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Table of Contents
Tom Hanks
Full Name
His full name is Thomas Jeffrey Hanks.1)
Birth
He was born on July 9, 1956 in Concord, California.2)
Mother
Janet Marylyn Frager was Tom Hanks' mother. She was a hospital employee with a Portuguese surname.3)
Father
Tom's father was Amos Mefford Hanks, who worked as a chef. Amos was perhaps eight or nine years old when he observed Tom's grandfather being slain in a brawl.4)
Divorced Parents
Amos and Janet separated when Tom was about four years old, in 1960. Tom claims that by the age of ten, he had lived in ten different residences.5)
Jim Hanks
Jim Hanks, Tom's younger brother, is also an actor. In fact, their voices and physical appearances are so similar that Jim doubled for Tom in Forrest Gump and acts as a vocal substitute for Sheriff Woody in Toy Story spinoffs and video games.6)
Larry Hanks
Larry Hanks, his other brother, is an entomologist who teaches bugs at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.7)
Abraham Lincoln
Tom's third cousin four times removed is Abraham Lincoln. Abraham's mother was Nancy Hanks.8)
Other Family Connections
He is also connected to George Clooney, Walt Disney, and Mr. Rogers, according to IMDB.9)
Elizabeth Hanks
Elizabeth Hanks, his daughter, appears in Forrest Gump. She's one of the schoolgirls that informs young Forrest he can't sit with them on the bus.10)
Colin Hanks
Colin Hanks, Tom's eldest son, is a prominent actor in his own right. He has acted in films such as Orange County, Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005), and Oliver Stone's W., as well as TV programs such as The Good Guys, Fargo, and Dexter.11)
Chet Hanks
Tom's other son and Colin's half-brother is Chet Hanks. Chet has appeared in Greyhound, Empire, and Shameless alongside his father.12)
Education
Tom attended Chabot College in California before moving to California State University, Sacramento to study drama. He dropped out of college when an internship at the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland developed into a three-year employment.13)
Ron Howard
His performance in a Happy Days episode (“A Case of Revenge”) in 1982 sparked a friendship with Ron Howard, who went on to direct him in five films.14)
Family Ties
Tom Hanks also starred as Elyse's drunken brother Ned in three episodes of Family Ties.15)
Bosom Buddies
Bosom Buddies, a sitcom about the escapades of two males dressed in drag in order to live in a cheap apartment for ladies, was her first leading role. The show aired for two seasons beginning in 1980, and not only did it establish his career, but it also introduced him to his future wife Rita Wilson, who starred in the show's 26th episode, “All You Need is Love”.16)
Director
That Thing You Do! and Larry Crowne are two films written and directed by Thomas Jeffrey Hanks.17)
Screenwriter
He authored the screenplay for Greyhound as well as the short film Electric City in 2012. He also contributed to one episode of Band of Brothers and a couple episodes of From the Earth to the Moon.18)
None But the Lonely Heart
Tom Hanks also featured in and directed “None But the Lonely Heart”, a 1992 Tales from the Crypt episode starring Frances Sternhagen, Treat Williams, Henry Gibson, and Sugar Ray Leonard.19)
Producer
Mamma Mia!, Evan Almighty, Where the Wild Things Are, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding are among the films in which Tom Hanks is credited as a producer or executive producer but does not appear, as is the HBO miniseries John Adams.20)
Headline
Tom's Oscar acceptance speech for Philadelphia, in which he acknowledged a gay instructor, inspired Frank Oz's 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline.21)