Tom Hanks

Biography

Hanks specialised in the decent everyman — a persona tested and deepened across Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13 and Cast Away. Behind the camera he co-produced Band of Brothers and From the Earth to the Moon, shaping how America tells its own history on screen.

American actor and producer beloved for portraying decent, ordinary men caught in extraordinary circumstances.

Known for

Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Cast Away and Saving Private Ryan.

Notable works & defining projects

• Forrest Gump
• Philadelphia
• Saving Private Ryan

Notable achievements

• Won back-to-back Academy Awards for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994)
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016)
• Voiced Woody in Pixar's Toy Story franchise

Timeline

1. 1988Big made him a star and earned his first Oscar nomination
2. 1993Won the Oscar for Philadelphia — then repeated the feat the next year
3. 1998Headlined Saving Private Ryan, a landmark war film

Did you know?

• He is an avid typewriter collector who published a short-story collection, Uncommon Type (2017), built around them
• Genealogists have reported he is a distant relative of Abraham Lincoln through Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks