Tom hanks

Biography

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born July 9, 1956 in Concord, California. He was 5 when his parents, Amos Mefford Hanks and Janet Marylin Frager, divorced. He has two brothers, Larry and Jim, and a sister Sandra. The siblings experience an unstable childhood, the family breaks down and recomposes at the option of the remarriages and moves of their father, chef. At school, the little boy, very shy, takes refuge in his favorite disciplines, sport and theater. His teachers, who detected in him a real talent for comedy, encouraged him to follow this path. The theater is a real escape, he enrolled in drama classes.

On the benches of the University of Sacramento in California, he meets Vincent Dowling, director. This one proposes to him to join the troop of the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival of Cleveland. At the same time, he is forced to combine odd jobs (porter in a hotel, popcorn seller) to pay his bills.

At the beginning of the 80s, after this first theatrical experience, it was a sitcom, Bosom Buddies, in which he landed a role, which brought him the beginnings of recognition. He then makes an appearance in the series Happy Days, and meets on the set Ron Howard. Fortunately, the then-beginner director prepared a comedy, Splash, and auditioned Tom Hanks to whom he entrusted the leading role. The mermaid played by Daryl Hannah brought him luck, the film was a real success and the young actor's career was launched. He then continues in this register and turns several comedies (Le Palace en folie, Une hut à casser, Big…).

The actor, who aspires to more dramatic roles, begins a turning point in his career in the 90s. Despite the failure of Brian De Palma's film The Bonfire of Vanities, the actor perseveres in this direction. The consecration comes with his portrayal of a gay lawyer with AIDS facing Antonio Banderas in Philadelphia (1993), which won him the Oscar for best actor. The following year he achieved the feat of winning a second Oscar for best actor for his role in Forrest Gump. The actor has a series of successful films; Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan (1998) and The Green Line (1999).

In 2000, to prepare for the role of a castaway on a desert island in Alone in the World, he lost about twenty pounds. His spectacular physical metamorphosis allows him to win the Golden Globes for best actor. The actor cultivates professional friendships and regularly finds his favorite directors; Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal), Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Alone In The World, The Pole Express). In 2006, it was Ron Howard, the director of his debut, that he joined to shoot The Da Vinci Code. In 2009, the tandem shot the second adaptation of a Dan Brown novel, Angels and Demons. In 2013, he starred in Captain Phillips by Paul Greengrass. He lends his features to Walt Disney, which he plays In the shadow of Mary by John Lee Hancock in 2014.

Tom Hanks dons a new cap and starts directing. In 1996, he made a comedy about a rock band from the 60s, That thing you do! Then he experimented with a new format with mini-series; From Earth to Moon (1998) on the American space conquest - Tom Hanks is a member of the National Space Society -, and Brothers in Arms (2001) on World War II, co-produced by Steven Spielberg. He did it again with the production of a second feature film in 2011, It's never too late, with Julia Roberts as the headliner. Unfortunately the film receives a very mixed critical reception.

On January 5, 2020, at the Golden Globes ceremony, he received the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award.

On March 12, 2020, while in Australia preparing for a shoot, the actor reveals that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, as well as his wife.

As for private life, Tom Hanks married Samantha Lewes in January 1978. The couple had two children; Colin (born in 1977) and Elizabeth (born in 1982) but divorced in 1987. He then meets the actress Rita Wilson with whom he has been married since April 30, 1988. Together they have two children; Chet (born 1990) and Truman Theodore (born 1995).