Biography movies tom hanks

Filmography

Tom Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker who has had an extensive career in film, television and stage. Hanks made his professional acting debut on stage, playing Grumio in a 1977 Great Lakes Theater production of The Taming of the Shrew. He made his film debut with a minor role in the 1980 horror film, He Knows You're Alone. In the same year, Hanks appeared in the television series Bosom Buddies, a role that led to guest appearances on several shows, including Happy Days with Ron Howard. Howard cast him in his first leading role in the Ron Howard-directed fantasyromantic comedy, Splash. His breakthrough role was in Penny Marshall's age-changing comedy, Big, for which he garnered his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

In 1993, Hanks starred with Meg Ryan in the Nora Ephron-directed romantic comedy, Sleepless in Seattle. Later that year, he starred in the drama Philadelphia as a gay lawyer with AIDS fighting discrimination in his law firm. For his performance, Hanks earned his first Academy Award for Best Actor. He followed with the 1994 romantic comedy-drama, Forrest Gump, winning a consecutive second Academy Award for Best Actor (the first actor since Spencer Tracy in 1938 to achieve this feat). In 1995, he played astronaut Jim Lovell in the Howard-directed historical dramaApollo 13, and voiced Sheriff Woody in the animated film Toy Story (a role that he would reprise in four sequels).

Hanks made his debut as a director and screenwriter with the 1996 musical comedy, That Thing You Do!. Later that year, he and Gary Goetzman founded the production company Playtone. In 1998, Hanks executive produced the Emmy Award-winning docudramaminiseriesFrom the Earth to the Moon, and starred in the Steven Spielberg-directed epic war fil

Tom Hanks is arguably one of America's most talented and beloved actors, and he seems to have a penchant for playing real-life figures, especially in more recent years. There are a lot of iconic roles in Hanks' dozens of film credits, and many of his most memorable performances are based on real people from different historical eras. From leaders like Captain Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips to film visionary Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks, Hanks definitely has a knack for playing trustworthy, impactful people. Throughout his career, he's appeared in several biopics, plus many more films that are inspired by true stories but don't recreate real events or characters.

Though the actor may be a fan-favorite for his incredibly kind characters like Mr. Rogers and Forrest Gump, many don't know that Hanks' very first feature film was a slasher horror called He Knows You're Alone. Several appearances on TV series, including The Love Boat and Happy Days, and a steady stream of smaller Hollywood films lead to his big break and first Oscar nomination with 1988's heart-warming Big. It wasn't until Hanks' first Oscar win for portraying Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia that he transitioned to drama films and became known as a serious actor. Shortly afterwards, he played his first real-life figure in Apollo 13—astronaut Jim Lovell.

Related: Michael Caine Crowned Tom Hanks As His Best Impressionist

Hanks' brilliant performances and six Oscar nominations have made him one of the most prolific and talented actors of his generation. He's known as "America's Sweetheart" because he most often plays soft-hearted, benevolent characters. Hanks even says about himself that he doesn't "instill fear in anybody," and that's likely why he's never cast as a bad guy, though his characters are still always complex. Here is a full list of the real-life people Hanks has played throughout his career.

Jim Lovell

Tom Hanks holds the distinction of being the first actor in 50 years to be awarded back-to-back Best Actor Academy Awards®: in 1993 as the AIDS-stricken lawyer in Philadelphia and the following year in the title role of Forrest Gump. He also won Golden Globes for both of these performances, along with his work in Big and Cast Away.

Early Life and Career

Actor Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born on July 9, 1956, in Concord, California. Hanks’s parents divorced when he was 5 years old, and he was raised, along with his older brother and sister, by his father, a chef named Amos. The family moved frequently, finally settling in Oakland, California, where Hanks attended high school.

After graduating in 1974, Hanks attended junior college in Hayward, California. He decided to pursue acting after reading and watching a performance of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh (1946), and transferred into the theater program at California State University in Sacramento.

In 1977, Hanks was recruited to take part in the summer session of the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Lakewood Ohio. Over the next three years, Hanks spent his summers acting in various productions of Shakespeare’s plays and his winters working backstage at a community theater company in Sacramento. He won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in 1978, for his portrayal of Proteus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Big Break With ‘Splash’

By 1980, Hanks had dropped out