TOM HANKS
BIOGRAPHY
From the simple and loveable title character in
Forrest Gump, to a charismatic and liberal
Texas congressman in
Charlie Wilson's War,
Tom Hanks has consistently demonstrated his versatility as an actor.
The Hanks family grew through remarriage, with
Amos's new wife bringing five children to the house. The marriage only lasted two years and Amos became a solo parent struggling to make ends meet for his children. The family moved around a lot - Tom would later tell an interviewer by the age of 10 he had had "three mothers, five grammar schools and ten houses".
Hanks struggled to win roles in the college productions so he auditioned for a theatre company's production of
Chekov's '
The Cherry Orchard'. The director,
Vincent Dowling, invited Tom to work at a
Shakespeare Festival he was artistic director of in
Cleveland. Hanks packed his bags and moved to
Ohio to play Gremmie in '
The Taming of the Shrew'. Hanks' girlfriend,
Samantha Lewes, moved with him when he returned to Cleveland the following year. This time he dropped out of college to take a role in 'Two
Gentleman of
Verona', which won him a best actor award from the Cleveland
Critics Circle.
Hanks and
Samantha moved to
New York in
1979 where Samantha had their first child. Hanks struggled for work but had a couple of
Shakespearean roles before making his screen debut in the slasher movie '
He Knows You're Alone', followed by the
TV movie '
Mazes and Monsters'.
On '
Happy Days' he met
Ron Howard, who played
Richie Cunningham but, crucially, was also launching a career as a director.
Howard asked Hanks to audition for a minor role in a movie he was making called '
Splash' in
1984.
'Forrest Gump' in
1994 saw Hanks play a simple-minded man who lurches heart-warmingly through
American history and was a runaway success. Hanks won his second
Best Actor Oscar, the first person to win consecutive awards for 55 years. The momentum continued into
1995, with Hanks voicing the character of
Woody in the hit children's movie '
Toy Story' and then making another blockbuster as an astronaut in Ron Howard's '
Apollo 13'.
A brief respite to write and direct '
That Thing You Do' was followed up by the romantic comedy '
You've Got Mail', again with
Meg Ryan, and then the epic and critically-acclaimed war movie '
Saving Private Ryan'.
The
Steven Spielberg film was yet another massive success for Hanks who was awarded a Distinguished
Public Service Award, the highest award the
Navy can offer a civilian.
Spielberg won an
Oscar for his direction. The pair reunited to recreate the film for television when they made the series '
Band of Brothers', about US paratroopers in the
Second World War, which was another acclaimed success.
In
2007, Hanks played the role of
Charlie Wilson, a charismatic and liberal Texas congressman, in 'Charlie Wilson's War'. The movie tells the tale of how
Wilson joins forces with his sometimes lover,
Houston socialite and active anti-communist
Joanne Herring (played by
Julia Roberts) and
CIA Operative
Gust Avrakotos (played by
Philip Seymour Hoffman), in the largest and most successful covert operation in history - the arming of the
Afghan freedom fighters in their fight against the
Soviet Union.
This was followed by '
The Great Buck Howard' in 2008, in which he played a father unhappy with his son's (played by real-life son
Colin) decision to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician.
In 2009, he reprised his role as
Robert Langdon for the follow-up to the
Da Vinci Code - '
Angels and Demons', which is also based on a
Dan Brown novel. It was reported that Hanks would receive the highest salary ever for an actor.
He also produced
Spike Jonze's '
Where the Wild Things Are' in the same year. This wasn't the actor's first foray into producing as he helped his wife
Rita produce '
My Big Fat Greek Wedding' in
2002 as well as '
The Ant Bully' and '
Starter for Ten' in
2006.
In
2010, Hanks reprised his role as Woody in '
Toy Story 3' and teamed up with Spielberg once again to produce the ten part miniseries '
The Pacific' about
America's role in
Japan during the Second World War.
He directed and starred in '
Larry Crowne' with Julia Roberts in
2011, which proved to be a flop. He will be appearing in '
Cloud Atlas' in
2012 and '
Captain Philips' in
2013.
Hanks has four children, the fourth,
Chester, was born in
1990. He is a sports fan, listing the
Oakland Athletics baseball team and
Aston Villa football team as favourites.
He also has a great interest in space and sits on the board of the
National Space Society. He also wrote, produced, and directed the miniseries From the
Earth To The Moon. On his MySpace page Hanks lists "old manual typewriters" as a hobby.
Source:
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/tom-hanks
.html
Music:
Who Likes to
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- published: 18 Jun 2015
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