Tom Hanks : Biography

Tom Hanks born July 9, 1956, in Concord, California. His parents divorced when Hanks was five years old; he was raised, along with his older brother and sister, by their father, Amos, a chef. 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, and transferred into the theater program at California State University in Sacramento Hanks met his first wife, actress and producer Samantha Lewes (real name: Susan Dillingham), while he was in college. They were married in 1978 and had two children, Colin and Elizabeth, before divorcing in 1987. In 1988, he married the actress Rita Wilson, with whom he co-starred in Volunteers. Hanks and Wilson have two children, Chester and Truman.

Tom Hanks : Career

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 Gentleman of Verona. By 1980, Hanks had dropped out of college, and after his third season with the Great Lakes festival, he moved to New York City. Many rounds of auditions later, he landed a small part in the 1980 slasher film, He Knows You’re Alone. That same year, he was spotted by a talent scout for ABC, and was cast in the television sitcom Bosom Buddies A string of critically panned movies followed, most notably Bachelor Party (1984), The Man With One Red Shoe (1985), Volunteers (1985), The Money Pit (1986), and Dragnet (1987). Hanks managed to emerge relatively unscathed from these critical failures, as critics often pointed to his performance as the best thing about each movie. In 1988, he was finally cast in a star-making role, in director Penny Marshall’s Big, as a 13-year-old boy transplanted overnight into the body of a 35-year-old man. His performance charmed both critics and audiences, and earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. With Big, Hanks established his reputation as a box-office draw as well as a talented actor.

Tom Hanks : Films

Cold Case, A (2005), Polar Express, The (2004), Terminal, The (2004), Ladykillers, The (2004), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Road to Perdition (2002), Cast Away (2000), Green Mile, The (1999), You've Got Mail (1998), Saving Private Ryan (1998), That Thing You Do! (1996), Apollo 13 (1995) , Forrest Gump (1994), Philadelphia (1993), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), League of Their Own, A (1992), Bonfire of the Vanities, The (1990), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), Turner & Hooch (1989), 'burbs, The (1989), Punchline (1988), Big (1988), Dragnet (1987), Every Time We Say Goodbye (1986), Nothing in Common (1986), Money Pit, The (1986), Volunteers (1985), Man with One Red Shoe, The (1985), Bachelor Party (1984), Splash (1984), He Knows You're Alone (1980)