ACTOR · BORN 1956
Tom Hanks
- Born
- 9 July 1956, Concord, California, USA
- Known for
- The Godfather (1972), Bridge of Spies (2015), Big (1988), The Money Pit (1986)
457 archived facts 8 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Nov 2026
Tom Hanks (born 9 July 1956) is an actor best known for The Godfather, Bridge of Spies and Big.
Tom Hanks over the years
457 Interesting Facts About Tom Hanks
Interesting Facts (103)
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In 2015 Tom Hanks began using his official Twitter feed partly to post photos and locations of lost items, like gloves, shoes and socks, that he spotted on New York's streets. At least once it got something back to its owner: in October 2015 he found the Fordham College ID of a woman named Lauren, who collected it from his office.
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He has worked with two actors who played Howard Hughes: Jason Robards, his co-star in Philadelphia (1993), who played Hughes in Melvin and Howard (1980) for director Jonathan Demme, and Leonardo DiCaprio, his co-star in Catch Me If You Can (2002), who played Hughes in The Aviator (2004) for Martin Scorsese.
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Shortly before Columbia Pictures released Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), he was one of several actors who spoke out against using "synthespians" (computer-generated actors) in place of real people, yet he went on to star in the computer-animated The Polar Express (2004), a film heavily promoted for its new and expensive digital-actor technique.
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Enjoys collecting typewriters, purchasing over 80 of them around the globe. His interest in them generated an idea for an iPad application that he developed called Hanx Writer, that simulates antique typewriters sound and feel. It was very successful and made it to to top list on Appstore in August 2014.
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Is the third most-represented actor (behind Sidney Poitier and Gary Cooper) on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time, with four of his films making the list. They are: Forrest Gump (1994) at #37, Philadelphia (1993) at #20, Apollo 13 (1995) at #12, and Saving Private Ryan (1998) at #10.
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Has portrayed 8 real-life people in his films: Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 (1995), Charlie Wilson in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Captain Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips (2013), Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), James B. Donovan in Bridge of Spies (2015), Captain 'Chesley Sullenberger' in Sully (2016), Ben Bradlee in The Post (2017), and Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019).
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Returned to his old high school, Skyline High School in Oakland, California, to dedicate a renovated theater named for Rawley T. Farnsworth, the retired drama teacher he thanked in his Philadelphia (1993) Oscar speech. Oakland Tribune reports Hanks donated about 1/4 of the $465,000 cost of the project. Then he led the audience of some 1000 people in a chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business" (6 March 2002).
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Had made five films with director Steven Spielberg, four of which are tied to Europe. Saving Private Ryan (1998) revolved around his character and his infantry unit seeking out a missing private in Europe during WW II. Catch Me If You Can (2002) involved his character tracking down Frank Abagnale Jr. in France; in The Terminal (2004), his character was from the fictional eastern European country of Krakohzia, and Bridge of Spies (2015) was a Cold War thriller where his character had to go to Berlin, Germany.
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Has worked with two actors who played Howard Hughes. In Philadelphia (1993), he worked with Jason Robards, who played Hughes in Melvin and Howard (1980) for director Jonathan Demme. His cast mate in Catch Me If You Can (2002) was Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Hughes in The Aviator (2004) for Martin Scorsese.
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Tom Hanks is the third best-represented actor on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time, after Sidney Poitier and Gary Cooper, with four films: Forrest Gump (1994) at 37th, Philadelphia (1993) at 20th, Apollo 13 (1995) at 12th and Saving Private Ryan (1998) at 10th.
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Tom Hanks has played eight real people: Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 (1995), Charlie Wilson in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Captain Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips (2013), Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), James B. Donovan in Bridge of Spies (2015), Captain 'Chesley Sullenberger' in Sully (2016), Ben Bradlee in The Post (2017) and Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019).
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On March 6, 2002, Tom Hanks went back to Skyline High School to dedicate a renovated theater named after Rawley T. Farnsworth, the retired drama teacher he had thanked in his Oscar speech for Philadelphia (1993). The Oakland Tribune reported that he paid about a quarter of the $465,000 project, and he then led a crowd of about 1,000 in a chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business."
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He had made five films with Steven Spielberg, four with a European link: in Saving Private Ryan (1998) his character leads an infantry unit searching for a missing private in WWII Europe; in Catch Me If You Can (2002) he tracks Frank Abagnale Jr. to France; in The Terminal (2004) he comes from the fictional Eastern European country of Krakozhia; and Bridge of Spies (2015) is a Cold War thriller that sends him to Berlin, Germany.
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Production Story (12)
Behind the Scenes (111)
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He enjoys collecting typewriters and has bought more than 80 typewriters worldwide. His interest in them led to the idea for Hanx Writer, an iPad app he developed that simulates the sound and feel of antique typewriters. It was very successful and entered the best-of list on the App Store in August 2014.
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In 2015, Tom Hanks began using his official Twitter feed in part to share photos and locations of lost items he saw on the streets of New York (gloves, shoes, socks, etc.). In at least one case, this resulted in the lost property being returned to its owner; in October 2015 he found the Fordham College ID of a woman named Lauren, and she picked it up from his office.
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He is a third cousin, four times removed, of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Their common ancestors were John Hanks (1680 - 1740) and his wife Catherine, who were Lincoln's great-great-grandparents and Tom Hanks's six-times great-grandparents. Tom Hanks is also a seventh cousin of actor George Clooney (Catherine and John Hanks were Clooney's seven-times great-grandparents).
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He is the third most-represented actor on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time, after Sidney Poitier and Gary Cooper, with four films on the list. These are: Forrest Gump (1994) at 37th, Philadelphia (1993) at 20th, Apollo 13 (1995) at 12th and Saving Private Ryan (1998) at 10th.
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He has played 8 real-life people in his films: Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 (1995), Charlie Wilson in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Captain Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips (2013), Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), James B. Donovan in Bridge of Spies (2015), Captain 'Chesley Sullenberger' in Sully (2016), Ben Bradlee in The Post (2017) and Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019).
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He has appeared in ten films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Green Mile (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Captain Phillips (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015), The Post (2017) and Elvis (2022). Forrest Gump won in that category.
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He returned to his old high school, Skyline High School, to dedicate a renovated theater named after Rawley T. Farnsworth, the retired drama teacher he thanked in his Oscar speech for Philadelphia (1993). The Oakland Tribune reported that Hanks donated about 1/4 of the project's $465,000 cost. He later led an audience of about 1,000 people in a chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business" (March 6, 2002).
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He has appeared in six films selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: A League of Their Own (1992), Philadelphia (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Toy Story (1995) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
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Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams are the only actors nominated for the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critics' Choice Awards for the same performance and subsequently not nominated for an Oscar for their performances in Captain Phillips (2013), The Departed (2006), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Rust and Bone (2012), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Rush (2013), Nightcrawler (2014) and Arrival (2016).
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In an interview with NPR, Hanks reflected on his first Oscar nomination for Big (1988). He claimed that until then he never saw himself as an actor, but rather as a funny guy who appeared in films. He said he took that nomination as confirmation from others that he perhaps really knew what he was doing. He also said that thanks to this film he began to make a conscious decision to take on more serious roles, and that he attributes much of his success in the second half of his career to this single event.
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Nine actors received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor for their work in a film starring Hanks: Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump (1994), Ed Harris in Apollo 13 (1995), Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile (1999), Paul Newman in Road to Perdition (2002), Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can (2002), Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredible Close (2011), Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips (2013) and Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies (2015). Among all these films, Hanks was nominated only for 'Forrest Gump' (and won).
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On November 22, 2016, at a live televised ceremony held in the East Room of the White House, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama. Along with twenty other people, it was the largest and last Medal of Freedom ceremony of Obama's presidency. At this ceremony, the twenty-one recipients, in alphabetical order, consisted of: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elouise Cobell (the award was given posthumously to her son), Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, Richard Garwin, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Frank Gehry, Margaret Hamilton (as Margaret H. Hamilton), Tom Hanks, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (the award was given posthumously to her niece), Michael Jordan, Maya Lin, Lorne Michaels, Newton Minow, Eduardo Padron (as Eduardo Padrón), Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Vin Scully, Bruce Springsteen and Cicely Tyson.
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Shortly before the premiere of Columbia Pictures' Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), he was one of several actors who opposed the use of "synthespians" (computer-generated actors) in place of flesh-and-blood humans. Nevertheless, he took the lead role in the computer-animated The Polar Express (2004), a heavily publicized film for its use of the new (and expensive) technique of digital actors.
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On his father's side, Tom's ancestors are Cornish as well as English and, more distantly, German, Scottish and Welsh. Two of his father's great-grandparents were English immigrants. Both of Tom's maternal grandparents were of Portuguese origin (from the Azores). Tom's maternal great-grandfather had changed his surname from Fraga to Frager.
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New York City: He is opening on Broadway in "Lucky Man," the last play written by his friend and frequent director, the late Nora Ephron. This was also the first time Hanks had been in a stage production since his middle school years, and he appeared alongside another old friend, former Bosom Buddies (1980) co-star Peter Scolari.
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He had made five films with director Steven Spielberg, four of them with a European connection. Saving Private Ryan (1998) revolved around his character and his infantry unit searching for a missing soldier in Europe during World War II. Catch Me If You Can (2002) involved his character tracking Frank Abagnale Jr. in France; in The Terminal (2004), his character was from the fictional Eastern European country of Krakohzia, and Bridge of Spies (2015) was a Cold War thriller in which his character had to travel to Berlin, Germany.
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He was listed as a potential nominee in both the 2005 and 2007 Razzie Award nomination ballots. He was proposed in the Worst Actor category in the 2005 ballot for his roles in The Polar Express (2004) (referred to on the ballot as "Bi-Polar Express"), The Ladykillers (2004) and The Terminal (2004). Two years later he was proposed again in the Worst Actor category for his performance in The Da Vinci Code (2006). He received neither nomination.
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His father's paternal grandfather was the son of Thomas Hanks (b. Kentucky, May 15, 1819, d. after 1880, Missouri) and his wife Rachel Rayburn Cull (b. Kentucky, May 27, 1817), and the paternal grandson of Thomas Hanks (b. Richmond County, Virginia, March 11, 1791, d. Carroll County, Kentucky, January 20, 1882) and his wife (m. December 22, 1812) Sarah Tandy (b. Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, June 23, 1791, d. Carroll County, Kentucky, February 11, 1862).
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He has worked with two actors who played Howard Hughes. In Philadelphia (1993), Jason Robards, who played Hughes in Melvin and Howard (1980), directed by Jonathan Demme. His co-star in Catch Me If You Can (2002) was Leonardo DiCaprio, who played the character of Hughes in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004).
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His father's paternal grandmother, Sarah F. Critchlow, daughter of Jacob M. Mefford (b. Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky, July 10, 1829, d. Shelby County, Missouri, August 7, 1921) and his wife (m. Owen County, Kentucky, June 1852), was the paternal granddaughter of John Mefford (b. 1798) and his wife Mary Parker, and the maternal granddaughter of Johnson R. Critchlow (b. Kentucky, 1807) and his wife Rebecca Stafford.
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His daughter Elizabeth Hanks published a well-received 2025 memoir, "The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road," recounting her solo, cross-country journey across the American Southwest with the task of uncovering what kind of tragic violence may or may not have befallen her late mother, Samantha Lewes.
Characters & Cast (23)
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He has played 8 real people: Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 (1995), Charlie Wilson in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Captain Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips (2013), Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), James B. Donovan in Bridge of Spies (2015), Captain 'Chesley Sullenberger' in Sully (2016), Ben Bradlee in The Post (2017) and Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019).
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Shortly before the release of Columbia Pictures' Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), he was one of several actors speaking out against the use of "synthespians" (computer-generated actors) in the place of flesh-and-blood humans. Nevertheless, he took the lead role in the computer-animated film The Polar Express (2004), a film highly-publicized for its use of new (and expensive) technique of digital actors.
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Tom Hanks won one of the leads, Kip Wilson, in the ABC pilot of Bosom Buddies, starring with Peter Scolari as young ad men who dress as women to live in a cheap all-female hotel. He had already teamed with Scolari on the 1970s game show Make Me Laugh, and moved to Los Angeles after getting the part.
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Just before Columbia Pictures' Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) opened, Tom Hanks was among several actors who objected to "synthespians" (computer-generated actors) replacing flesh-and-blood performers, yet he then starred in the computer-animated The Polar Express (2004), heavily publicized for its new and costly digital-actor technology.
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Easter Eggs & References (7)
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In both his Best Actor Oscar-winning films, his character's mother was played by a former Best Actress winner: Joanne Woodward in Philadelphia (1993), who won in 1958 for The Three Faces of Eve (1957), and Sally Field in Forrest Gump (1994), who won in 1980 for Norma Rae (1979) and in 1985 for Places in the Heart (1984).
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Deeper Meaning (1)
Career & Awards (92)
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Nine actors have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for films starring Hanks: Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump (1994), Ed Harris in Apollo 13 (1995), Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile (1999), Paul Newman in Road to Perdition (2002), Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can (2002), Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips (2013) and Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies (2015). Of those films, Hanks himself was nominated (and won) only for 'Forrest Gump'.
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He was put forward as a possible nominee on both the 2005 and 2007 Razzie ballots: for Worst Actor in 2005 for The Polar Express (2004) (dubbed "Bi-Polar Express" on the ballot), The Ladykillers (2004) and The Terminal (2004), and again for Worst Actor two years later for The Da Vinci Code (2006). He wasn't nominated either time.
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President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in a live televised ceremony in the East Room of the White House on November 22, 2016, the largest and last Medal of Freedom ceremony of Obama's presidency. The twenty-one recipients, alphabetically, were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elouise Cobell (posthumously, accepted by her son), Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, Richard Garwin, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Frank Gehry, Margaret Hamilton (as Margaret H. Hamilton), Tom Hanks, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (posthumously, accepted by her niece), Michael Jordan, Maya Lin, Lorne Michaels, Newton Minow, Eduardo Padron (as Eduardo Padrón), Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Vin Scully, Bruce Springsteen and Cicely Tyson.
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Ten of his films have been Best Picture Oscar nominees: Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Green Mile (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Captain Phillips (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015), The Post (2017) and Elvis (2022), and Forrest Gump won.
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Six of his films have been chosen by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: A League of Their Own (1992), Philadelphia (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Toy Story (1995) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
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Nine actors earned Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations for films with Hanks in the lead: Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump (1994), Ed Harris in Apollo 13 (1995), Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile (1999), Paul Newman in Road to Perdition (2002), Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can (2002), Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips (2013) and Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies (2015), but Hanks was nominated, and won, only for Forrest Gump.
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He has made five films with Steven Spielberg, four of them tied to Europe: Saving Private Ryan (1998) follows his character's infantry unit searching for a missing private in WWII Europe; in Catch Me If You Can (2002) he chases Frank Abagnale Jr. to France; in The Terminal (2004) he's from the fictional Eastern European country of Krakozhia; and in the Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies (2015) he has to travel to Berlin, Germany.
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Talking to NPR about his first Oscar nomination, for Big (1988), Hanks said that until then he had never really thought of himself as an actor, more a comic performer who happened to be in movies, and he took the nomination as a sign from others that he might actually know what he was doing. Because of that film, he said, he made a conscious choice to take more serious roles, and he credits much of the success of the second half of his career to that one moment.
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New York City: Opens on Broadway in "Lucky Man", the last play written by his friend and frequent director, the late Nora Ephron. This was also be Hanks's first-ever appearance in a stage production since he was in junior college, and he co-starred with another old friend, his old Bosom Buddies (1980) co-star, Peter Scolari.
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Was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2005 and 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballots. He was suggested in the Worst Actor category on the 2005 ballot for his roles in the films The Polar Express (2004) (referred to as "Bi-Polar Express" on the ballot), The Ladykillers (2004) and The Terminal (2004). He was suggested again in the Worst Actor category two years later, for his performance in The Da Vinci Code (2006). He failed to receive either nomination.
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In both of the movies for which he won his Best Actor Oscars his character's mothers were played by previous Best Actress Oscar winners; Joanne Woodward in Philadelphia (1993), who won in 1958 for The Three Faces of Eve (1957), and Sally Field in Forrest Gump (1994), who won in 1980 for Norma Rae (1979) and in 1985 for Places in the Heart (1984).
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Ten of Tom Hanks's films have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Green Mile (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Captain Phillips (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015), The Post (2017) and Elvis (2022), with Forrest Gump winning.
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Six Tom Hanks films have been selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: A League of Their Own (1992), Philadelphia (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Toy Story (1995) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
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After Punchline, Tom Hanks had a run of box-office disappointments, The 'Burbs (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), in which he played a greedy Wall Street man caught up in a hit-and-run, with Turner & Hooch (1989) his only money-maker of the period.
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Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams are the only actors nominated for the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critics' Choice Awards for the same performance who then missed out on an Oscar nomination, for Captain Phillips (2013), The Departed (2006), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Rust and Bone (2012), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Rush (2013), Nightcrawler (2014) and Arrival (2016) respectively.
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Speaking to NPR about his first Oscar nomination, for Big (1988), Tom Hanks said that until then he had seen himself not as an actor but as a funny guy who was in movies, and that he took the nomination as others telling him he might really know what he was doing. Because of that film, he said, he consciously started choosing more serious roles, and he credits much of his success in the second half of his career to that one event.
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Nine actors were Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Tom Hanks films: Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump (1994), Ed Harris in Apollo 13 (1995), Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile (1999), Paul Newman in Road to Perdition (2002), Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can (2002), Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips (2013) and Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies (2015). Of all of them, Hanks was nominated only for Forrest Gump, and won.
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He appeared as a potential nominee on both the 2005 and 2007 Razzie ballots, proposed for Worst Actor in 2005 for The Polar Express (2004) (called "Bi-Polar Express" on the ballot), The Ladykillers (2004) and The Terminal (2004), and again two years later for The Da Vinci Code (2006), but was nominated neither time.
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In both films that won him Best Actor, his character's mother was played by a past Best Actress winner: Joanne Woodward, who won in 1958 for The Three Faces of Eve (1957), in Philadelphia (1993), and Sally Field, who won in 1980 for Norma Rae (1979) and in 1985 for Places in the Heart (1984), in Forrest Gump (1994).
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Life & Family (108)
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On his father's side, Tom's ancestry is English and Cornish, with more distant German, Scottish and Welsh roots, and two of his paternal great-grandparents were English immigrants. His maternal grandparents were both of Portuguese descent, from the Azores, and his maternal great-grandfather changed the family name from Fraga to Frager.
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His father's paternal grandmother was the daughter of Jacob M. Mefford (born in Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky, on July 10, 1829, died in Shelby County, Missouri, on August 7, 1921) and his wife Sarah F. Critchlow (married in Owen County, Kentucky, in June 1852). Her paternal grandparents were John Mefford (born 1798) and Mary Parker, and her maternal grandparents Johnson R. Critchlow (born in Kentucky in 1807) and Rebecca Stafford.
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He is a third cousin, four times removed, of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln: their common ancestors, John Hanks (1680–1740) and his wife, Catherine, were Lincoln's great-great-grandparents and Tom Hanks's six-times great-grandparents. He is also a seventh cousin, once removed, of George Clooney, for whom Catherine and John Hanks were seven-times great-grandparents.
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On 6 March 2002 he returned to Skyline High School in Oakland, California, to dedicate a renovated theater named for Rawley T. Farnsworth, the retired drama teacher he thanked in his Philadelphia (1993) Oscar speech. The Oakland Tribune reported he gave about a quarter of the project's $465,000 cost, and he then led an audience of some 1,000 people in singing "There's No Business Like Show Business."
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On his father's side, his great-grandfather's parents were Thomas Hanks (b. Kentucky, May 15, 1819, d. Missouri, aft. 1880) and Rachel Rayburn Cull (b. Kentucky, May 27, 1817), and that great-grandfather's paternal grandparents were Thomas Hanks (b. Richmond County, Virginia, March 11, 1791, d. Carroll County, Kentucky, January 20, 1882) and Sarah Tandy (b. Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, June 23, 1791, d. Carroll County, Kentucky, February 11, 1862), who married on December 22, 1812.
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In 2015, Tom Hanks started using his official Twitter feed in part to post photos and locations of lost items (such as gloves, shoes, socks, etc.) that he saw on the streets of New York. In at least one case, this resulted in the lost property being returned to its owner--in October 2015, he found the Fordham College ID for a woman named Lauren, and she retrieved it from his office.
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He is a third cousin, four times removed, of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Their common ancestors were John Hanks (1680 - 1740) and his wife, Catherine, who were the great-great-grandparents of Lincoln, and the six times great-grandparents of Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks is also a seventh cousin, once removed, of actor George Clooney (Catherine and John Hanks were the seven times great-grandparents of Clooney).
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He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Barack Obama, in a live televised ceremony held in the East Room of the White House, on November 22, 2016, along with twenty other recipients, the largest, and final Medal of Freedom ceremony of Obama's presidency. At this ceremony, the twenty-one recipients, in alphabetical order, included: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elouise Cobell (posthumous award given to her son), Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, Richard Garwin, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Frank Gehry, Margaret Hamilton (as Margaret H. Hamilton), Tom Hanks, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (posthumous award given to her niece), Michael Jordan, Maya Lin, Lorne Michaels, Newton Minow, Eduardo Padron (as Eduardo Padrón), Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Vin Scully, Bruce Springsteen and Cicely Tyson.
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His father's paternal grandfather was son of Thomas Hanks (b. Kentucky, May 15, 1819, d. Missouri, aft. 1880) and wife Rachel Rayburn Cull (b. Kentucky, May 27, 1817) and paternal grandson of Thomas Hanks (b. Richmond County, Virginia, March 11, 1791, d. Carroll County, Kentucky, January 20, 1882) and wife (m. December 22, 1812) Sarah Tandy (b. Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, June 23, 1791, d. Carroll County, Kentucky, February 11, 1862).
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His father's paternal grandmother was daughter of Jacob M. Mefford (b. Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky, July 10, 1829, d. Shelby County, Missouri, August 7, 1921) and wife (m. Owen County, Kentucky, June 1852) Sarah F. Critchlow, paternal granddaughter of John Mefford (b. 1798) and wife Mary Parker and maternal granddaughter of Johnson R. Critchlow (b. Kentucky, 1807) and wife Rebecca Stafford.
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Daughter, Elizabeth Hanks, released an acclaimed 2025 memoir, "The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road," recounting the solo, cross-country journey she made along the American southwest on a mission to uncover both what harrowing violence may or may not have happened to her late mother, Samantha Lewes.
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In 2015, Tom Hanks started using his official Twitter account partly to share photos and locations of lost items he came across on New York streets, like gloves, shoes and socks, and at least once it reunited something with its owner: in October 2015 he found the Fordham College ID of a woman named Lauren, who picked it up at his office.
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On November 22, 2016, President Barack Obama presented Tom Hanks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, at a live televised ceremony in the White House East Room, the largest and last such ceremony of his presidency. The twenty-one honorees, alphabetically, were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elouise Cobell (posthumously, accepted by her son), Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, Richard Garwin, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Frank Gehry, Margaret Hamilton (as Margaret H. Hamilton), Tom Hanks, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (posthumously, accepted by her niece), Michael Jordan, Maya Lin, Lorne Michaels, Newton Minow, Eduardo Padron (as Eduardo Padrón), Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Vin Scully, Bruce Springsteen and Cicely Tyson.
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On his father's side, Tom Hanks's ancestry is English and Cornish, with more distant German, Scottish and Welsh roots, and two of his paternal great-grandparents were English immigrants. His maternal grandparents were both of Portuguese descent, from the Azores, and his maternal great-grandfather changed the family name from Fraga to Frager.
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Tom Hanks's paternal great-grandfather was born to Thomas Hanks (b. Kentucky, May 15, 1819; d. Missouri, after 1880) and Rachel Rayburn Cull (b. Kentucky, May 27, 1817); his grandparents on the Hanks side were Thomas Hanks (b. Richmond County, Virginia, March 11, 1791; d. Carroll County, Kentucky, January 20, 1882) and Sarah Tandy (b. Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, June 23, 1791; d. Carroll County, Kentucky, February 11, 1862), married December 22, 1812.
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Tom Hanks's paternal great-grandmother was the daughter of Jacob M. Mefford (b. Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky, 10 July 1829; d. Shelby County, Missouri, 7 August 1921) and his wife Sarah F. Critchlow (m. Owen County, Kentucky, June 1852). Her paternal grandparents were John Mefford (b. 1798) and Mary Parker, and her maternal grandparents Johnson R. Critchlow (b. Kentucky, 1807) and Rebecca Stafford.
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