Tom Hanks Biography • Oscar Winning Actor • Writer • Producer • Director

Tom Hanks is an American actor, filmmaker, and producer who has had an extensive career in films, television and on the stage. His cheerful everyman persona made him a natural for starring roles in many popular films.

Former sitcom actor Tom Hanks is the much-beloved star of such Hollywood hits. He is one of the highest grossing actors in history. Hanks’ films have grossed more than $4.5 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices and more than $9.0 billion worldwide, making him the third highest-grossing actor in North America. He has acted in some of the greatest dramas ever. Tom Hank has been giving us memorable movies since the 80’s.

Tom Hanks’ Amazing Clint Eastwood Impression

When we hear the name “Tom Hanks“, the first thing that comes to our mind is “Forrest Gump”. The way he played a retarded guy was amazing. ”Cast Away” and “Forrest Gump” in these movies he went full retard. Ask a straight guy to act as a gay lawyer and he will probably say, ‘Go f**k yourself’. But in “Philadelphia” Tom Hanks had other ideas, not only did he act in this role but also won an Oscar. His role in Saving Private Ryan was great too. As a great actor to work in a film like “Da Vinci Code”, it takes guts to do it. He actually caught Leonardo DiCaprio in “Catch me if you can”. And I almost forgot about Woody. Tom Hanks voiced Woody in the “Toy Story Franchise”. I loved that movie as a kid and I still wait for the sequels. His movies always do well at the Box Office. In total, Tom Hanks has won 38 Awards.

Early Life of Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California on July 9, 1956, the son of hospital worker Janet Marylyn (née Frager; died 2016) and itinerant cook Amos Mefford Hanks. His mother was of Portuguese descent, while his father had English ancestry. Hanks is a third cousin four times removed of President Abraham Lincoln through Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. His parents divorced in 1960. Their three oldest children, Sandra (later Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer), Larry (an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign), and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim (who also became an actor and filmmaker), remained with their mother in Red Bluff, California. In his childhood, Hanks’ family moved often; by the age of 10, he had lived in 10 different houses

Tom grew up in what he has called a “fractured” family. He moved around a great deal after his parents’ divorce, living with a succession of step-families. No problems, no alcoholism – just a confused childhood. He has no acting experience in college and credits the fact that he could not get cast in a college play with actually starting his career. He went downtown, and auditioned for a community theater play, was invited by the director of that play to go to Cleveland, and there his acting career started.

After a nomadic childhood, Hanks majored in drama at California State University and performed in summer stock in Cleveland, Ohio, playing a variety of classical roles. In 1979, Hanks moved to New York City, where he made his film debut in the low-budget slasher film He Knows You’re Alone (1980) and landed a starring role in the television movie Mazes and Monsters.

Career

Hanks made his professional acting debut on the stage playing Grumio, in the Great Lakes Theater production of The Taming of the Shrew (1977). He made his film debut with a minor role in the horror film He Knows You’re Alone (1980). Hanks made his debut as a director and screenwriter in the 1996 musical comedy That Thing You Do!.

Hanks gained notice for his comic abilities as a co-star of the television series Bosom Buddies (1980–82). His work in the hit film Splash (1984) earned him leads in other comedies, including Bachelor Party (1984), Volunteers (1985), and The Money Pit (1986). He successfully mixed comedy with drama in Nothing in Common (1986) and Punchline (1988), and his portrayal of a boy in an adult body in Big (1988) earned him an Academy Award nomination and launched him on the path to becoming one of the era’s most popular stars.

Hanks also gave voice to the cowboy Woody in “Toy Story” (1995) and its two highly-successful sequels, before giving an Oscar-nominated turn in Steven Spielberg‘s “Saving Private Ryan” (1998).

In 2002 Hanks starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, and he portrayed Robert Langdon, a professor of symbology, in the 2006 film adaptation of Dan Brown’s hugely popular The Da Vinci Code; he reprised the role of Langdon in Angels & Demons (2009) and Inferno (2016). In Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Hanks appeared as the real-life senator Charlie Wilson, who assisted the Afghan resistance to the Soviets in the 1980s, and he later portrayed a father killed in the September 11 attacks in the drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011). For the mystical epic Cloud Atlas (2012), which wove together multiple narratives, he took on six roles, ranging from a 19th-century surgeon to a post-apocalyptic tribesman.

Oscar Wins

In the film Philadelphia, Hanks played a lawyer fired from his high-paying firm because he has AIDS, delivering a courageous performance that earned him an Academy Award for best actor.

Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars.

Personal Life of Tom Hanks

Hanks was married to American actress/producer Samantha Lewes (real name: Susan Dillingham) in 1978 and divorced in 1987. They had one son, actor Colin Hanks (born 1977), and one daughter, Elizabeth Hanks (born 1982). Hanks & Samantha met while they were in college.

In 1988 he married actress Rita Wilson, with whom he co-starred in the film Volunteers. They have two sons. The oldest, Chester Marlon “Chet” Hanks, had a minor role as a student in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and released a rap song in 2011. Their youngest, Truman Theodore, was born in 1995.

Hanks recently revealed that he has been facing a health challenge. He admitted in October 2013 that he has Type 2 Diabetes. Hanks shared this information on the air with late night talk show host David Letterman.

Profile

Full Name: Thomas Jeffrey Hanks
Birth Date: July 9, 1956
Birth Place: Concord, California, U.S.
Residence: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Profession: Director, Actor, Television Actor, Film Actor
Years active: 1977–present
Net worth: $390 million (May 2014)
Books: Uncommon Type: Some Stories (2017), Subversive Gospel: A New Testament Commentary of Liberation (2000), You’ve Got Mail (1998), God So Loved the Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression (1983)