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Thomas Jeffrey “Tom” Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-, two-time Emmy-, four-time Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning American film actor, director, voice-over artist, writer and film producer. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies before achieving notable success as a dramatic actor portraying several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title role in Forrest Gump, Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan and Michael Sullivan in Road To Perdition. He is also one of only three actors in the history of film to have seven consecutive US$100 million blockbusters, the two other being Tom Cruise and Will Smith. Few could have predicted in 1980 that one of the leads of a sitcom about a pair of slippery, wisecracking ad men who cross-dress in order to keep a cheap apartment in a women's hotel would have emerged as one of the country's most respected and decorated actors of the century. Almost in spite of his inauspicious beginnings, actor Tom Hanks rose from the star of the cult comedy series "Bosom Buddies" (ABC, 1980-82) to become a respected Academy Award-winning actor and Emmy-winning producer. Though it took almost a decade to rise from the depths, Hanks made his name with a touching performance in “Big” (1988), opening the doors to eventual back-to-back Oscar glory with “Philadelphia” (1993) and “Forrest Gump” (1994). Not one to rest on his laurels, Hanks continued making quality work while challenging the everyman persona he developed, taking on roles as an autocratic company man in “Cast Away” (2000), a mob hit man in “Road to Perdition” (2002) and a cocaine- and hooker-loving congressman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (2007), all the while firmly establishing himself as the finest actor of his generation, as well as being universally perceived as “the nicest guy in show business.” Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks, was a chef and a relation of President Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. His mother, Janet Marylyn (née Frager), 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), and Tom, went with their father; while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in Red Bluff, California. 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 magazine: "Everybody in my family likes each other. But there were always about fifty 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 2 years, and 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". Amos Hanks remarried in 1965 to 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, 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." It was during his years studying theater that Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland. 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. Hanks was raised by Amos, a cook and restaurant manager, and Janet, a hospital worker. In 1960, his father took him and his siblings to Reno, NV to start a new life, later divorcing Janet. After his second marriage failed, his father picked up the family and settled in Oakland, CA, where Hanks spent his formative years. Growing up an unhappy and often confused child, Hanks sought stability wherever he could find it. At Skyline High School, he played soccer and ran track, but became a born-again Christian, joining the fundamentalist First Covenant Church of Oakland for a couple of years. Hanks’ true salvation, however, came when he discovered acting. With the encouragement of high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth – whom he would famously thank after winning his first Oscar in 1994 – Hanks dove headfirst into the craft, performing as cross-dresser Luther Billis in a production of “South Pacific.” After graduating, he attended Chabot Community College, leaving after a year to become a theater major at California State University at Sacramento in 1976. The summer after his first year at CSU, Hanks interned at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, OH. He quit school once again in order to spend the next two summers with the festival under the guidance of famed Irish director Vincent Dowling, earning acclaim for his performances in “The Taming of the Shrew” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.” In 1978, Hanks sold his Volkswagen Beetle and used the money to move to New York City in order to pursue his dream of performing on Broadway. Success on the Great White Way remained elusive, however, though Hanks did manage to break into features with a small role in the low-budget horror flick, “He Knows You’re Alone” (1980). Fortunately his next part cinched the deal. Hanks gained widespread exposure with a starring role in the short-lived cult sitcom, “Bosom Buddies,” playing an advertising executive who moves into a low-rent female-only hotel with his ad exec buddy (Peter Scolari) on the condition that they both dress like women. Though only on for a few years, it was remembered fondly by Generation Xers, who never failed to tell the actor how much his cross-dressing gig remained a fond childhood memory for them. Something about the silly show resonated, and unlike other stars who conveniently forgot their humble beginnings, Hanks was more than happy to discuss “Bosom Buddies” years later in interviews years later. He also remained close friends with Scolari, despite the differences in their respective career trajectories. 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, and got a part in a television movie entitled 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, featuring an original jazz score by Michael Wolff, original masks and costumes designed by Broadway designer Jane Stein, and was produced by W. Stuart McDowell and Gloria Skurski. This remains Hank's only New York stage performance to date; as a high profile Off Off Broadway showcase, the production helped Tom land a agent, Joe Ohla with the J. Michael Bloom Agency. The next year Hanks landed a lead role on an ABC television pilot called Bosom Buddies, playing the role of Kip Wilson. Hanks moved to Los Angeles, California where he was teamed with Peter Scolari as a pair of young advertising men forced to dress as women so they could live in an inexpensive all-female hotel. He 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", the show's 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", Hanks’ best friend Tom Lizzio told Rolling Stone. "Then out of nowhere it got cancelled. He figured he'd be back to pulling ropes and hanging lights in a theater." It was 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 that drew 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 which 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. From 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. More comedies followed, but none clicked with audiences. 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. It was followed later that year by Punchline, in which he co-starred with Sally Field as a pair of struggling stand-up comedians, which grossed a respectable US$21 million. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into standup, was somewhat edgy and complex, offering a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks's next project was the 1989 movie Turner and Hooch. 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 babe." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers", however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills." Hanks's choice of roles continued to land him in trouble. He had another string of box-office failures. First, there was The 'Burbs (1989), then Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and finally The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), which saw Hanks as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. 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 called the work that he's done since his "modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less 'pretentiously fake." 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 agreed that his portrayal ensured him a place among the premiere romantic-comedy stars of his generation, making him bankable. In Philadelphia Hanks 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 "Philadelphia's" 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 1994 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher was gay. The revelation inspired the 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who was outed by a former student in a similar way. Hanks tried for his third straight Academy Award win when he reunited with “Splash” director Ron Howard for "Apollo 13" (1995), a tense look at the famed ill-fated 1970 NASA mission to the moon. Playing real-life astronaut Jim Lovell – a role allegedly slated for Kevin Costner – Hanks delivered a rock steady performance as the commander trying to bring his crew back to Earth safely. Though nominated, Hanks missed out on winning a third Oscar for Best Actor. Hanks next gave voice to Woody, a toy cowboy whose status as top toy of a young boy is threatened by the razzle dazzle of Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) in "Toy Story" (1995), the first full-length computer animated feature. Thanks to his A-list status, Hanks had the chance to flex other creative muscles, branching out into screenwriting, producing and directing. He made his directorial debut with "That Thing You Do!" (1996), a genial sixties-era comedy/drama about a band that hits Beatles-like success off of one single. While not a blockbuster, the film demonstrated Hanks’ flair for eliciting strong performances from a cast of relative unknowns. Hanks further enhanced his resume after wearing several hats on his dream project, "From the Earth to the Moon" (HBO, 1998), a 12-part series that examined the history of the U.S. space program. In addition to serving as executive producer on the series, Hanks directed the first segment and wrote four subsequent episodes, sharing the 1998 Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries with co-producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. After nearly two years of being absent from the big screen, Hanks was cast by Steven Spielberg for his highly praised World War II epic, "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), playing an army captain leading a ragtag team of soldiers on a mission to locate a missing G.I. (Matt Damon) behind enemy lines. As Miller, the actor traded on his good guy persona, but colored the performance with hints of a dark side. While some of his co-stars were reduced to fleshing out two-dimensional stereotypes, Hanks was given a more complex role and offered one of his finest screen performances, earning his fourth Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Hanks followed Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit Forrest Gump, where the lead character moves in and out of cultural events in American history from the 50's onward. Hanks explained what appealed to him about the script: "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 back-to-back 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 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 nominations for an Academy Award in 1996, winning two. Hanks turned to directing and producing with his next movie That Thing You Do!, about a 1960s pop group which Hanks co-stars as 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 US$68 million project is 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 Jimmy 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 shipwrecked 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. 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: "[Since] 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. Hanks returned to his love of outer space to narrate the short IMAX film, “Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D” (2005), a stunning journey into mankind’s most incredible adventure. The film showcased past, present and future space explorations, as audiences experienced the moon’s surface as if they were Apollo astronauts. Returning to dramatic fare, he starred in “The Da Vinci Code” (2006), the long-anticipated adaptation of Dan Brown’s monumental bestseller about a murder at the Louvre investigated by a famed symbologist, who unravels a sinister plot to keep a secret that has been protected since the time of Christ. While the script was kept a secret during filming as the fictional mystery in the story, the controversial nature of the book had kept filmmakers from shooting at key locations, including Westminster Abbey. Meanwhile, religious groups – already in a tizzy over the book – braced themselves for what was almost assured to be a blockbuster movie. Though on paper a huge success – it took in over $200 million in domestic box office – “The Da Vinci Code” was panned by most critics for failing to live up to expectations. After providing voice cameos for “Cars” (2006) and “The Simpsons Movie” (2007), he helped narrate “The War” (PBS, 2007-08), Ken Burns’ stunning and comprehensive look at ordinary Americans fighting in World War II. Hanks then starred in the critically-acclaimed political satire, “Charlie Wilson’s War” (2007), adapted by Aaron Sorkin from George Crile’s non-fiction novel. Hanks played “Good Time Charlie” Wilson, a U.S. congressman with a taste for hookers and blow whose deep patriotism and frustration with American foreign policy leads him to team up with the wealthiest woman in Texas (Julia Roberts) and a blue-collar CIA operative (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to fund the Mujahideen fighters after the Soviets invade Afghanistan. Once again, Hanks found himself being showered with praise for another strong performance, earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy as well as the requisite Oscar buzz. 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 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. In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols' film Charlie Wilson's War in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and Hanks got a Golden Globe nomination for his acting. In a play on the expression "art imitating life", Hanks will play an on screen dad to a young man (Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich) in The Great Buck Howard. Hanks' character is less than thrilled about his son's career decision. A film adaptation of Angels and Demons, the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, has been announced, and on April 11, 2007 it was revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon and that he reportedly will receive the highest salary ever for an actor. Hanks was married to Samantha Lewes from 1978 to 1987. The couple had two children, son Colin Hanks (now also an actor) and daughter Elizabeth Ann. In 1988, Hanks married actress Rita Wilson; raised in several different Christian denominations, Hanks converted from Roman Catholicism to Eastern Orthodox Christianity when marrying 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 (Chet) and Truman. He is a big sports fan, and as a teenager he was a peanut vendor at The Oakland Coliseum, home of the Oakland Athletics. His favorite team is the Oakland Athletics. Hanks is also a fan of the Oakland Raiders football team, English Premier League football team Aston Villa. Hanks lists "old manual typewriters" as a hobby on his MySpace page, owning about 80 of the classic mechanical types and traveling with one where ever he goes. 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 provides the voice over for the Hayden planetarium show at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 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. 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. While he gives money to many Democratic politicians, Hanks usually keeps his opinions about politics to himself, though he has been open about his support for environmental causes and alternative fuels. Hanks is one of several celebrities who frequently participate in planned comedy bits on Late Night with Conan O'Brien while they are guests. 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. Hanks appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to publicize his new film, The Da Vinci Code. He told the audience he had met, had a conversation with, and given a present to the Japanese Prime Minister, "Fujimori". The Japanese Prime Minister Hanks met was Junichiro Koizumi; Alberto Fujimori was the former President of Peru. On March 10, 2008, Tom 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. During the speech he also mentioned his boyhood hero Marshal J whom he grew up watching on local San Francisco television station KGO. "Time is not told by watches or clocks but by whatever is on TV. After Marshal J and the cartoons you go to school." Altogether, Tom Hanks films have grossed over US$3.3 billion for films as an actor. |
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