Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American
actor,
producer,
writer and
director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in
Philadelphia, the title role in
Forrest Gump, Commander
James A. Lovell in
Apollo 13, Captain John H. Miller in
Saving Private Ryan,
Sheriff Woody in
Pixar's
Toy Story, and Chuck Noland in
Cast Away. Hanks won consecutive
Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for
Philadelphia and in 1994 for
Forrest Gump. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed
$3.3 billion.
[People Index from Box Office Mojo] He is the father of actor
Colin Hanks.
Early life
Hanks was born in
Concord,
California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks (born in
Glenn County, California on March 9, 1924 – died in
Alameda, California on January 31, 1992), was a distant relative of President
Abraham Lincoln, through Lincoln's mother,
Nancy Hanks.
[Fenster, Bob. They Did What!? The Funny, Weird, Wonderful, and Stupid Things Famous People Have Done, Andrews Publishing, 2002. Page 55.] His mother,
Portuguese-American Janet Marylyn Frager (born in
Alameda County, California on January 18, 1932), was a hospital worker; the two divorced in 1960. The family's three oldest children, Sandra, (now Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a
writer), Larry (now Lawrence M. Hanks,
Ph.D., an
entomology professor at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
[Lawrence M. Hanks, Associate Professor - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] and Tom went with their father, while the youngest,
Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in
Red Bluff, California. Afterwards, both parents remarried. The first stepmother for Sandra, Larry, and Tom came to the marriage with five children of her own. Hanks once told
Rolling Stone: "Everybody in my family likes each other. But there were always about 50 people at the house. I didn't exactly feel like an outsider, but I was sort of outside it." That marriage ended in divorce after just two years.
Amos Hanks became a single parent, working long hours and relying on the children to fend for themselves often, an exercise in self-reliance that served the siblings well. In school, Hanks was unpopular with students and teachers alike, telling
Rolling Stone magazine: "I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who'd yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn't get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible." In 1965, Amos Hanks married Frances Wong, a
San Francisco native of
Chinese descent. Frances had three children, two of whom lived with Tom during his
high school years. Tom acted in school plays, including
South Pacific, while attending
Skyline High School in
Oakland, California.
Hanks studied theater at
Chabot College in
Hayward, California, and after two years, transferred to
California State University, Sacramento. Hanks told
The New York Times: "Acting classes looked like the best place for a guy who liked to make a lot of noise and be rather flamboyant. I spent a lot of time going to plays. I wouldn't take dates with me. I'd just drive to a theater, buy myself a ticket, sit in the seat, and read the program, and then get into the play completely. I spent a lot of time like that, seeing
Bertolt Brecht,
Tennessee Williams,
Henrik Ibsen, and all that, and now look at me, acting is my job. I wouldn't have it any other way."
It was during his years' studying theater that Hanks met
Vincent Dowling, head of the
Great Lakes Theater Festival in
Cleveland,
Ohio. At Dowling's suggestion, Hanks became an intern at the Festival, which stretched into a three-year experience that covered everything from lighting to set design to stage management. Such a commitment required that Hanks drop out of college, but with this under his belt, a future in acting was in the cards. Hanks won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his performance as
Proteus in Shakespeare's
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the few times he played a villain.
Early career
In 1979, Hanks packed his bags for
New York City, where he made his film debut in the low-budget slasher film
He Knows You're Alone and got a part in the television movie
Mazes and Monsters. Early in 1979, Hanks was cast in the lead role of Callimaco in the
Riverside Shakespeare Company's production of
Niccolò Machiavelli's
The Mandrake, directed by Daniel Southern. This remains Hanks' only New York stage performance to date; as a high profile
Off Off Broadway showcase, the production helped Tom land an agent, Joe Ohla with the J. Michael Bloom Agency. The next year Hanks landed a lead role on the
ABC television pilot of
Bosom Buddies, playing the role of Kip Wilson. Hanks moved to
Los Angeles, where he and
Peter Scolari played a pair of young advertising men forced to dress as women so they could live in an inexpensive all-female hotel. Hanks had previously partnered with Scolari in the 1970s game show
Make Me Laugh.
Bosom Buddies ran for two seasons, and, although the ratings were never strong, television critics gave the program high marks. "The first day I saw him on the set," co-producer Ian Praiser told
Rolling Stone, "I thought, 'Too bad he won't be in television for long.' I knew he'd be a movie star in two years." But if Praiser knew it, he was not able to convince Hanks. "The television show had come out of nowhere," best friend Tom Lizzio told
Rolling Stone. "Then out of nowhere it got canceled. He figured he'd be back to pulling ropes and hanging lights in a theater."
Bosom Buddies and a guest appearance on a 1982 episode of
Happy Days ("A Case of Revenge," where he played a disgruntled former classmate of The
Fonz) prompted director
Ron Howard to contact Hanks. Howard was working on
Splash (1984), a romantic comedy fantasy about a
mermaid who falls in love with a human. At first, Howard considered Hanks for the role of the main character's wisecracking brother, a role that eventually went to
John Candy. Instead, Hanks got the lead role and a career boost from
Splash, which went on to become a box office hit, grossing more than US$69 million. He also had a sizable hit with the sex comedy
Bachelor Party, also in 1984.
In 1983–84, Hanks made three guest appearances on
Family Ties as Elyse Keaton's alcoholic brother, Ned Donnelly.
Hanks also appears for a moment as an uncredited extra in the movie
Real Genius (1985), when the lead character, Mitch, bumps into him in a crowd.
Period of hits and misses
[
], March 29, 1989]]
With
Nothing in Common (1986)—about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by
Jackie Gleason—Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies", Hanks told
Rolling Stone. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say,
The Money Pit (1986), where the story is really about a guy and his house."
After three more flops, Hanks succeeded with the fantasy
Big (1988), both at the box office and within the industry, establishing Hanks as a major
Hollywood talent (he was awarded a Golden Globe for this movie). It was followed later that year by
Punchline, in which he and
Sally Field co-star as a pair of struggling
stand-up comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex, offering a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures:
The 'Burbs (1989),
Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), as a greedy
Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie
Turner and Hooch brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of
Disney Adventures, Hanks said, "I saw
Turner and Hooch the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."
Progression into dramatic roles
Hanks again climbed back to the top with his portrayal of an unsuccessful
baseball manager in
A League of Their Own (1992). Hanks admits that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with
Vanity Fair, Hanks notes his "modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less 'pretentiously fake and over the top." This "modern era" welcomed in a spectacular 1993 for Hanks, first with
Sleepless in Seattle and then with
Philadelphia. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love (in the character of
Meg Ryan) over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of
Time called his performance "charming", and most critics agreed that his portrayal ensured him a place among the premiere romantic-comedy stars of his generation, making him bankable.
In
Philadelphia, he played a
gay lawyer with
AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for
People, Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for
Philadelphias success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia
. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay.[Winner Speeches] The revelation inspired the 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who is outed by a former student in a similar way.
Hanks followed
Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit
Forrest Gump, and stated: "When I read the script for
Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." 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. (
Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)
Hanks's next project reunited him with
Ron Howard in the 1995 movie
Apollo 13, in which he played astronaut and commander
James Lovell. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors
Kevin Bacon,
Bill Paxton,
Gary Sinise,
Ed Harris, and
Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster
Toy Story as the voice of the toy
Sheriff Woody.
Directing, producing and acting
Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 movie
That Thing You Do! about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a
music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create
Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.
Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the
HBO docudrama
From the Earth to the Moon. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of
Neil Armstrong and
Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The
Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television. Hanks' next project was no less expensive.
For
Saving Private Ryan he teamed up with
Steven Spielberg to make a film about
D-Day, the landing at
Omaha Beach, and a quest through war-torn
France to bring back a soldier who has a ticket home. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public; it was labeled one of the finest war films ever made, earning Spielberg his second
Academy Award for direction and Hanks a Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his
Sleepless in Seattle co-star
Meg Ryan for another romantic comedy,
You've Got Mail, a remake of 1940's
The Shop Around the Corner, which starred
James Stewart and
Margaret Sullavan.
In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of
Stephen King's novel
The Green Mile. He also returned as the voice of Woody in
Toy Story 2. The following year he won a
Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy nomination for his portrayal of a marooned
FedEx systems analyst in
Robert Zemeckis's
Cast Away. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series
Band of Brothers. He also appeared in the September 11 television special
America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary
Rescued From the Closet.
Next he teamed up with
American Beauty director
Sam Mendes for the adaptation of
Max Allan Collins's and
Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel
Road to Perdition, in which he played an
anti-hero role as a
hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite
Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy
Catch Me if You Can, based on the true story of
Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, he and wife
Rita Wilson produced the hit movie
My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and
Gary Goetzman, and writer and star
Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie.
["Hanks files big fat 'Greek' lawsuit" - United Press International - (c/o NewsDaily.com) - August 8, 2007]["Hanks sues over unpaid 'My big fat Greek wedding' profits", Irish Examiner, 8 August 2007.] At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the
American Film Institutes's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.
Hanks was absent from the screen in 2003; in 2004, he appeared in three films: The
Coen Brothers'
The Ladykillers, another Spielberg helmed film,
The Terminal, and
The Polar Express, a family film from
Robert Zemeckis. In a
USA Weekend interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: "
[1] A League of Their Own, it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
["Actor Hanks voted in by Academy", BBC, 25 August 2005.]
Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film
The Da Vinci Code, based on the bestselling novel by
Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over
US$750 million worldwide. In
Ken Burns's 2007 documentary
The War, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from
World War II-era columns by
Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by
Forbes magazine.
["Hanks tops 'most trusted' index", BBC, 27 September 2006.] Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in
The Simpsons Movie, in which he appears in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also makes an appearance in the credits, stating that he wishes to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film
Starter for Ten, a comedy based on working class students attempting to win
University Challenge.
["A real Movie challenge". BBC. November 9, 2006.]
In 2007, Hanks starred in
Mike Nichols' film
Charlie Wilson's War (written by acclaimed screenwriter
Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays
Democratic Texas Congressman
Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and Hanks received a
Golden Globe nomination for his acting.
In a play on the expression "art imitating life", Hanks played an on screen dad to a young man (Hanks' real-life son,
Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (
John Malkovich) in 2008's
The Great Buck Howard. Hanks' character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.
Hanks' next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of
Angels & Demons,
Dan Brown's sequel to
The Da Vinci Code. Its April 11, 2007 announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor which is between $30–35 million plus an estimated 10–15% percentage of the movie's revenue.
[Tyler, Joshua. "Tom Hanks Confirmed For Da Vinci Code Sequel", Cinema Blend, 10 April 2007.][Fleming, Michael. "Howard moves fast with 'Code' sequel", Variety, 24 October 2007.] The following day he made his 10th appearance on
NBC's
Saturday Night Live doing an impersonation of himself for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.
Hanks is producer of the
Spike Jonze film
Where The Wild Things Are, based on the children's book by
Maurice Sendak.
["Where the Wild Things Are". Box Office Mojo. Accessed October 19, 2009.]
Top worldwide film grosses
Hanks is currently ranked the #1 box office star in the world with over $3.521 billion total box office gross, an average of $100.6 million per film.
["People Index." Box Office Mojo.] He has been involved with nineteen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office.
["Tom Hanks." Box Office Mojo.]
Personal life
Hanks was married to
Samantha Lewes from 1978 to 1987. The couple had two children, son
Colin Hanks (also an actor) and daughter Elizabeth Ann.
[Tom Hanks, Us Magazine][Tom Hanks, E! Entertainment Television] In 1988, Hanks married actress
Rita Wilson. The two first met on the set of Hanks's television show
Bosom Buddies but later developed a romantic interest while working on the film
Volunteers. They have two sons: Chester, or "Chet" (who has a small part as a student who asks Dr. Jones a question at the end of the college chase in
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), and Truman.
Politics
A proponent of
environmentalism, Hanks is an investor in
electric vehicles, and owns both a
Toyota RAV4 EV and the first production
AC Propulsion eBox.
[Tom Hanks on Letterman] He is on the waiting list for an
Aptera 2 Series.
[[2]]
Hanks gives money to many
Democratic politicians and has been open about his support for
same-sex marriage, environmental causes and alternative fuels (Hanks was a lessee of an
EV1 before it was recalled, as chronicled in the documentary
Who Killed the Electric Car?).
["Hollywood Loves Hybrid Cars", Washington Post (c/o AllAboutHyBridCars.com)] Hanks made public his candidate choice in the 2008 election when he uploaded a video to his
MySpace account in which he announced his endorsement of
Barack Obama.
[Beware: Celebrity Endorsement par Tom Hanks from Vidéos MySpaceTV]
Hanks was extremely public with his opinion and opposition to
Proposition 8 that amended the California constitution to define marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. Hanks and those in opposition raised over
USD$44 million in contrast to the supporters' $38 million, but Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.
[California propositions: Proposition 8, county-by-county map, margin of victory, Los Angeles Times]
Hanks went on to blame supporters of Proposition 8 as un-American and attacked the
LDS (Mormon) church members—major proponents of the bill—for their views on marriage and their role in supporting the bill.
["Tom Hanks Get Payback for Prop 8" from Lonsberry.com][Tom Hanks Says Mormon Supporters of Proposition 8 'Un-American', Fox News] About a week later, Hanks apologized for the remark, saying that nothing is more American than voting one's conscience, and that is what the supporters of Proposition 8 did.
[Tom Hanks Apologizes for Calling Mormon Supporters of Proposition 8 'Un-American', Fox News]
Other activities
A fan of
NASA's manned space program, Hanks said that he originally wanted to be an astronaut but "didn't have the math." Hanks is a member of the
National Space Society, serving on the
Board of Governors of the
nonprofit educational
space advocacy organization founded by Dr.
Wernher Von Braun and was the producer of the
HBO miniseries
From the Earth to the Moon about the
Apollo program to send astronauts to the moon. In addition, Hanks co-wrote and co-produced
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D, an
IMAX film about the moon landings. Hanks also provided the
voice over for the first new
planetarium show following the opening of the new Rose Center for Earth & Space in the Hayden Planetarium at the
American Museum of Natural History in New York.
In 2006, the
Space Foundation awarded Hanks the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award.
[www.nationalspacesymposium.org/symposium-awards] The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.
In June 2006 Hanks was inducted as an honorary member of the
United States Army Rangers Hall of Fame for his accurate portrayal of a
Captain in the movie
Saving Private Ryan; Hanks, who was unable to attend the induction
ceremony, was the first actor to receive such an honor.
["Army honors Tom Hanks", Associated Press (c/o News24), 30 June 2006.] In addition to his role in
Saving Private Ryan, Hanks was cited for serving as the national
spokesperson for the World War II Memorial Campaign, for being the honorary
chairperson of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign, and for his role in writing and helping to produce the
Emmy Award-winning miniseries,
Band of Brothers.
Hanks was one of several celebrities who frequently participated in planned comedy bits on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien while a guest. On one visit, Hanks asked Conan to join his run for president on the "Bad Haircut Party" ticket, with confetti and balloons and a hand held sign with the slogan "You'd be stupid to vote for us". On another, O'Brien, noting that Hanks was missing Christmas on his promotional tour, brought the season to him, including a gift (the skeleton of Hooch), and a mass of snow burying them both. On yet another episode, Conan gave Hanks a painting he had commissioned reflecting two of his interests: Astronauts landing on the beach at
Normandy.
On March 10, 2008, Hanks was on hand at the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to induct sixties sensation
The Dave Clark Five. He praised the group for both the joy of their music and for never signing away their publishing rights.
[Marshal J WMT KPIX KGO Kids Show Host Jay Alexander]
Hanks is working on the next film in the Toy Story franchise,
Toy Story 3, reprising his role as
Sheriff Woody, scheduled for release in 2010. He reprised the voice of Woody after he,
Tim Allen, and
John Ratzenberger were invited to a Movie theatre to see a complete story reel of the movie.
[Tom Hanks on Toy Story 3 from Firstshowing.net]
Hanks is a known 'fan' of
English Premier League Football club,
Aston Villa and was presented with a shirt on a TV show with the print 'Hanks 1' on the back. Hanks confirmed his affiliation with the club in an interview with
Jonathan Ross in May 2009, citing his public like for the name as the reason why the media portray him as an Aston Villa fan.
Filmography
Television
Other accolades
Eponym
Asteroid
12818 Tomhanks has been named after him.
[Minor Planet Names: Alphabetical List from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics]
