Explores the early relationship between renowned psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter and a young FBI criminal profiler who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers. The Silence of the Lambs: Directed by Jonathan Demme. With Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine. A young FBI cadet is aided by a manipulative cannibal killer in her pursuit of a madman who skins his victims. A criminal, shoots and kills a painting restorer during a bungled burglary, and shoots her daughter as well. Twenty years later, the daughter has been left mute and with a mental age of a child, spending most of her time in a mental home. Silence of the Lambs being a more psychological horror does an immensely interesting job in their depiction of deranged or mentally ill criminals. Obviously Hannibal himself can become quite alluring given his disturbed charisma alongside the dustings of his criminal, cannibal, activities. Jodie Foster. Actress: The Silence of the Lambs. Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting. (at around 17 mins) Jodie Foster claims that during the first meeting between Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, Sir Anthony Hopkins ' mocking of her southern accent was improvised on the spot. Foster's horrified reaction was genuine since she felt personally attacked. She later thanked Hopkins for generating such an honest reaction. Brooke Smith grew up in New York in the shadow of show business owing to the fact that she is the daughter of powerful publicist Lois Smith. After studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, her first big thing was playing Catherine Martin, the abducted young girl in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). She went on to play Sonya in Louis Malle 's Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) and Dawn in Daniel Minahan 's brutal sendup of reality television Series 7: The Contenders (2001). Whether she is. Jonathan Demme. Director: The Silence of the Lambs. Jonathan Demme was born on 22 February 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Joanne Howard and Evelyn Purcell. He died on 26 April 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. Anthony Heald. Actor: The Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Heald was born Philip Anthony Mair Heald on August 25, 1944, in New Rochelle, New York. He graduated from Massapequa High School on Long Island, New York, in 1962, and from Michigan State University in 1971. He currently resides in Ashland, Oregon, where he was a member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival acting company for the 1997, '98 and '99 seasons. Besides. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) became the third film in Academy history to win the Big Five Academy Awards for producing, directing, acting, and screenwriting following It Happened One Night (1934) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).