Tom Hanks

(Concord, California native, born July 9, 1956) is an actor, director, producer, and writer.

Tom Hanks was ranked first in a 2013 survey by Reader's Digest that determined the 100 Americans with the highest levels of trust. It comes as no surprise that the adored star of blockbusters like Big, Forrest Gump, Castaway, and Toy Story is one of Hollywood's most influential and well-respected performers. He has been compared to legendary actors Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, and Gary Cooper because of his approachability and charisma.

Tom Hanks is the "everyman" whose representations prompt us to reevaluate our own moral judgments. As we see him on film, we consider the things we have and would do. In a 2001 interview with Hanks, Oprah observed, "And that's why we all love you so much." "We recognize ourselves in your characters."

In Concord, California, on July 9, 1956, Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born. Hanks attended a junior college after finishing high school in Oakland before moving to the theater program at California State University.

Up until 1980, when he left college and came to New York City, he spent his summers performing and working at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Ohio. In the same year, Hanks received a role in the comedy Bosom Buddies as Kip Wilson, one of two advertising execs who disguise as a woman in order to rent an apartment in a building with only women. The exposure resulted in guest appearances on Family Ties, Happy Days, Taxi, and The Love Boat.

Hanks was a Happy Days guest appearance that Ron Howard recognized, and the actor played alongside Daryl Hannah in Howard's 1984 smash movie Splash. Later, Tom Hanks and Ron Howard collaborated on the films Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and Apollo 13.

Hanks' role in Big in 1988, which made him a star, was cast by Penny Marshall. His portrayal garnered him his first Academy Award nomination for Best performer and cemented his status as both a successful performer and box office draw. Hanks' performance in Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle, which he co-starred in with Meg Ryan, cemented his status as one of the top romantic-comedy actors of his generation.

However, it was his valiant portrayal of an AIDS-stricken Philadelphia lawyer who was fired from his well-paying company that earned him the Best Actor Academy Award. Hanks became only the second actor to accomplish the feat following Spencer Tracy in 1994 with the spectacular box office hit Forrest Gump, for which he won his second straight Best Actor Oscar.

Hanks moved from in front of the camera to behind it, making his directorial and screenwriting debut in 1996 with That Thing You Do!. On the Emmy-winning HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Hanks produced, directed, wrote and acted in various episodes. "I don't have instinctive talents for directing. It's stuff that I picked up from watching other people," Hanks said in a July 2014 interview.

When he played the title role in Steven Spielberg's horrifyingly true World War II film Saving Private Ryan, he established a significant working relationship with the director. Together, they worked on the films Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal, the television shows Band of Brothers and The Pacific, as well as the Cold War spy thriller Bridge of Spies. During his acceptance speech for the AFI Life Achievement Award, Spielberg paid homage to Tom Hanks and said, "Tom Hanks' achievements in film are very many, but perhaps his greatest contribution so far is that he instills a great hope in us all for a world where ordinary people have a voice."

Hanks is the youngest actor to ever win the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award, among many other honors. With Lucky Guy, Hanks made his Broadway debut and was nominated for a 2013 Tony Award. His accomplishments go beyond movies, though. Hanks received the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award, which is granted yearly to a person or group that significantly raises public understanding of space operations. The United States Army Rangers Hall of Fame originally recognized Hanks as an honorary member. He served as the World War II Memorial Campaign's national spokesperson and served as the honorary chairperson of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign.

Hanks' performances are legendary, whether he's experiencing a startling physical metamorphosis as in Castaway, taking on the character of a retired baseball player turned manager in A League of Their Own, or portraying Captain Phillips in real life.

"I would like to think I've reflected the audience's lives somehow, though it's in this big, false, glamorous arena of movies," stated Hanks. "I hope that viewers might somehow recognize themselves on the screen. Shakespeare summed it up perfectly when he said, "Hold the mirror up to nature." Human behavior is admirable and merits investigation.