Actor Bio: Tom Hanks

Today, Tom Hanks celebrates his 64^th birthday and in his honour, we look back on his spectacular career so far.

The American actor was born on 9 July 1956 in Concord, California to his mother Janet Marylyn and father Amos Mefford Hanks. In his school days, Hanks studied theatre at Chabot College in Hayward, California, where he later moved universities to study at California Sate University, Sacramento just two years later.

During his college years, Hanks became an intern at the Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland, Ohio – where he gained three years’ experience. During this time, he won the “Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor” in the 1978 performance of The Two Gentlemen of Verona ­­­– in the role as Proteus.

In his early film work, Tom Hanks appeared in He Knows You’re Alone (1980) – a low budget film – after he moved to the big apple. Over the next few years (into the early 80s), Hanks appeared in other small roles including a starring role in the TV movie Mazes and Monsters (1982), the lead in The Mandrake – the Riverside Shakespeare Company’s theatre production.

After a guest appearance on Happy Days, director Ron Howard contacted Hanks. Howard was working on the film Splash (1984), and originally wanted Hanks for the role of the main characters brother. However, this role went to John Candy (also known for Uncle Buck) and Tom did one better and got the lead role. This film rocketed Hanks to stardom and put him on the map.

Splash became a box office hit, earning $69 million. After Hanks appeared in Nothing in Common (1986), he started to move away from comedic roles and moved more towards dramatic roles. However, as he turned back to comedy after appearing in Big (1988), this established him as a Hollywood superstar and his career went up from there. This earned him a nomination for the “Academy Award for Best Actor”.

Over the next few years, Hanks suffered some box office blips – apart from Turner & Hooch in 1989. His modern era of films began in 1993 after appearing in Sleepless in Seattle and Philadelphia. For Philadelphia, Tom lost 35 pounds and thinned his hair for the role so he could fully portrayal his character – a gay lawyer suffering from AIDS who was suing his firm for discrimination.

Once again, Hanks won another “Academy Award for Best Actor” for Philadelphia.Only a year later, Hanks appeared in what is his most popular and most successful film of his career, Forrest Gump. For the few that don’t know (and this is a small minority), this film tells the story of Forrest Gump, although a man with low IQ, he has lived through many historical moments and he retells his early years as he sets out to see his childhood sweetheart Jenny.

Worldwide, Forrest Gump grossed over $600 million at the box office and meant Hanks won his second “Academy Award for Best Actor” – making him the second actor to win this award consecutively. From there, Tom Hanks went on to appear in many (many) more films that are easily recognised by all ages today. These included Apollo 13 (1995), The Toy Story series, Saving Private Ryan (1998), You’ve got Mail (1998), The Green Mile (1999), The Da Vinci Code (2006), Captain Phillips (2013) and many more.

In terms of Hanks personal life, in 1978 Tom married his first wife Samantha Lewes and together they had two children – Colin and Elizabeth. However, in 1987 they divorced.

In 1981, Hanks met actress Rita Wilson on the set of Bosom Buddies (1980-1982). They met again on the set of Volunteers (1985) and married later in 1988. Before they married, Hanks converted to his wife’s faith as she was a member of the Greek Orthodox church. Together, they have two sons.

Not only are they both actors, but they have worked on projects together including My Big Fat Greek Wedding and its sequel. Unfortunately, on 12 March 2020, both Hanks and his wife announced they had tested positive for Coronavirus and were being treated in Australia. Luckily, they recovered and returned to their home in Los Angeles om 27 March 2020.

Ultimately, Tom Hanks is a true Hollywood legend – with 50 awards under his belt – there is no stopping him from producing the films we love to watch.

By Katie Green

Feature image: The Indian Express