Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks arrived in the world on the 9th of July 1956 inside a hospital in Concord, California. His mother Janet Marylyn worked as a hospital worker while his father Amos Bud Hanks traveled constantly as an itinerant cook. The family moved so often that by age ten he had lived in ten different houses across the Bay Area. His parents divorced in 1960 leaving him and two older siblings to follow their father while his youngest brother Jim stayed with their mother in Red Bluff. He attended Skyline High School in Oakland where he acted in school plays including South Pacific despite being unpopular with students and teachers alike. One journalist later described his teenage self as a Bible-toting evangelical who was also a geek and painfully shy.
Hanks moved to New York City in 1979 making his film debut in the low-budget slasher film He Knows You're Alone. He landed a starring role in the television movie Mazes and Monsters in 1982 before becoming a co-lead on the ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies which ran for two seasons from 1980 to 1982. Co-producer Ian Praiser told Rolling Stone magazine after seeing him on set that he knew Hanks would be a movie star within two years. The following year he appeared on Happy Days meeting writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel who were writing Splash. That romantic comedy fantasy about a mermaid became a surprise box office hit grossing more than US$69 million. Big followed in 1988 establishing him as a major Hollywood talent both as a box office draw and an actor respected by the industry.
His modern era of moviemaking began in 1993 with Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle and then Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia. In Philadelphia he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sued his firm for discrimination losing weight and thinning his hair to appear sickly for the role. Leah Rozen wrote in People magazine that his performance deserved an Oscar making sure he played a character not a saint. Hanks won the Academy Award for Best Actor for this role revealing during his acceptance speech that two people close to him were gay. He followed this immediately with Robert Zemeckis's Forrest Gump playing a man with an IQ of 75 involved in major American historical events. The film grossed $678 million worldwide earning him his second consecutive Academy Award for Best Actor. Only Spencer Tracy had accomplished this feat before winning in 1937 and 1938 for Captains Courageous and Boys Town.
Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman created Playtone named after the record company in That Thing You Do! which he directed and starred in during 1996. The production company executive produced From the Earth to the Moon a twelve-part HBO docudrama about the space program costing $68 million. This Emmy Award-winning project became one of the most expensive ventures undertaken for television at the time. They later produced Band of Brothers in 2001 and The Pacific in 2010 both World War II-themed miniseries. Additional credits included John Adams in 2008 Game Change in 2012 and Olive Kitteridge in 2015. Hanks served as executive producer on these projects helping bring global attention to military history through dramatic storytelling.
Hanks voiced Sheriff Woody in Pixar's Toy Story released in 1995 receiving critical acclaim and major box office success. He reprised the role in Toy Story 2 in 1999 and again in Toy Story 3 in 2010 when invited to see a complete story reel at a movie theater. The third film became the highest-grossing animated film at that time and the third animated film ever nominated for Best Picture. He returned once more for Toy Story 4 in 2019 which grossed $1.074 billion worldwide becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2019. His voice work spanned from 1995 to the present making him one of the most recognizable voices in animation history.
He married actress Samantha Lewes in 1978 having two children Colin born in 1977 and Elizabeth born in 1982 before divorcing in 1987. She died in 2002 at age 49 from bone cancer. Hanks met Rita Wilson on the set of Bosom Buddies in 1981 reuniting with her on Volunteers in 1985. They married in 1988 after he converted to her Greek Orthodox faith having two sons Chet and Truman. In October 2013 he revealed on Late Show with David Letterman that he had type 2 diabetes possibly linked to weight fluctuations for roles like Cast Away. He made lifestyle changes managing his condition through diet and avoiding drastic weight changes for future films.
Hanks donated to Democratic politicians including uploading a video endorsing Barack Obama on MySpace during the 2008 election. He raised over US$44 million to campaign against Proposition 8 defining marriage as between a man and a woman though later apologizing for calling supporters un-American. The President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos signed an honorary naturalization order for him and his family on the 27th of December 2019 citing exceptional services to Greece. This honor came after their role in bringing global attention to aid following a devastating wildfire in Mati near Athens killing more than 100 people. He also serves as campaign chair of the Hidden Heroes Campaign supporting military veterans and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
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Common questions
When and where was Tom Hanks born?
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks arrived in the world on the 9th of July 1956 inside a hospital in Concord, California. His mother Janet Marylyn worked as a hospital worker while his father Amos Bud Hanks traveled constantly as an itinerant cook.
What movies made Tom Hanks famous in the early 1980s?
Hanks landed a starring role in the television movie Mazes and Monsters in 1982 before becoming a co-lead on the ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies which ran for two seasons from 1980 to 1982. That romantic comedy fantasy about a mermaid became a surprise box office hit grossing more than US$69 million.
Why did Tom Hanks win consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor?
He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing a gay lawyer with AIDS in Philadelphia revealing during his acceptance speech that two people close to him were gay. He followed this immediately with Robert Zemeckis's Forrest Gump earning him his second consecutive Academy Award for Best Actor.
Which animated films has Tom Hanks voiced since 1995?
Hanks voiced Sheriff Woody in Pixar's Toy Story released in 1995 receiving critical acclaim and major box office success. He reprised the role in Toy Story 2 in 1999 and again in Toy Story 3 in 2010 when invited to see a complete story reel at a movie theater.
When was Tom Hanks granted honorary citizenship of Greece?
The President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos signed an honorary naturalization order for him and his family on the 27th of December 2019 citing exceptional services to Greece. This honor came after their role in bringing global attention to aid following a devastating wildfire in Mati near Athens killing more than 100 people.