photo:
http://www.astrocafe.ro/photos/celebritati_tom%20hanks.jpg
Biography
Early life
Hanks was born in Concord, California to Amos Mefford Hanks, a Southern cook of English and Welsh heritage, and Janet Merilyn Frager, a hospital worker who was also of mostly English descent. He lived in Sturgis, Michigan at one point in early childhood, though not for very long. He later moved to Oakland, California where he attended Skyline High School (Oakland, California). His sophomore year he was one of the fastest 440 yard runners on the track team. After high school, Hanks attended Chabot College in Hayward, California and transferred to California State University, Sacramento where he studied theatre. He also worked as a bellman at the Hilton Oakland Airport for an unspecified period of time during college to make extra money.
His picture along with a brief statement by Hanks is presently located in the hotel lobby commemorating his time working there. He couldn't get cast in a college play so he auditioned for community theater instead. He was invited by the director of that play to go to Cleveland, and it was there his acting career started. A move to New York City, New York shortly followed where the actor began making the rounds at auditions, facing like many actors, rejection after rejection. A friendship with two theater producers prompted Hanks to ask them for a $5,000 loan when he needed to move to Los Angeles, California. The producers had liked Hanks so much that they doubled the loan for his move to the West Coast, where he was soon cast in Bosom Buddies and the show lasted for 2 years.
Career
Cover of Turner and Hooch: A Tale of , Produced By Hugh Hefner.
Though Hanks starred mostly in comedies in the early part of his career—he first came to notice in the 1980-82 situation comedy Bosom Buddies and became a star with Big—he later moved away from comedies and started making mostly more-serious dramas. In recent years, he has alternated between comedic, dramatic, and animation roles. For example, he was the voice of "Woody" the cowboy doll in the blockbuster Toy Story animated films but at the same time a stranded man in the dramatic Cast Away. Hanks is currently one of the most sought-after leading men in Hollywood. His salary for two recent movies was USD$20 million each. His portrayal of the likeable lead in Forrest Gump earned him $70 million.
Hanks also won back-to-back Academy Awards for Best Actor for his roles in Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994). He was the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.
In August 2005 Hanks was voted in as vice-president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [2]
Personal life
Hanks has been married to actress Rita Wilson since 1988. They met while working on the movie Volunteers (1985). They have two children together. Hanks was married previously to Samantha Lewes from 1978 to 1987. That union also produced two children (one of whom is actor/son Colin Hanks). Through his contact with Wilson, Hanks joined the Greek Orthodox Church.[3]
Hanks claims to be a relative of James Hanks, one of several possible fathers of Nancy Hanks, mother of United States president Abraham Lincoln. A map of his family tree showing the purported connection can be found in the External links section.
Hanks is a fan of the Cleveland Indians baseball team and English Premier League football (soccer) team Aston Villa.
Other activities
Hanks is a Democrat and has supported many candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Al Gore, and John Kerry. Hanks is also a noted environmentalist who drives a hybrid car and is a member of the Nature Conservancy. He has appeared in radio and television public service announcements for the organization and even serves on the board of trustees in Idaho, where he has a home.
Hanks is a member of the National Space Society, serving on the Board of Governors of the nonprofit, educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun, and was the producer of the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon about the Apollo program to send astronauts to the moon. Hanks also provides the voice over for the Hayden planetarium show at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Filmography
DVD cover of Philadelphia.
DVD cover of Saving Private Ryan.
He Knows You're Alone (1980)
Splash (1984)
Bachelor Party (1984)
The Man With One Red Shoe (1985)
Volunteers (1985)
The Money Pit (1986)
Nothing in Common (1986)
Everytime We Say Goodbye (1986)
Dragnet (1987)
Big (1988)
Punchline (1988)
The 'Burbs (1989)
Turner & Hooch (1989)
Joe Versus The Volcano (1990)
The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990)
Radio Flyer (1992)
A League of Their Own (1992)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Philadelphia (1993) (Academy Award - Best Actor)
Forrest Gump (1994) (Academy Award - Best Actor)
Apollo 13 (1995)
The Celluloid Closet (1995) (documentary)
Toy Story (1995) (voice)
That Thing You Do! (1996) (also director and writer)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
You've Got Mail (1998)
Toy Story 2 (1999) (voice)
The Green Mile (1999)
Return With Honor (1999) (presented by)
Cast Away (2000) (also producer)
Road to Perdition (2002)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
The Ladykillers (2004)
The Terminal (2004)
Elvis Has Left The Building (2004) (Cameo)
The Polar Express (2004) (also executive producer)
A Cold Case (2005) (currently in pre-production) (also producer)
The Da Vinci Code (2006) (post-production)
Charlie Wilson's War (2006) (post-production)
The Risk Pool (2006) (currently announced start of production) (also producer)
Academy Awards and nominations
1988 Nominated Big
1993 Won Philadelphia
1994 Won Forrest Gump
1998 Nominated Saving Private Ryan
2000 Nominated Cast Away
Preceded by:
Al Pacino
Best Actor
1993–1994
Succeeded by:
Nicolas Cage
TV work
Bosom Buddies (1980-1982)
Mazes and Monsters (1982)
Vault of Horror I (1994) (also director)
From the Earth to the Moon (1998) (miniseries) (also executive producer/director/writer)
Band of Brothers (2001) (miniseries) (producer, director)
The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2002) (Cameo)
Trivia
He has said that one of his favorite films is 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). In interviews he has said that he has seen it around 13 times in the theater and owns the VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD releases of the film.
He is a childhood friend of Bruce Springsteen.
Hanks, whose daughter attended Vassar College, spoke at the 2005 graduation ceremony.
He appeared in Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends as a robot.
In Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, and Saving Private Ryan, socks play a role in the plot. During his service in the Vietnam War the main advice Forrest Gump receives from Lieutenant Dan (portrayed by Gary Sinise) is to keep his feet clean and dry and to change his socks often. In Apollo 13, a mission control operator walks the crew through the construction of an ad hoc machine to scrub carbon dioxide gas from the air of the space craft. Hanks' character, Jim Lovell takes off his sock to use it in the filter. Finally, in Saving Private Ryan, Hanks' character and his men use socks to create "sticky bombs" to destroy the German tanks during the confrontation at the bridge. Another event involving socks can be found in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, produced by Tom Hanks. In this miniseries, the medic warns the soldier to wear dry socks to avoid gangrene.
