Tom Hanks

EARLY YEARS

Tom Hanks was born on July 9, 1956 in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks, was an itinerant cook and his mother, Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker of Portuguese ancestry.

Tom Hanks is a distant relation of the 16th president of the United States and abolisher of slavery, Abraham Lincoln. He is Lincoln's fourth cousin four times removed.

As a youngster, Tom Hanks worked as a bellhop at the Hilton in his hometown of Oakland, California and carried the luggage of shots luminaries as Cher, Sydney Poitier and Bill Withers.

Hanks had poor grades in high school and lousy SAT scores. He ended up at Chabot, a nearby community college, because it accepted everyone and was free.

ACTING CAREER

After dropping out of college, Hanks moved from California to Ohio to join the Great Lakes Theater Festival. While there, Hanks won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Tom Hanks' first movie was the 1980 slasher release He Know's You're Alone. Hanks' dinner plans are ruined when his date's head is graphically sliced off, landing in his living room's fish tank. He was paid just $800 for his role.

Hanks got his first big break starring in the TV sitcom Bosom Buddies. The comedy ran for two seasons, and, although the ratings were never strong, television critics gave the program high marks.

A guest appearance on a 1982 episode of Happy Days ("A Case of Revenge," in which he played a disgruntled former classmate of Fonzie) prompted director Ron Howard to ask Hanks to read for a supporting role in the 1984 movie Splash. Hanks ended up landing the lead and it proved to be his break-out role.

As a child, Hanks wanted to be an astronaut; he played a real-life one in Apollo 13 and co-produced the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, The actor is also on the the National Space Society Board of Directors. To honor Hanks' commitment, the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid "12818 Tomhanks" in 1996.

Tom Hanks as Commander Jim Lovell in Apollo 13

Tom Hanks gained 2st 2lb for his role in the basketball movie A League Of Their Own in 1992.  He credits a local ice cream shop for helping him expand so quickly. He lost exactly the same amount for Philadelphia.

Tom Hanks refused to get paid for his roles in Saving Private Ryan and Forrest Gump, preferring to take percentages of the movies’ worldwide total gross instead. He got between $30 million and $40 million from Saving Private Ryan and almost $60 million from Forrest Gump.

To make himself look like an average, out-of-shape, middle-aged man for the scenes in the beginning of Cast Away (2000), Tom Hanks didn't exercise and allowed himself to grow pudgy. Production was then halted for a year so he could lose 50 pounds and grow out his hair for his time spent on the deserted island.

Tom Hanks produced the ABBA musical Mamma Mia with his wife, Rita Wilson. Hanks even auditioned to be one of the three main male characters but was denied because his singing voice would have "scared the children."

Hanks has won several awards for acting. He won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. He also won a Golden Globe, an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a People's Choice Award for Best Actor for his role in Forrest Gump.

At the age of 45, Hanks became the youngest person to receive the lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute in 2002.

In 1999 Hanks received the Distinguished Public Service Award aboard the USS Normandy. The highest Naval honor for a civilian, Hanks was awarded it for his contribution onscreen.

PERSONAL LIFE

Hanks was married to actress Samantha Lewes from 1978 until they divorced in 1987, and they had son Colin, 38, and 33-year-old daughter Elizabeth together.

Tom Hanks married actress Rita Wilson, with whom he costarred in the film 1985 Volunteers, on April 30, 1988.

Hanks and Rita have two sons. The elder, Chester Marlon "Chet" Hanks, had a minor role as a student in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.Their younger son, Truman Theodore, was born in 1995.

Tom Hanks' younger brother Jim sounds so similar to Tom that he often does substitute voice-over work for computer games when Tom doesn't have the time.

Before marrying Rita Wilson, Hanks converted to the Greek Orthodox Church, the religion of Wilson and her family.

During an interview on October 7, 2013, on The Late Show with David Letterman, Hanks announced that he has Type 2 diabetes.

Hanks has characterized himself as being a "Bible-toting evangelical" for several years as a teenager. He remains a church-goer but now prefers to "ponder the mystery of it all."

Tom Hanks checks into hotels using the name of Scottish music hall singer Harry Lauder as an alias.

He collects 1940s typewriters and now has over 200. Hanks keeps one by the telephone to jot off notes to friends.

Tom Hanks has claimed that the Hermes 3000 typewriter would be the luxury item he would take to a desert island.

Source Blogs.amctv.com