Below is a compiled list of the most interesting facts about Tom Hanks. Check it out!
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother’s family, originally surnamed “Fraga”, was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has called a “fractured” family. He moved around a great deal after his parents’ divorce, living with a succession of step-families. No problems, no alcoholism – just a confused childhood. He has no acting experience in college and credits the fact that he could not get cast in a college play with actually starting his career. He went downtown, and auditioned for a community theater play, was invited by the director of that play to go to Cleveland, and there his acting career started.
Interesting Facts about Tom Hanks
- Attended Chabot College in Hayward, California.
- His company Playtone Entertainment is named after the fictional Playtone Records in the movie That Thing You Do! (1996).
- Tom Hanks was, respectively, 38 and 39 when he won his back-to-back Best Actor Oscars in 1994 and 1995, exactly like Spencer Tracy when he won in 1938 and 1939.
- In three of his movies, he has a scene where he is stranded at sea: Splash (1984), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and Cast Away (2000).
- He once worked as a hotel bellman. Some of the celebrity guests whose bags he carried were Cher, Sidney Poitier, Slappy White and Bill Withers.
- His three favourite bands/artists are Elvis Presley, Patrick Rondat and Alabama Thunderpussy.
- Hanks designated 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) as his favorite film for an AFI poll.
- Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams are the only actors to receive a Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critics’ Choice Award nomination for the same performance and then fail to be Oscar-nominated for it: 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), respectively.
- Attended Skyline High School in Oakland, California.
- In 2015, Tom Hanks started using his official Twitter feed in part to post photos and locations of lost items (such as gloves, shoes, socks, etc.) that he saw on the streets of New York. 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 for a woman named Lauren, and she retrieved it from his office.
- 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, both of them of Portuguese ancestry.
- Was considered for the role of Peter Banning (Peter Pan) in Hook (1991), which went to Robin Williams.
Personal Quotes by Tom Hanks
I think it’s better to feel good than to look good.
Tom Hanks
If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.
Tom Hanks
When I was 21 years old, I had a job playing Santa Claus in a shopping centre in Sacramento. I was rail thin, so it’s not like I was a traditional Santa Claus even then. I had a square stomach; that was the shape of the sofa cushion that I had stuffed into my pants.
Tom Hanks
I do not want to admit to the world that I can be a bad person. It is just that I don’t want anyone to have false expectations. Moviemaking is a harsh, volatile business, and unless you can be ruthless, too, there’s a good chance that you are going to disappear off the scene pretty quickly.
Tom Hanks
At the end of the day it’s got to be a good movie, it’s got to be a funny movie, and it’s got to make people think, ‘Hey, I couldn’t have spent my time any better.’
Tom Hanks
