Tom Hanks

Birth Name: Thomas Jeffrey Hanks

Nickname/Stage Name: Tom Hanks

Birth Date: July 9, 1956

Genres: Action, Animation, Drama, Romance, Thriller

Occupation: Actor, Filmmaker

Years Active: 1977 till Present

Net Worth: $400 million

 

Personal life

Tom Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father is of English descent while his mother has Portuguese ancestry. The actor married actress Samantha Lewis in 1978 and they have two children together; son Colin Hanks and daughter Elizabeth Hanks.

Hanks and Lewis divorced in 1987 and she died of bone cancer in 2002. He met actress Rita Wilson in 1981 and they tied the nuptial knot in 1988. Together, they have two sons, Chester Marlon 'Chet' Hanks and Truman Theodore.

Education

The actor studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California. After two years, he transferred to California State University, Sacramento.

Career

Hanks made his film debut with the low-budget slasher film He Knows You're Alone (1980). He subsequently worked with director Ron Howard on the fantasy romance Splash (1984).

The star became a bonafide Hollywood leading man after his movie Big (1988) achieved major success. However, he experienced some setbacks after his other movies underperformed at the box office but came back again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball legend in A League of Their Own (1992).

The 1994 hit Forrest Gump further cemented his acting abilities and he reunited with Ron Howard for the 1995 film Apollo 13.

Other movies Hanks has acted in include Cast Away, Road to Perdition, Catch Me If You Can, The Polar Express, Angels & Demons, Captain Phillips, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

Awards

Golden Globe Award (1989, 1994, 1995, 2001) 

Academy Award (1994, 1995)

MTV Movie Award (1994)

People's Choice Award (1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2017)

Screen Actors Guild Award (1995, 1996)

Primetime Emmy Award (1998, 2002, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015)

Online Film Critics Society Award (2000)

Cecil B. DeMille Award (2020)

Quotes

"It's just as hard staying happily married as it is doing movies."

"If you're funny, if there's something that makes you laugh, then every day's going to be okay.'

"I do not want to admit to the world that I can be a bad person. It is just that I don't want anyone to have false expectations."

Trivia

He was chosen by Entertainment Weekly as the only actor worthy of $20 million.

He dislocated his shoulder when he fell through a rotting floor in a building in Germany while scouting locations for the HBO series Band of Brothers.

He has two brothers, Larry Hanks and Jum Hanks, and a sister Sandra Hanks.

Movies

He Knows You're Alone (1980)

Splash (1984)

Big (1988)

A League of Their Own (1992)

Forrest Gump (1994)

Toy Story (1995)

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Cast Away (2000)

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Angels & Demons (2009)

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Captain Phillips (2013)

Sully (2016)

Toy Story 4 (2019)

Finch (2021)