Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 American biographical comedy drama film, recounting the true story of U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson (D-TX) who partnered with "bare knuckle attitude" CIA operative Gust Avrakotos to launch Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support the Afghan mujahideen in their resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

The film is adapted from George Crile's 2003 book Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History.^[2] It was directed by Mike Nichols, written by Aaron Sorkin, and stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Om Puri, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty and Emily Blunt. It was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, including "Best Motion Picture", but did not win in any category. Hoffman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Plot[link]

In 1980, Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is more interested in partying than legislating, frequently throwing huge galas and staffing his congressional office with young, attractive women. His social life eventually brings about a federal investigation into allegations of his cocaine use, conducted by then-federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani as part of a larger investigation into congressional misconduct. The investigation results in no charge against Charlie.

A friend and romantic interest, Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), encourages Charlie to do more to help the Afghan people, and persuades Charlie to visit the Pakistani leadership. The Pakistanis complain about the inadequate support of the U.S. to oppose the Soviet Union, and they insist that Charlie visit a major Pakistan-based Afghan refugee camp. (This and other Afghan scenes were filmed in Morocco.^[3]) Charlie is deeply moved by their misery and determination to fight, but is frustrated by the regional CIA personnel's insistence on a low key approach against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Charlie returns home to lead an effort to substantially increase funding to the mujahideen.

As part of this effort, Charlie befriends the maverick CIA operative Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his understaffed Afghanistan group to find a better strategy, especially including a means to counter the Soviets' formidable Mi-24 helicopter gunship. This group was composed in part of members of the CIA's elite Special Activities Division, including a young paramilitary officer named Michael Vickers (Christopher Denham). As a result, Charlie's deft political bargaining for the necessary funding and Avrakotos' group's careful planning using those resources, such as supplying the guerrillas with FIM-92 Stinger missile launchers, turns the Soviet occupation into a deadly quagmire with their heavy fighting vehicles being destroyed at a crippling rate. The CIA's anti-communism budget evolves from $5 million to over $500 million (with the same amount matched by Saudi Arabia), startling several congressmen. This effort by Charlie ultimately evolves into a major portion of the U.S. foreign policy known as the Reagan Doctrine, under which the U.S. expanded assistance beyond just the mujahideen and began also supporting other anti-communist resistance movements around the world. Charlie states that senior Pentagon official Michael Pillsbury persuaded President Ronald Reagan to provide the Stingers to the Afghans: "Ironically, neither Gust nor Charlie was directly involved in the decision and claims any credit."^[4]:419

Charlie follows Gust's guidance to seek support for post-Soviet occupation Afghanistan, but finds almost no enthusiasm in the U.S. government for even the modest measures he proposes. The film ends with Charlie receiving a major commendation for the support of the U.S. clandestine services, but his pride is tempered by his fears of what unintended consequences his secret efforts could yield in the future and the implications of U.S. disengagement from Afghanistan.

Cast[link]

• Tom Hanks as Representative Charlie Wilson
• Julia Roberts as Joanne Herring
• Philip Seymour Hoffman as Gust Avrakotos
• Amy Adams as Bonnie Bach
• Ned Beatty as Representative Doc Long
• Emily Blunt as Jane Liddle
• Om Puri as Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq
• Ken Stott as Israeli arms merchant Zvi Rafiah
• John Slattery as CIA director of European operations Henry Cravely
• Michael Spellman as CIA Agent Patrick
• Denis O'Hare as CIA station chief Harold Holt
• Judy Tylor as the aspiring starlet Crystal Lee
• Peter Gerety as Larry Liddle
• Brian Markinson as Crystal Lee's agent, Paul Brown
• Spencer Garrett as congressional committee staffer
• Kevin Rooney as congressional committee staffer
• Pasha Lychnikoff as Russian helicopter pilot
• Cyia Batten as Stacey
• Tracy Phillips as Carol Shannon, bellydancer
• Navid Negahban as refugee camp translator
• Shiri Appleby as Jailbait
• Rachel Nichols as Suzanne
• Wynn Everett as receptionist

Release and reception[link]

Box office[link]

The film was originally set for release on December 25, 2007; but on November 30, the timetable was moved up to December 21. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $9.6 million in 2,575 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #4 at the box office.^[5] It grossed a total of $119 million worldwide — $66.7 million in the United States and Canada and $52.3 million in other territories.^[6]

Critical reaction[link]

Charlie Wilson's War received generally favorable reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 81% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 192 reviews.^[7] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 69 out of 100, based on 39 reviews.^[8]

Governmental criticism and praise[link]

Reagan-era officials, including former Under Secretary of Defense Fred Ikle, have criticized some elements of the film. The Washington Times reported that some have claimed that the film wrongly promotes the notion that the CIA-led operation funded Osama bin Laden and ultimately produced the September 11 attacks.^[9] Other Reagan-era officials, however, have been more supportive of the film. Michael Johns, the former Heritage Foundation foreign policy analyst and White House speechwriter to President George H. W. Bush, praised the film as "the first mass-appeal effort to reflect the most important lesson of America's Cold War victory: that the Reagan-led effort to support freedom fighters resisting Soviet oppression led successfully to the first major military defeat of the Soviet Union... Sending the Red Army packing from Afghanistan proved one of the single most important contributing factors in one of history's most profoundly positive and important developments."^[10]

Aftermath[link]

The film depicts the concern expressed by Charlie and Gust that Afghanistan was being neglected in the 1990s, following the Soviet withdrawal. In one of the film's final scenes, Gust dampens Charlie's enthusiasm over the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying "I'm about to give you an NIE that shows the crazies are rolling into Kandahar."

George Crile III, author of the book on which the film is based, wrote that the mujahideen's victory in Afghanistan ultimately opened a power vacuum for bin Laden: "By the end of 1993, in Afghanistan itself there were no roads, no schools, just a destroyed country - and the United States was washing its hands of any responsibility. It was in this vacuum that the Taliban and Osama bin Laden would emerge as the dominant players. It is ironic that a man who had almost nothing to do with the victory over the Red Army, Osama bin Laden, would come to personify the power of the jihad."^[11]

While the film depicts Wilson as an immediate advocate for supplying the mujahideen with Stinger missiles, a former Reagan administration official recalls that he and Wilson, while advocates for the mujahideen, were actually initially "lukewarm" on the idea of supplying these missiles. Their opinion changed when they discovered that rebels were successful in downing Soviet gunships with them.^[9] As such, they were actually not supplied until the second Reagan administration term, in 1987, and their provision was mostly advocated by Reagan defense officials and influential conservatives.^[12][13][14]

Happy ending[link]

The film's happy ending came about because Tom Hanks, "just can't deal with this 9/11 thing," according to Melissa Roddy, a Los Angeles film maker with inside information from the production.^[15] Citing the original screenplay, which was very different to the final product, in Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy Matthew Alford wrote that the film gave up "the chance to produce what at least had the potential to be the Dr. Strangelove of our generation".^[16]

Russian reception[link]

In February 2008, it was revealed that the film would not play in Russian theaters. The rights for the film were bought by Universal Pictures International (UPI) Russia. It was speculated that the film would not appear because of a certain point of view that depicted the Soviet Union unfavorably. UPI Russia head Yevgeny Beginin denied that, saying, "We simply decided that the film would not make a profit." Reaction from Russian bloggers, who had seen the film on pirated DVDs, was negative. One wrote: "The whole film shows Russians, or rather Soviets, as brutal killers."^[17][18]

Home release[link]

The film was released on DVD April 22, 2008; a DVD version and a HD DVD/DVD combo version are available. The extras include a making of featurette and a "Who is Charlie Wilson?" featurette, which profiles the real Charlie Wilson and features interviews with him and with Tom Hanks, Joanne Herring, Aaron Sorkin, and Mike Nichols. The HD DVD/DVD combo version also includes additional exclusive content.^[19]

Historical context[link]

Arthur Kent lawsuit[link]

In 2008, Canadian journalist and politician Arthur Kent sued the makers of the film, claiming that they had used material he produced in the 1980s without obtaining the proper authorization.^[20] On September 19, 2008, Kent announced that he had reached a settlement with the film's producers and distributors, and that he was "very pleased" with the terms of the settlement, which remain confidential.^[21]

Awards and nominations[link]

Nominations

• 65th Golden Globe Awards^[22]
  • Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (Tom Hanks)
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Philip Seymour Hoffman)
  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Julia Roberts)
  • Best Screenplay - Motion Picture (Aaron Sorkin)

• 80th Academy Awards
  • Best Supporting Actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman)

See also[link]

• Howard Hart
• Milton Bearden

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charlie Wilson's War

• Official website
• Charlie Wilson's War at the Internet Movie Database
• Charlie Wilson's War at AllRovi
• Charlie Wilson's War at Box Office Mojo
• Charlie Wilson's War at Rotten Tomatoes
• Charlie Wilson's War at Metacritic
• "Tom Hanks Tells Hollywood Whopper in Charlie Wilson's War", AlterNet, December 21, 2007.
• Former Congressman Les AuCoin's movie review & essay on the real Charlie Wilson.

Charles Wilson may refer to:

Government and politics[link]

• Charlie Wilson (Texas politician) (1933–2010), U.S. Congressman from Texas, 1973–1997; previously State Representative then State Senator
  • Charlie Wilson's War, a 2007 book and film about the aforementioned politician's career
• Charlie Wilson (Ohio politician) (born 1943), former U.S. Congressman 2007–2010, previously State Representative then State Senator
• Charles H. Wilson (1917–1984), U.S. Congressman from California, 1963–1981; State Assemblyman, 1954–1962
• Charles Erwin Wilson (1890–1961), United States Secretary of Defense (1953–1957) and Head of General Motors (also known as "Engine Charlie")
• Charles E. Wilson, CEO of GE and member of the Truman Administration (also known as "Electric Charlie")
• Charles Wilson (Canadian politician) (1808–1877), member of the Legislative Council of Quebec in Lower Canada, Canadian Senator
• Charles Wilson (British Columbia politician) (1841–1924), 19th-century member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, first leader of the British Columbia Conservative Party
• Charles Wilson (New Zealand politician) (1857–1932), New Zealand MP
• Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Nunburnholme (1833–1907), English shipowner, Liberal Member of Parliament (MP)
• Charles Wilson, 2nd Baron Nunburnholme (1875–1924), son of the 1st Baron, Liberal MP for Hull West, 1906–1907
• Sir Charles Henry Wilson (Conservative politician) (1859–1930), MP for Leeds Central
• Charles Wilsonn (1752–1829), Member of Parliament for Bewdley, 1814–1818
• Charles R. Wilson (judge) (born 1954), U.S. Court of Appeals Judge
• Charles Rivers Wilson (1831–1916), British civil servant and financier
• Charles Kendall Wilson (1862–1934), Reform Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand
• Charles-Avila Wilson (1869–1936), Canadian lawyer, politician, and judge
• Charles Burnett Wilson (1850–1926), Marshal of the Kingdom of Hawaii

Music[link]

• Charles Wilson (composer) (born 1931), Canadian composer and choral conductor
• Charlie Wilson (singer) (born 1953), American R&B singer-songwriter-producer and lead singer of The Gap Band (also known as "Uncle Charlie")
• Chuck Wilson (jazz musician) (born 1948), American jazz musician

Sports[link]

• Charles Plumpton Wilson (1859–1938), former England footballer
• Charles Wilson (cricketer) (1869–1952), Australian cricketer who played mainly in New Zealand
• Charles Wilson (American football) (born 1968), former NFL wide receiver
• Charlie Wilson (baseball) (1905–1970), former St. Louis Cardinals baseball player
• Charles Wilson (fencer) (1865–1950), British Olympic fencer
• Charlie Wilson (footballer born 1877), played for Liverpool and Stockport County
• Charlie Wilson (footballer born 1895) (1895–1971), played for Tottenham Hotspur, Huddersfield Town and Stoke City
• Charlie Wilson (footballer born 1905) (1905–1985), played for West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield Wednesday and several other clubs

Science and engineering[link]

• Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran (1882–1977), British physician
• Charles Coker Wilson, architect who worked on the exterior of the South Carolina State House
• Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869–1959), Scottish physicist and Nobel Prize winner

Others[link]

• Charles Wilson (architect) (1810–1861), Scottish architect
• Charles Coker Wilson (1864–1933), American architect
• Charles Wilson (journalist), Scottish-born editor of The Times, 1985–1990 and The Independent, 1995–1996
• Charles Wilson (sailor) (born 1836), U.S. Navy sailor, American Civil War
• Charles Wilson (1932–1990), member of the gang that executed the Great Train Robbery (1963)
• Charles Edward Wilson (1871–1914), British military officer killed in the First World War
• Charles William Wilson (1836–1905), British geographer and military officer, for whom Jerusalem's Wilson's Arch is named
• Charles Banks Wilson (born 1918), American artist
• Charles Wilson (political scientist) (1909–2002), Scottish political scientist and university administrator
• Chuck Wilson (multimedia executive) (born 1968), Multimedia Executive
• Chuck Wilson (radio host), regular host of GameNight on ESPN Radio

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

Tom Hanks
Hanks at President Obama's 2009 inauguration.
Born	Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (1956-07-09) July 9, 1956 (age 55) Concord, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer, director, voice over artist, writer, speaker
Years active	1979–present
Spouse	Samantha Lewes (m. 1978–1987; divorced) Rita Wilson (m. 1988–present)
Children	Colin, Elizabeth, Chester, Truman

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks is known for his roles in Philadelphia and as the title character in Forrest Gump, roles which won him two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor. Hanks is also known for his Oscar nominated roles in Big, Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.

Hanks' other acting roles include Apollo 13 as Jim Lovell, The Green Mile as Paul Edgecomb, Toy Story as Woody and Charlie Wilson's War as Charlie Wilson.

Early life[link]

Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks (born in Glenn County, California, on March 9, 1924 – died in Alameda, California, on January 31, 1992), was an itinerant cook.^[1] His mother, Janet Marylyn (née Frager; born in Alameda County, California, on January 18, 1932), was a hospital worker. Hanks' mother is of Portuguese ancestry, while two of his paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Britain.^[2][3] Hanks's parents divorced in 1960. The family's three oldest children, Sandra (now Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer)^{[citation needed]}, Larry (now Lawrence M. Hanks, PhD, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)^[4] and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in Red Bluff, California.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to having a family history of Catholicism and Mormonism, Hanks was a "Bible-toting evangelical teenager" for several years.^[5] In school, Hanks was unpopular with students and teachers alike, later telling Rolling Stone magazine: "I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who'd yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn't get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible." In 1965, Amos Hanks married Frances Wong, a San Francisco native of Chinese descent. Frances had three children, two of whom lived with Tom during his high school years. Hanks acted in school plays, including South Pacific, while attending Skyline High School in Oakland, California.

Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California, and after two years, transferred to California State University, Sacramento. Hanks told New York magazine in 1986: "Acting classes looked like the best place for a guy who liked to make a lot of noise and be rather flamboyant ...I spent a lot of time going to plays. I wouldn't take dates with me. I'd just drive to a theater, buy myself a ticket, sit in the seat and read the program, and then get into the play completely. I spent a lot of time like that, seeing Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Ibsen, and all that."^[6]

During his years studying theater, Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio.^[1] At Dowling's suggestion, Hanks became an intern at the Festival. His internship stretched into a three-year experience that covered most aspects of theater production, including lighting, set design, and stage management, all of which caused Hanks to drop out of college. During the same time, Hanks won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his 1978 performance as Proteus in Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the few times he played a villain.^[7]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

In 1979, Hanks moved to New York City, where he made his film debut in the low-budget slasher film He Knows You're Alone (1980)^[1] and got a part in the television movie Mazes and Monsters. Early in 1979, Hanks was cast in the lead role of Callimaco in the Riverside Shakespeare Company's production of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Mandrake, directed by Daniel Southern. This remains Hanks's only New York stage performance to date; as a high profile Off Off Broadway showcase, the production helped Tom land an agent, Joe Ohla with the J. Michael Bloom Agency. The next year, Hanks landed a lead role on the ABC television pilot of Bosom Buddies, playing the role of Kip Wilson. Hanks moved to Los Angeles, where he and Peter Scolari played a pair of young advertising men forced to dress as women so they could live in an inexpensive all-female hotel.^[1] Hanks had previously partnered with Scolari in the 1970s game show Make Me Laugh. Bosom Buddies ran for two seasons, and, although the ratings were never strong, television critics gave the program high marks. "The first day I saw him on the set," co-producer Ian Praiser told Rolling Stone, "I thought, 'Too bad he won't be in television for long.' I knew he'd be a movie star in two years." But if Praiser knew it, he was not able to convince Hanks. "The television show had come out of nowhere," best friend Tom Lizzio told Rolling Stone. "Then out of nowhere it got canceled. He figured he'd be back to pulling ropes and hanging lights in a theater."

Bosom Buddies and a guest appearance on a 1982 episode of Happy Days ("A Case of Revenge," where he played a disgruntled former classmate of The Fonz) prompted director Ron Howard to contact Hanks. Howard was working on Splash (1984), a romantic comedy fantasy about a mermaid who falls in love with a human. At first, Howard considered Hanks for the role of the main character's wisecracking brother, a role that eventually went to John Candy. Instead, Hanks got the lead role and a career boost from Splash, which went on to become a box office hit, grossing more than US$69 million. He also had a sizable hit with the sex comedy Bachelor Party, also in 1984.

In 1983–84, Hanks made three guest appearances on Family Ties as Elyse Keaton's alcoholic brother, Ned Donnelly.^[8][9]

Period of successes and failures[link]

Hanks at Governor's Ball party after 61st Academy Awards, March 29, 1989

Hanks and Rita Wilson at the 1989 Oscars

With Nothing in Common (1986) – about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason – Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies," Hanks told Rolling Stone. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, The Money Pit, where the story is really about a guy and his house."^{[citation needed]}

After a few more flops and a moderate success with Dragnet, Hanks succeeded with the film Big (1988), both at the box office and within the industry.^[1] The film established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by Punchline, in which he and Sally Field co-starred as struggling comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex. Hanks' portrayal of Gold offered a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: The 'Burbs (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990),^[1] as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie Turner & Hooch brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of Disney Adventures, Hanks said, "I saw Turner & Hooch the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."

Progression into dramatic roles[link]

Hanks climbed back to the top again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball star turned manager in A League of Their Own (1992).^[1] Hanks has admitted that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hanks noted his "modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top". This "modern era" began in 1993 for Hanks, first with Sleepless in Seattle and then with Philadelphia. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of TIME called his performance "charming," and most critics agreed that Hanks' portrayal ensured him a place among the premier romantic-comedy stars of his generation.^{[citation needed]}

In Philadelphia, he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination.^[1] Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for People, Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for Philadelphia's success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia.^[1] During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay.^[10]

Hanks on the film set of Forrest Gump in 1994

Hanks followed Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit Forrest Gump. Of the film, Hanks has remarked: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)

Hanks' next role—astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie Apollo 13--reunited him with Ron Howard.^[1] Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster Toy Story as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.

1996 – present: Directing, producing and acting[link]

Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 film That Thing You Do! about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.

Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television.

Hanks's next project was no less expensive. For Saving Private Ryan he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about a search through war-torn France after D-Day to bring back a soldier. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public. It was labeled one of the finest war films ever made and earned Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction, and Hanks another Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his Sleepless in Seattle co-star Meg Ryan for You've Got Mail, a remake of 1940's The Shop Around the Corner.

In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Green Mile. He also returned as the voice of Woody in Toy Story 2. The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's Cast Away. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. He also appeared in the September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet.

Next he teamed up with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel Road to Perdition, in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy Catch Me if You Can, based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie.^[11][12][13] At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.

In 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, another Spielberg film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a USA Weekend interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: "[Since] A League of Their Own, it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[14]

Hanks in 2008

Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film The Da Vinci Code, based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. He followed the film with Ken Burns's 2007 documentary The War. For the documentary, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by Forbes magazine.^[15] Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in The Simpsons Movie, in which he appeared in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also made an appearance in the credits, expressing a desire to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film Starter for Ten, a comedy based on working class students attempting to win University Challenge.^[16]

In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols's film Charlie Wilson's War (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007, and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2008's The Great Buck Howard, Hanks played the on-screen father of a young man (Hanks' real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich). Tom Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.

Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of Angels & Demons, based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown. Its April 11, 2007, announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor.^[17][18] The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live, impersonating himself for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.

Hanks in April 2009

Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are, based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.^[19]

In 2010, Hanks reprised his role as Sheriff Woody in the third film in the Toy Story franchise, Toy Story 3, after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theater to see a complete story reel of the movie.^[20]

In 2011, he directed and starred opposite Julia Roberts in the title role in the romantic comedy Larry Crowne.^[21] The movie has received generally bad reviews with only 35% of the 175 Rotten Tomatoes reviews giving it high ratings.^[22] Also in 2011, he starred in the drama film Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Hanks is slated to play Walt Disney in the film Saving Mr. Banks co-starring Emma Thompson and directed by John Lee Hancock. Hanks will be the first actor to portray Disney in film. The film is scheduled to be released in 2014.^[23] He has also been cast in a film based on the Maersk Alabama hijacking as Captain Richard Phillips. The film will be written by Billy Ray, and produced by the team behind The Social Network.^[24]

Hanks is ranked the highest all time box office star with over $3.639 billion total box office gross, an average of $107 million per film.^[25] He has been involved with seventeen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office, the highest grossing of which was 2010's Toy Story 3.^[26]

Personal life[link]

Hanks was married to American actress Samantha Lewes^[27] (née Susan Jane Dillingham) from 1978 to 1987. The couple had two children, son Colin Hanks (also an actor) and daughter Elizabeth Ann.^[28][29]

In 1988, Hanks married actress Rita Wilson. The two first met on the set of Hanks's television show Bosom Buddies but later developed a romantic interest while working on the film Volunteers. They have two sons: Chester, or "Chet" (who has a small part as a student in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and released a rap single in 2011),^[30] and Truman.

Hanks became a grandfather when his son Colin and daughter-in-law Samantha gave birth to granddaughter Olivia Jane Hanks on February 1, 2011.^[31]

Regarding his religious views, Hanks has said, "I must say that when I go to church – and I do go to church – I ponder the mystery. I meditate on the 'why?' of 'Why people are as they are' and 'Why bad things happen to good people,' and 'Why good things happen to bad people'... The mystery is what I think it is, almost, the grand unifying theory of mankind."^[5]

Politics[link]

Hanks has made donations to many Democratic politicians and has been open about his support for same-sex marriage, environmental causes and alternative fuels. Hanks made public his presidential candidate choice in the 2008 election when he uploaded a video to his MySpace account in which he announced his endorsement of Barack Obama.^[32]

A proponent of environmentalism, Hanks is an investor in electric vehicles and owns both a Toyota RAV4 EV and the first production AC Propulsion eBox. Hanks was a lessee of an EV1 before it was recalled, as chronicled in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?^[33][34] He is on the waiting list for an Aptera 2 Series.^[35]

Hanks was extremely outspoken about his opposition to Proposition 8, an amendment to the California constitution that defined marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. Hanks and others who were in opposition to the proposition raised over US$44 million in contrast to the supporters' $39 million,^[36] but Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.^[37]

While premiering a TV series in January 2009, Hanks called supporters of Proposition 8 "un-American" and criticized the LDS (Mormon) church members, who were major proponents of the bill, for their views on marriage and their role in supporting the bill.^[38][39] About a week later, Hanks apologized for the remark, saying that nothing is more American than voting one's conscience.^[40]

Hanks narrated a video created by Obama for America, entitled The Road We've Traveled.^[41]

Other activities[link]

Hanks with Steven Spielberg (left) at the National World War II Memorial in March 2010

A supporter of NASA's manned space program, Hanks has said that he originally wanted to be an astronaut but "didn't have the math." 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. He also produced the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon about the Apollo program to send astronauts to the moon. In addition, Hanks co-wrote and co-produced Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D, an IMAX film about the moon landings. Hanks also provided the voice over for the premiere of the show Passport to the Universe at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

In 2006, the Space Foundation awarded Hanks the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award.^[42] The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.

In June 2006 Hanks was inducted as an honorary member of the United States Army Rangers Hall of Fame for his accurate portrayal of a Captain in the movie Saving Private Ryan; Hanks, who was unable to attend the induction ceremony, was the first actor to receive such an honor.^[43] In addition to his role in Saving Private Ryan, Hanks was cited for serving as the national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial Campaign, for being the honorary chairperson of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign, and for his role in writing and helping to produce the Emmy Award-winning miniseries, Band of Brothers.^{[citation needed]}

Hanks is one of several celebrities who frequently participates in planned comedy bits on Conan O'Brien's talk shows, including Late Night, The Tonight Show, and Conan while a guest. On one visit, Hanks asked Conan to join his run for president on the "Bad Haircut Party" ticket, with confetti and balloons and a hand held sign with the slogan "You'd be stupid to vote for us". On another episode, O'Brien, noting that Hanks was missing Christmas on his promotional tour, brought the season to him, including a gift (the skeleton of Hooch), and a mass of snow burying them both. On yet another episode, Conan gave Hanks a painting he had commissioned reflecting two of his interests: Astronauts landing on the beach at Normandy. On March 10, 2008, Hanks was on hand at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to induct sixties band The Dave Clark Five.^[44] Asteroid 12818 Tomhanks is named for him.^[45]

Filmography[link]

Other accolades[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Gardner, David, Tom Hanks: The Unauthorized Biography, London, England 1999
• Gardner, David, Tom Hanks: Enigma 2007
• Pfeiffer, Lee, The Films of Tom Hanks, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1996
• Salamon, Julie, The Devil's Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood, Boston, 1991
• Trakin, Roy, Tom Hanks: Journey to Stardom, 1987; rev. ed.1995
• Wallner, Rosemary, Tom Hanks: Academy Award-Winning Actor, Edina, Minnesota, 1994

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tom Hanks

	Biography portal
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• Tom Hanks at the Internet Movie Database
• Tom Hanks on Twitter
• Tom Hanks' Facebook Page
• Tom Hanks's channel on YouTube
• Tom Hanks at Yahoo! Movies
• Tom Hanks's thoughts on Earth Day 2006
• Interview from 1989 issue of Film Comment
• Tom Hanks's films of the 1980s