Learning Commons | Cardinal Cushing Library
Library Catalog - Books/Videos

Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Hanks is ranked as the fifth-highest-grossing American film actor. Over his career he has received numerous awards including two Academy Awards, seven Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for five BAFTA Awards and a Tony Award. He has been honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2020.

Hanks made his breakthrough with leading roles in a series of comedies: ''Splash'' (1984), ''The Money Pit'' (1986), ''Big'' (1988) and ''A League of Their Own'' (1992). He won two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor, playing a gay lawyer suffering from AIDS in ''Philadelphia'' (1993) and the title character in ''Forrest Gump'' (1994). Hanks collaborated with Steven Spielberg on five films: ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998), ''Catch Me If You Can'' (2002), ''The Terminal'' (2004), ''Bridge of Spies'' (2015) and ''The Post'' (2017), as well as the World War II miniseries ''Band of Brothers'' (2001), ''The Pacific'' (2010) and ''Masters of the Air'' (2024). He has also frequently collaborated with directors Ron Howard, Nora Ephron and Robert Zemeckis.

Hanks has starred in numerous films cementing his film stardom acting in the romantic comedies ''Sleepless in Seattle'' (1993) and ''You've Got Mail'' (1998); the dramas ''Apollo 13'' (1995), ''The Green Mile'' (1999), ''Cast Away'' (2000), ''Road to Perdition'' (2002) and ''Cloud Atlas'' (2012); and the biographical dramas ''Charlie Wilson's War'' (2007), ''Captain Phillips'' (2013), ''Saving Mr. Banks'' (2013), ''Sully'' (2016), ''A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood'' (2019), ''News of the World'' (2020) and ''Elvis'' (2022). He appeared as the title character in the ''Robert Langdon'' series and voiced Sheriff Woody in the ''Toy Story'' films (1995–2019). Hanks directed and acted in the comedies ''That Thing You Do!'' (1996) and ''Larry Crowne'' (2011).

On television, he had his acting breakthrough starring in the ABC sitcom ''Bosom Buddies'' (1980–1982). He has since has hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' a total of ten times and launched his production company Playtone where he has produced various limited series and television movies, including ''From the Earth to the Moon'' (1998), ''Band of Brothers'' (2001), ''John Adams'' (2008), ''The Pacific'' (2009), ''Game Change'' (2012) and ''Olive Kitteridge'' (2015). He made his Broadway debut in Nora Ephron's ''Lucky Guy'' (2013), earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. Provided by Wikipedia