So today 9th July, Tom Hanks will be 64. Born on the 9th July 1956, Thomas Jeffrey Hanks. Born in Concord, California to Janet and Amos, Janet was of Portuguese decent, where as Amos had an English Ancestry. They had Tom, his sister, Sandra, who is a writer, and his 2 brothers, Larry, who is an entomology professor, and Jim who is also an actor and filmmaker. They would divorce in 1960, when Tom was 4. Tom's family religious history is of Catholic and Mormon and as a teenager was in his own words, "a bible toting evangelist". He was a shy, geek of a child. In 1965, his father married Frances Wong, and they would have 3 more children. At school Tom began getting into acting, he would be in a number of school plays, including Skyline High School's version of South Pacific. Tom would then continue his theatre studies as he went to Chabot College, before transferring to California State University. Tom's idea of fun would be to take himself off to the theatre and buy a single ticket, buy and read the program in full before studying the play that he was watching. Tom would end up dropping out of college to take up an internship with Vincent Dowling, where he would have 3 years of experience covering all aspects of the theatre production, from lighting to stage management. It was during this time that the awards started coming his way, as he won Best Actor for his performance as Ponteus in the Shakespearean play Two Gentlemen of Verona. The award was a Cleveland Critics Circle Award.
In 1980, his first movie role came as he played Elliot in the Horror He Knows You're Alone. Then his first big role would come as he played Allen Bauer, opposite Daryl Hannah in the 1984 movie, Splash. That was the trigger, he was now being lined up for movie roles like they were on a conveyor belt. Soon following the role in Splash he would play Lawrence Bourne III in the 1985 movie, Volunteers. He would star alongside John Candy and wife to be Rita Wilson in that movie. In 1987 he would be Streebek as he starred with Dan Aykroyd in Dragnet, in the same decade he would play Josh in the Movie Big, Ray Peterson in The 'Burbs along side Carrie Fisher and would play Scott Turner in the man and animal duo Turner & Hooch. As we hit the 90's Tom was a well known comedy actor, therefore the movie roles just kept on coming as he starred in Joe Versus The Volcano, The Bonfire Of The Vanities, A League Of Their Own and Sleepless in Seattle. In 1993, Tom then took on the role of Andrew Beckett in Jonathan Demme's hugely successful drama, Philadelphia. This was the cornerstone of Tom's future planted right there with this movie. Showing the World, he was a diverse actor, that could play all sorts of genre of movies. Also in the 90's would come Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan and the Stephen King classic, The Green Mile. The noughties rolled in and the roles kept coming, Cast Away, Road To Perdition, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Then he became Robert Langdon in the Dan Brown inspired Novel, The Da Vinci Code, and would return to the role in 2009, in the sequel, Angels And Demons. into the 2010's and the big roles were still prominent in the long list of movies Tom has been in, Captain Phillips, Saving Mr. Banks, Bridge Of Spies, Sully: The Miracle On The Hudson, then again he was Robert Langdon, in 2016, in the third installment, Inferno. Lets not also forget that it is Tom Hanks that gave the voice to Woody in the 4 installments of Pixar's Toy Story. And how can i forget to mention the multi- roles voiced in the animated movie, The Polar Express.
As i said earlier, that Tom had his internship, where he learnt all areas of the theatre. This has carried on to the movies too, he has produced over many movies including My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1 & 2, The Ant Bully, Evan Almighty, Mamma Mia! and the sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. He has also been involved in writing and directing the mini series A Band of Brothers and the 2011 movie Larry Crowne.
Tom has been married twice. First in 1978, he married actress, Samantha Lewes, they would have 2 children, Colin, who has followed in his dad's footsteps and in an actor, and Elizabeth. Tom and Samantha would divorce in 1987. Then Tom would marry Rita Wilson, an actress also, in 1988. They also have 2 children, 2 boys Chester and Truman.
Away from Movies, Tom has been honored by the Space Foundation, for significant contributions to public awareness of space programs. An honour he cherishes, due to the fact, as a child, he wanted to be an Astronaut. He has been inducted as an honorary member of the U.S. Army hall of fame, due to his accurate portrayal of a captain in Saving Private Ryan.
Well as he hits mid 60's the question is, is Tom going to slow down? well! the answer is clearly no! he has the following movies already in his future catalogue.
Greyhound - Releases a day after his birthday, 10th July
News Of The World - January 2021
Untitled Elvis Presley Project - 2021
BIOS - 2021
In The Garden Of Beasts - In Production
A Man Called Ove - In Production
Add to these the 22 projects that he has listed with him being the producer, and you can see, he is getting busier, not slowing down.
His awards and nominations are a long long list, below is a list of a few
2 Oscars - Best Actor In A Leading Role - Philadelphia
- Best Actor in A Leading Role - Forrest Gump
5 Golden Globes - Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture - Comedy - Big
- Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture - Drama - Philadelphia
- Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture - Drama - Forrest Gump
- Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture - Drama - Cast Away
- Cecil B. DeMille Award for Outstanding Contributions To Entertainment
7 Emmys - Outstanding Miniseries - From Earth To The Moon
- Outstanding Miniseries - Band Of Brothers
- Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries - Band Of Brothers
- Outstanding Miniseries - The Pacific
- Outstanding Movie - Game Change
- Outstanding Limited Series - Olive Kitteridge
On top of this a further 4 Oscar nominations, 6 Golden Globes, 9 Emmy's and 5 BAFTA's. I'm sure you will agree, a very decorated actor, producer, writer, that i am sure that this list will continue to grow.
Tom Hanks is one of my all time favourite actors and i could have listed so many more movie roles that he has played. He is also one of the high profile people that was diagnosed with the Covid-19 virus, and with him being a type 2 diabetic, this could have been fatal. He and wife Rita have since now recovered, and Tom is back to work making those movie memories that live in our minds forever.
Fun Facts
1) He supports Aston Villa
2) He had 10 different homes by his 10th birthday
3) Asteroid 12818 Tomhanks is named after him
4) Distant cousin of Watt Disney and Fred Rogers (Mr Rogers)
5) was 38 & 39 when winning Back-To-Back Oscars for Best Actor. The only other Back-To Back winner, Spencer Tracy who was 38 & 39 when he achieved the same feat.
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