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.
His daughter Elizabeth Hanks plays the girl in Forrest Gump (1994) who won't let young Forrest Gump (Michael Conner Humphreys) sit next to her on the school bus.
He often meets children in random places like elevators who don't realize he is "Woody" in Toy Story, but he gets them to close their eyes so he can do the voice to their liking.
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.
He is the second actor to win Best Actor Oscars in consecutive years, for his work in Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994). The first was Spencer Tracy, for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938).
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).
With all his films grossing 4.3 billion dollars in the United States, he became the third highest-grossing actor of all time [2016].
He gained weight to play Chuck Noland in Cast Away (2000) and then lost 55 kilos.
For his role as Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump (1994), he placed 43rd on Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
He is a big fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969). That is why he agreed to play one of the Canadian Mounties in the Lumberjack song during the Concert for George (2003).
He was a member of Monty Python for just one night, standing in for John Cleese at A Concert For George.
Names such as Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman attended Princess Diana's funeral.
That Thing You Do! (1996) is the only film in which Tom, his wife Rita Wilson, his son Colin Hanks and his daughter Elizabeth Hanks all appeared.
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.
Entertainment Weekly named him the only actor worth 20 million dollars.
After a one-off guest appearance on Happy Days (1974), producer Ron Howard asked him to read for a supporting role in Splash (1984), and he got the lead instead.
He once worked as a hotel bellhop. Some of the famous guests whose bags he carried were Cher, Sidney Poitier, Slappy White and Bill Withers.
He has been a close friend of Bruce Springsteen since his youth.
He has four children: son Colin Hanks (b. November 24, 1977) and daughter Elizabeth Hanks (b. May 17, 1982) from his former wife Samantha Lewes; and sons Chet Hanks (b. August 4, 1990) and Truman Hanks (b. December 26, 1995) with his wife Rita Wilson.
For his role as Josh Baskin in Big (1988), he placed 15th on Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
He bought the film rights to a true crime story, A Cold Case, about a detective's quest to solve the 1970 murder of a New York restaurateur, outbidding other studios by paying 1 million dollars. He is interested in starring as well as producing.
He and his close friend Meg Ryan starred together in three films about love: Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and You've Got Mail (1998).
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).
He received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Oscar winner Steven Spielberg; he became the youngest person to receive it (June 12, 2002).
After converting to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, he married Rita Wilson at Saint Sophia Church.
While scouting locations in Germany with Steven Spielberg for the HBO series Band of Brothers (2001) (1999), he dislocated his shoulder when he fell through a rotting floor in a building.
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.
For his work in the epic Saving Private Ryan (1998), he received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the United States Navy's highest civilian honor, on Veterans Day 1999.
When I was young, I sold popcorn and peanuts at the Oakland Coliseum.
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).
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).
He once shared a record (with Tom Cruise and Will Smith) as the actor with the most consecutive films grossing $100 million (7). As of 2008, Smith holds the record alone with 8 films.
On October 7, 2013, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
When Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar in back-to-back years in 1994 and 1995, he was 38 and 39 respectively, just as Spencer Tracy was when he won in 1938 and 1939.
After his parents Amos and Janet divorced in 1960, the siblings Tom, Larry and Sarah went to live with their father and stayed in 10 different homes within 5 years, while their younger brother Jim stayed with their mother.
Hanks cited the help of a nearby ice cream shop that helped him gain 30 pounds for his role in A League of Their Own (1992).
The asteroid "12818 tomhanks" is named after him.
In an AFI poll, Hanks named 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) as his favorite film.
His Oscar acceptance speech for Philadelphia (1993) led to the plot of In & Out (1997). In his speech, Hanks thanked a gay teacher.
He has two grandchildren through his son Colin Hanks and his wife Samantha Bryant: Olivia Jane Hanks (b. February 1, 2011) and Charlotte Bryant Hanks (b. July 1, 2013).
He has another brother who is a professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
He has been called "the modern James Stewart" by many.
His five favorite films of all time are 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Godfather (1972), Fargo (1996), Elephant (2003) and Boogie Nights (1997), with Stanley Kubrick's film at the top.
He was wanted for the lead role in Jerry Maguire (1996), which ultimately went to Tom Cruise.
He is related to Bill Cosby's wife Camille O. Cosby (née Camille Olivia Hanks), because both share a biological lineage with Abraham Lincoln through Lincoln's mother Nancy Hanks.
He was named America's Favorite Movie Star in Harris Polls conducted in 2002, 2004 and 2005, and was named the number one favorite a record number of times. Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood are the other actors to achieve this feat.
On June 1, 1992, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
He was named the 26th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
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).
He is a distant cousin of Walt Disney, whom he portrayed in Saving Mr. Banks (2013).
He is an environmentalist and frequently advocates for and supports natural causes.
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.
He is a fan of the English Premier League football team Aston Villa and was gifted a jersey with 'Hanks 1' printed on the back on a TV series.
His first wife, Samantha Lewes, died of cancer 14 years after their divorce.
According to the family genealogy site Ancestry, Tom and Fred Rogers are sixth cousins and share the same great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Johannes Mefford.
He has played a captain in 7 different films: Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Captain Phillips (2013), Sully (2016), News of the World (2020) and Greyhound (2020).
He lost 30 kilos for the role of Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia (1993).
He jokingly sent a new espresso machine to the White House press team with a note reading "Keep up the good fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way, especially for the Truth part."
Both Tom Hanks and his son Colin Hanks were contestants on the "Not My Job" quiz on the National Public Radio program "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!" Both won the quiz.
He has worked with nine directors who have won the Best Director Oscar: Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Mike Nichols and Clint Eastwood.
He also stated that Joe Spano, a former lead actor on the television series Hill Street Blues (1981), was one of his first inspirations.
He is friends with Julia Roberts, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.
He is a member of the International Thespian Society (a group that supports theater for high school students at the international level).
He auditioned for the role of Joel Goodson in Risky Business (1983), and the role ultimately went to Tom Cruise.
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).
Between 1994 and 2004, along with Sean Penn, Meryl Streep, Judi Dench and Ed Harris, he was nominated for an Oscar four times and became the artist who won the most, twice.
For his role as Chuck Noland in Cast Away (2000), he ranked 46th on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006) list.
He lives in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, California and Ketchum, Idaho.
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.
His Oscar-winning gay hero character Andrew Beckett in the 1993 film Philadelphia (1993) ranked 49th on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 years of greatest movie heroes and villains.
I am a die-hard Oakland Raiders fan. He appears in the documentary Rebels of Oakland: The A's, the Raiders, the 70s (2003).
His company Playtone Entertainment takes its name from the fictional Playtone Records in the film That Thing You Do! (1996).
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.
Despite being known for his on-screen charisma and versatility, Tom admits that he was a "horribly, painfully, terribly shy" child.
He is a recipient of the 2014 Kennedy Center Honor. The other honorees that year were Al Green, Patricia McBride, Sting and Lily Tomlin.
He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) (Actors Branch) since 2001.
After returning from overseas filming, he received emergency treatment for a serious staphylococcal infection in his leg (1999).
He was considered for the role of Peter Banning (Peter Pan) in Hook (1991), which went to Robin Williams.
His favorite baseball team is the Cleveland Indians. During the construction of Jacobs Field, he bought a stone in front of it.
When he appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009), Conan's last NBC show in Los Angeles (January 22, 2010), the Tonight Show Band played The Beatles' "Lovely Rita" as Hanks made his entrance; undoubtedly a nod to Tom's beloved wife, the lovely Rita Wilson.
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.
Forbes magazine estimated his 1999 earnings at $71.5 million.
There is a scene in three of his films in which he is stranded at sea: Splash (1984), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and Cast Away (2000).
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.
In 2007, Forbes magazine reported that his earnings for the previous year were estimated at $74 million.
He frequently works with director Steven Spielberg and is related to Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks. Despite often appearing in historical projects, he was not in Spielberg's film about Lincoln.
Jim Lovell, whom Hanks played in Apollo 13 (1995), was actually left-handed, but Hanks refused to write with his left hand for the film.
He is a Greek citizen (2020).
He ranked 17th on Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list (October 1997).
He is a frequent guest host on Saturday Night Live (1975). One of the show's best-known characters, "Mr. Short-Term Memory", was named after him: Hanks uses his real-life middle name, Jeffrey, as the character's (Jeff Morrow) first name.
The longest gap between his Oscar nominations was the 19 years between Cast Away (2000) and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (2019).
He ranked 1st in Star TV's list of the top ten box-office stars of the 1990s (2003).
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.
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.
In both films for which he won the Best Actor Oscar, his character's mother was played by previous Best Actress Oscar winners: 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).
He is a distant relative of Bill Cosby's wife, Camille Cosby; they are related through Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks.
Born to Amos Mefford Hanks, a chef, and his wife Janet Marylyn Frager, a hospital worker, his parents divorced in 1960.
Premiere magazine ranked him 28th on its list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time, for The Stars of Our Constellation (2005).
He was initially cast in Adaptation (2002) in the Charlie Kaufman/Donald Kaufman dual role, but later dropped out of the project. Nicolas Cage was brought in in his place and received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance.
He owns a collection of more than 250 typewriters.
He was voted best actor by Us magazine readers (1995).
He married his first wife, Samantha Lewes (real name: Susan Dillingham), two months after the birth of their son Colin.
(March 12, 2020) He announced that he and his wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for COVID-19 while filming Elvis (2022) in Queensland, Australia. They were admitted to Gold Coast University Hospital for care.
He attended Skyline High School in Oakland, California.
He ranked 13th on Premiere magazine's 2003 annual Power 100 List. He had been 15th in 2002.
He is the younger brother of Sandra Hanks and Larry Hanks and the older brother of Jim Hanks.
He has often (and comically) made films that use urination/using the toilet as a plot device (for example The Green Mile (1999), Apollo 13 (1995), Forrest Gump (1994), A League of Their Own (1992) and Dragnet (1987)).
He openly supported Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
He attended Chabot College in Hayward, California.
He ranked 16th on Premiere magazine's 2006 "Power 50" list. He had also ranked 16th in 2005.
Son of Amos (1924-1992) and Janet (née Frager) Hanks (1932-2016). Both were born and raised in the state of California.
He shares his birthday with Jack White, David O'Hara, Courtney Love, Chris Cooper, O. J. Simpson and Donald Rumsfeld.
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).
Some of his films use comedic scenes in which his character urinates: The Money Pit (1986), A League of Their Own (1992), Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995) and The Green Mile (1999).
Director Rob Reiner wanted him for Get Smart, but he was involved in the production of Castaway at the time.
With Philadelphia in 1993 and Forrest Gump in 1994, he became the first actor in 50 years to win consecutive Academy Awards.
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).
Biography: "Who's Who in Comedy", Ronald L. Smith, pp. 205-206. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387.
Biography/bibliography: "Contemporary Authors". Vol. 244, pp. 199-202. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2006.
Stepson of former Frances Wong, whom his father married in 1965.
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.
In Toy Story (1995), his co-star Buzz Lightyear was an astronaut. Hanks had played an astronaut in Apollo 13 (1995).
Paternal grandson of Ernest Buel Hanks (1890-1935) and Gladys Hilda Ball (1888-1965). Maternal grandson of Clarence (1903-1945) and Elexio (née Rose) Frager (1907-1955). His maternal grandparents were born and raised in the state of California, and both were of Portuguese descent.
Maternal great-grandson of Manuel (1872-1933) and Mary (née Enos) Frager (1878-1930). Both were born and raised in the state of California.
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.