TOM HANKS THE STAR MOVIE FANS LOVE TO TRUST

TOM HANKS

Birth: Born on July 9 1956 Tom is presently 61 years old. Born at Concord, California USA

Training: California State University

Marriages: Tom married Samantha Lewes in 1978 and divorced in 1987. Since 1988 he has been married to Rita Wilson a fellow actress

Children: Tom has two children from his first marriage, Colin and Elizabeth, and two more from his marriage to Rita Wilson Chet and Truman

Home: Lives in California USA

Activities: Actor. Producer, Director, active in all departments of film making since 1978

Political Support: Democrat

TOM HANKS THE STAR MOVIE FANS LOVE TO TRUST

Tom Hanks is the perfect example of a Hollywood mega star. A humorous, good natured person that generates trust and confidence in audiences all over the world.  Tom Hanks the super star, Tom Hanks the box office star, Tom Hanks the nicest guy in Hollywood, and Tom Hanks brilliant actor are all terms that we have become used to when it comes to this icon of the American cinema and the worldwide movie going public.

Tom Hanks and his longtime spouse Rita Wilson

Birth

Tom was born as Thomas Jeffrey Hanks to a mother of Portuguese descent and an English father. His birth took place on 9 July 1956 at Concord, California.  His father a traveling cook took up work at various localities.  The marriage did not last long and divorce followed in 1960 when Tom was only 4 years old. Tom and his two older siblings went with his father while his younger brother stayed with the mother, a hospital worker. The result was that Tom and his older siblings moved around quite often and stayed in turn with their parents and several step families.

Despite this picture of instability, Tom considers his formative years as unremarkable with no problems to speak of.  He considered himself as extremely shy and somewhat geeky at school and states that he was not popular with students nor teachers. At the same time, he accepted himself as a good person, responsible in his school work, which I consider a forerunner to the sincerity and trust he would provoke in the movie going public later in life. At school, Tom acted in school plays that must have led to his interest in acting although it is nowhere stated specifically. 

Training

What is recorded is that Tom attended many stage plays of the classical style while studying acting at Chabot College and California State University.

A story that fascinates me is that Tom wrote a letter to famous movie director George Roy Hill when he was still in high school at the age of 18.  Hill had just directed the movie The Sting for which he won the Oscar for Best Director when he received the letter from Tom.  In the letter, Hill was urged to discover Hanks as the next big star for the silver screen.  I quote from the letter: “My looks are not stunning. I am not built like a Greek God, and I can't even grow a mustache(sic), but I figure if people will pay to see certain films ... they will pay to see me.”  Sadly, the two never got to work together.

(https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/teenage-tom-hanks-wrote-a-812585)

There are many other stories describing the quirky nature of Tom Hanks like the fact that he is a serious collector of vintage typewriters and at gala events, he shies away from the cameras and instead uses his own equipment to focus on taking photos of his wife, Rita. 

Incidentally, the younger brother also joined the acting field as a profession with some 70 acting jobs to his credit in various films and TV shows.  Tom’s older sister became a successful writer and the older brother a professor at the University of Illinois.  The four siblings all became prosperous above the average citizen and I am sure the source of pride in those that are associated with them.  After the 1960 divorce, his father married again to a lady of Chinese descent and a further three step siblings were subsequently born to Tom and his brothers and sister from the first marriage.

Marriages and Children

Tom first married a fellow thespian by the name of Samantha Lewes in 1978. After fathering two children the couple called it quits in 1987.  One year later he married another actress Rita Wilson and had two more children.  This marriage is ongoing and the couple has been married for almost 30 years.  Two of Tom’s sons are also actors namely Colin and Chet.  His daughter Elizabeth has dabbled in acting but not in a significant way.  Rita Wilson herself an actress of considerable ability, has always curtailed her career in favor of Tom as the main acting personality in the union.  Be on the lookout and you will see Rita in minor roles from time to time in new cinematic releases.

Activities

Tom’s first film acting job came in 1980 in a film called “He Knows You’re Alone”.  Subsequently, he found jobs in a number of Television appearances until 1984 when he starred in Splash, a film that is now set for a remake. A number of further roles followed of which “The Money Pit” made the biggest impact.  Then followed the critical and box office super success of “Big” which brought Tom his first Oscar nomination. In this story a 13-year old boy, wishing to be grown up, finds himself waking up one morning as a man of almost 30 years old but with the mind and emotional development of a 13-year old.  Tom eclipsed the role perfectly and turned it into an enormous joyride for the film going public.  

This role marked the start of an extremely successful decade of movies that saw Tom receiving 4 more Oscar nominations and taking the coveted symbol of movie art home in two consecutive years, 1994 and 1995.  The first came for his sensitive portrayal of a lawyer dealing with the profoundly difficult issue of AIDS in the movie “Philadelphia” and the next year for what is considered to be the pinnacle of his depictions in “Forest Gump”. His two other nominations came for “Saving Private Ryan”, “Castaway”. Only one actor achieved the same feat of receiving two consecutive best actor academy awards namely Spencer Tracey. Daniel Day Lewis is the only male actor to ever receive three Academy awards.  Other actors winning two Oscars as best male actor, over the span of their acting careers are Jack Nicholson, Jack Lemmon, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Frederick March and Sean Penn.

With reference to Tom’s performance in Philadelphia the well-known critic James Berardinelli had the following to say: “Tom Hanks gives what has rightly been called "the performance of his career", lending humanity and vibrancy to the victim, and portraying him in a manner that eschews maudlin, obvious tactics to garner the audience's sympathy. We feel for Andrew Beckett because he seems to be a genuine human being, not because the script and production have twisted circumstances to manipulate our emotions.”

Numerous other awards and accolades, too many to mention have come Tom’s way and continue to accumulate.

Many other cinematic roles have ensured that Tom remains one of the most popular actors ever to emerge from Hollywood.  Consider “Turner and Hooch”, “Captain Phillips”, “Sully”, “Road to Perdition”, “The Da Vinci Code”, “Apollo 13”, the three “Toy Story” movies and “Polar Express”.  There are numerous polls conducted to establish the most popular actors in Hollywood over a period of time or annually.  The name Tom Hanks will usually pop up in the results of these polls.  In 2013 Reader’s Digest conducted a poll as to who Americans trust most (https://www.celebuzz.com/2013-05-07/america-trusts-no-one-except-tom-hanks/) and it is no surprise that the name Tom Hanks came out tops. As I was writing this article I checked the International Movie Data Base (IMDB) and observed that Tom stands at 41 on the actor ratings.  These ratings change continuously but the fact that Tom is still up there is significant. 

Besides his acting skills, Tom has accolades heaped on him for his part in other departments of the film industry.  He is a producer of note and has directed a number of films. 

The phrase “Run Forest run” is now as well-known as: ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” when it comes to the cinema public, forever etched in the minds of fans and film fanatics.   I am waiting eagerly for the future surprises that the art of Tom Hanks will bring to the silver-screen. 

Filmography

Toy Story (to be released) 2019

The Papers (to be released) 2017

The Circle 2017

Inferno 2016

Sully 2016

A Hologram for the King 2016

Ithaca 2015

Bridge of Spies 2015

Saving Mr. Banks 2013

Captain Phillips 2013

Cloud Atlas 2012

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close 2011

Larry Crowne 2011

Toy Story 3 2010

Angels & Demons 2009

The Great Buck Howard 2008

Charlie Wilson's War 2007

The Simpsons Movie 2007

The Da Vinci Code 2006

Cars 2006

The Polar Express 2004

Elvis Has Left the Building 2004

The Terminal 2004

The Ladykillers 2004

Catch Me If You Can 2002

Road to Perdition 2002

Cast Away 2000

The Green Mile 1999

Toy Story 2 1999

You've Got Mail 1998

Saving Private Ryan 1998

That Thing You Do! 1996

Toy Story 1995

Apollo 13 1995

Forrest Gump 1994

Philadelphia 1994

Sleepless in Seattle 1993

A League of Their Own 1992

The Bonfire of the Vanities 1990

Joe Versus the Volcano 1990

Turner & Hooch 1998

The 'Burbs 1989

Punchline 1988

Big 1988

Dragnet 1987

Every Time We Say Goodbye 1986

Nothing in Common 1986

The Money Pit 1986

Volunteers 1985

The Man with One Red Shoe 1985

Bachelor Party 1984

Splash 1984

He Knows You're Alone 1980