After completing high school at Sevenoaks in the UK, Hopkins attended Georgetown University majoring in philosophy.
[2][3] Hopkins' film career began as an assistant to New York-based producer Scott Rudin working on The Truman Show, A Civil Action, Bringing Out The Dead, Angela's Ashes, Sleepy Hollow, Wonder Boys, Shaft, and other films.
He left to start an independent production company with the aim of focusing on non-fiction storytelling.
The first film was the award-winning documentary The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, followed by Roving Mars, and included a series of shorts directed by Hopkins for Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment.
Later he produced Butler’s critically acclaimed film Going Upriver: the Long War of John Kerry.