Tom Hanks Facts

1) Thomas Jeffrey Hanks or more commonly known as Tom Hanks was born on 9th of July, in 1956 at 11:17 am.

His place of birth was Concord in California.

His parents separated when he was just four years old.

Tom has three more siblings, two older than him and one younger.

The youngest one of the family went to live with his mother at the time of separation while the elder three continued to live with their father.

2) He graduated from high school in 1974 and then got into Hayward in California to peruse a college degree.

During his college years, he watched The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O Neill and instantly became interested in acting.

As a result, he transferred his credits to California State University where he joined a theater program.

3) Three years later, in 1977 Hanks got his first chance to show his acting talent and got recruited for the Great Lakes Shakespeare festival in Ohio.

Over the next three summers, he gave performance in a number of Shakespeare plays while working backstage during the winter season plays.

4) In 1978, he was nominated and won the Cleveland Critics Award for Best Actor.

This award was given to him because of his brilliant performance in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

5) Hanks got his break in the acting career in 1980 when he dropped out of college and moved to New York City.

He got a small part in the Hollywood movie He Knows you’re alone followed by another small role in ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies.

6) Although Bosom Buddies lasted for two seasons only, yet it was enough to give Hanks the exposure that he needed.

He was cast for a guest appearance in a number of shows like Happy Days, Love Boat, Taxi and the Family Ties.

7) During his shooting of the small part in Happy Days, he met Ron Howard who was directing his own movie during those days.

He originally offered Hanks a supporting role in his movie but ended up giving him the lead role for his movie The Splash; the movie became an instant hit.

8) Followed by that, he was a part of a number of famous movies including The Big, Turner and Hooch, Bonfire of Vanities and Joe versus the Volcano.

9) Apart from this, he has also been a part of a number of voice-over animations including that of Woody from Toy Story I and II.

Both the movies were an instant box office hits, earning Hanks more respect and name.

10) As far as political views are concerned, Tom Hanks is in favor of the Democratic Party; however, it is said that he is related to the America’s famous Republican President Abraham Lincoln.

Tom Hanks has a blood relation with James Hanks who was the father of Nancy Hanks (Lincoln’s mother).

The support of Tom Hanks for democrats is indeed ironic in that sense.

11) In his free time, he likes to relax by listening to good music.

His favorite musicians include the evergreen Elvis Presley, a local metal band from Virginia by the name of Alabama Thunderpussy and Patrick Rondat as well.

12) It is said that Tom Hanks is a huge fan of the Star Trek series and has watched it many times.

He was offered the role of Zefram Cochrane in the movie Star Trek: First Contact in the year 1996.

Despite the fact that he wanted to take the role, he could not because he had already signed in a contract for That Thing You Do!

13) In the movie That Thing You Do! Hanks named the pizza parlor after Phil Villapiano who is a famous back liner for Oakland Riders, one of Hanks all-time favorite teams.

Many people are not aware of Hank’s interest in sports; he also loves to watch soccer with Aston Villa being his favorite English team.

14) Because of his talent and versatile acting skills, Tom Hanks demand at least 20 million dollars for every movie that he signs up for.

According to a report by the Entertainment Weekly, he is probably the only actor who is completely worth the money.

15) For his movie Forest Gump, he was able to earn a whooping sum of 70 million dollars.

His acting in the movie was appreciated so much that his performance was ranked at number 43 amongst the Top 100 Greatest Characters of all times.

Hanks is known to spend a lot of time in understanding and adopting his actor before he starts shooting for any movie.

No wonder, he is able to fit in all the characters like they are a part of him.

16) To add to his glorious career, Hanks was made a part of the Guinness Book of World Records for the Actor with most consecutive $ 100 Million Grossing Movies.

This million-dollar streak for Tom Hanks began with the movie Saving Private Ryan which was released in 1998.

17) In order to honor his realistic performance in a number of army related movies, he was inducted into United States Army Rangers as an honorary member.

He was the first ever actor to achieve this kind of an award; the award was presented to him in 2006.

18) In 2002, Hanks became the youngest actor to be presented with a Life Time Achievement Award by the American Film Institute, Los Angeles.

AFI considered him for the award after his heart breaking performance in Saving Private Ryan and Forest Gump amongst other movies.

19) For his distinguishing acting in Saving Private Ryan, he was also awarded “Distinguished Public Service Award” by the United State Navy in 1999.

Apart from this, he was voted as the Best Actor in 1995 by the US Magazine and was ranked at number 17 by the UK Empire Magazine amongst the top 100 movie stars of all times.

20) On a personal front, Tom Hanks is married to Rita Wilson; his second wife and has four children, a boy and a girl from his first marriage and two boys from his second.