show, she took on the role of Jane Greene in the final season of Bates Motel, which probably also makes her the only Science of the Lambs cast member who went on to work on an even more depraved and chilling production.
