hannibal lecter

The titular character of the Hannibal book series by Thomas Harris and their film and television adaptions. Hannibal is an extremely brilliant but mentally disturbed and cannibalistic serial killer infamous for eating his victims. The books describe him as having red eyes and "mid ray duplication polydactyly" (two identical functioning middle fingers) on his left hand. While Hannibal is described as a Lithuanian expat in the books, the actors who portrayed him uses their actual accent instead.

His first live action appearance was in the 1986 movie Manhunter, based on the first novel, Red Dragon, where he is portrayed by Brian Cox. His later and most popular portrayal was by Sir Anthony Hopkins who first appeared in the 1988 movie, The Silence of the Lambs, which Anthony portrayed Hannibal again in the 2001 sequel, Hannibal, and the 2002 prequel, Red Dragon. Gaspard Ulliel portrays a younger Hannibal in the 2007 movie, Hannibal Rising, based on the prequel novel of the same name.

His most recent portrayal was by Mads Mikkelsen in the 2013-2015 Hannibal television series by NBC.