Saturday, March 27, 2010

Tom Hanks

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Born          : Thomas Jeffrey Hanks
                    July 9, 1956 (1956-07-09) (age 53)
                    Concord, California, U.S.
Occupation:Actor, producer, director,
                   voice over artist, writer,
                    speaker, comedian
Years active: 1979–present
Spouse(s)     :Samantha Lewes (1978–1987)
                      Rita Wilson (1988–present)

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title role in Forrest Gump, Commander James A. Lovell in Apollo 13, Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan, Sheriff Woody in Disney/Pixar's Toy Story, and Chuck Noland in Cast Away. Hanks won consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed $3.5 billion. He is the father of actor Colin Hanks.
 

Period of successes and failures :

Tom Hanks at the Governor's Ball party after the 61st Academy Awards, March 29, 1989
With Nothing in Common (1986)—about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason—Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies", Hanks told Rolling Stone. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, The Money Pit (1986), where the story is really about a guy and his house."
After three more flops, Hanks succeeded with the fantasy Big (1988), both at the box office and within the industry, establishing Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by Punchline, in which he and Sally Field co-star as a pair of struggling stand-up comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex, offering a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: The 'Burbs (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie Turner and Hooch brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of Disney Adventures, Hanks said, "I saw Turner and Hooch the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."

Progression into dramatic roles :

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson at the 1989 Oscars
Hanks again climbed back to the top with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball star turned manager in A League of Their Own (1992). Hanks  admits that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hanks notes his "modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less 'pretentiously fake and over the top." This "modern era" welcomed in a spectacular 1993 for Hanks, first with Sleepless in Seattle and then with Philadelphia. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love (in the character of Meg Ryan) over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of Time called his performance "charming", and most critics agreed that his portrayal ensured him a place among the premiere romantic-comedy stars of his generation, making him bankable.
In Philadelphia, he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for People, Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for Philadelphia's success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay.The revelation inspired the 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who is outed by a former student in a similar way.


Hanks on the film set of Forrest Gump in 1994
Hanks followed Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit Forrest Gump, and stated: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)
Hanks's next project reunited him with Ron Howard in the 1995 movie Apollo 13, in which he played astronaut and commander James Lovell. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster Toy Story as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.

Directing, producing and acting :

Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 film That Thing You Do! about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.
Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television. Hanks's next project was no less expensive.
For Saving Private Ryan he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about D-Day, the landing at Omaha Beach, and a quest through war-torn France to bring back a soldier who has a ticket home. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public; it was labeled one of the finest war films ever made, earning Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction and Hanks a Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his Sleepless in Seattle co-star Meg Ryan for another romantic comedy, You've Got Mail, a remake of 1940's The Shop Around the Corner, which starred James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan.
In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Green Mile. He also returned as the voice of Woody in Toy Story 2. The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's Cast Away. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. He also appeared in the September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet.
Next he teamed up with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel Road to Perdition, in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy Catch Me if You Can, based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, he and wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia  Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie.At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.
Hanks was absent from the screen in 2003; in 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, another Spielberg helmed film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a USA Weekend interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: "[Since] A League of Their Own, it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film The Da Vinci Code, based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. In Ken Burns's 2007 documentary The War, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by Forbes magazine. Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in The Simpsons Movie, in which he appears in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also makes an appearance in the credits, stating that he wishes to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film Starter for Ten, a comedy based on working class students attempting to win University Challenge.
In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols' film Charlie Wilson's War (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination for his acting.Hanks in 2008
In a play on the expression "art imitating life", Hanks played an on screen dad to a young man (Hanks's real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich) in 2008's The Great Buck Howard. Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.
Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of Angels & Demons, Dan Brown's sequel to The Da Vinci Code. Its April 11, 2007 announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor which is between $30–35 million plus an estimated 10–15% percentage of the movie's revenue. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live doing an impersonation of himself for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.
Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are, based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.

Top worldwide film grosses :

Hanks is currently ranked the #1 box office star in the world with over $3.521 billion total box office gross, an average of $100.6 million per film. He has been involved with nineteen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office.

Personal life :

Hanks was married to Samantha Lewes from 1978 to 1987. The couple had two children, son Colin Hanks (also an actor) and daughter Elizabeth Ann.In 1988, Hanks married actress Rita Wilson. The two first met on the set of Hanks's television show Bosom Buddies but later developed a romantic interest while working on the film Volunteers. They have two sons: Chester, or "Chet" (who has a small part as a student who asks Dr. Jones a question at the end of the college chase in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), and Truman.

Politics :

A proponent of environmentalism, Hanks is an investor in electric vehicles, and owns both a Toyota RAV4 EV and the first production AC Propulsion eBox. He is on the waiting list for an Aptera 2 Series.
Hanks gives money to many Democratic politicians and has been open about his support for same-sex marriage, environmental causes and alternative fuels (Hanks was a lessee of an EV1 before it was recalled, as chronicled in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?).Hanks made public his candidate choice in the 2008 election when he uploaded a video to his MySpace account in which he announced his endorsement of Barack Obama.
Hanks was extremely public with his opinion and opposition to Proposition 8 that amended the California constitution to define marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. Hanks and those in opposition raised over USD$44 million in contrast to the supporters' $38 million,[citation needed] but Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.
Hanks went on to blame supporters of Proposition 8 as un-American and attacked the LDS (Mormon) church members—major proponents of the bill—for their views on marriage and their role in supporting the bill.About a week later, Hanks apologized for the remark, saying that nothing is more American than voting one's conscience.
Other activities :
Tom Hanks, 2004
A supporter of NASA's manned space program, Hanks said that he originally wanted to be an astronaut but "didn't have the math." Hanks is a member of the National Space Society, serving on the Board of Governors of the nonprofit educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher Von Braun and was the producer of the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon about the Apollo program to send astronauts to the moon. In addition, Hanks co-wrote and co-produced Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D, an IMAX film about the moon landings. Hanks also provided the voice over for the first new planetarium show following the opening of the new Rose Center for Earth & Space in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
In 2006, the Space Foundation awarded Hanks the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award. The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.
In June 2006 Hanks was inducted as an honorary member of the United States Army Rangers Hall of Fame for his accurate portrayal of a Captain in the movie Saving Private Ryan; Hanks, who was unable to attend the induction ceremony, was the first actor to receive such an honor.In addition to his role in Saving Private Ryan, Hanks was cited for serving as the national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial Campaign, for being the honorary chairperson of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign, and for his role in writing and helping to produce the Emmy Award-winning miniseries, Band of Brothers.
Hanks was one of several celebrities who frequently participated in planned comedy bits on Late Night with Conan O'Brien while a guest. On one visit, Hanks asked Conan to join his run for president on the "Bad Haircut Party" ticket, with confetti and balloons and a hand held sign with the slogan "You'd be stupid to vote for us". On another, O'Brien, noting that Hanks was missing Christmas on his promotional tour, brought the season to him, including a gift (the skeleton of Hooch), and a mass of snow burying them both. On yet another episode, Conan gave Hanks a painting he had commissioned reflecting two of his interests: Astronauts landing on the beach at Normandy.
On March 10, 2008, Hanks was on hand at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to induct sixties sensation The Dave Clark Five. He praised the group for both the joy of their music and for never signing away their publishing rights.
Hanks is working on the next film in the Toy Story franchise, Toy Story 3, reprising his role as Sheriff Woody, scheduled for release in 2010. He reprised the voice of Woody after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theatre to see a complete story reel of the movie.
Hanks is a known fan of English Premier League Football club Aston Villa and was presented with a shirt on a TV show with the print 'Hanks 1' on the back. Hanks confirmed his affiliation with the club in an interview with Jonathan Ross in May 2009, citing his public like for the name as the reason why the media portray him as an Aston Villa fan.


Filmography :

Year
Film
Role
Notes
1980
Elliot

1982
Robbie Wheeling
Made for Television
1984
Allen Bauer

Rick Gassko

1985
Richard Harlan Drew

Lawrence Whatley Bourne III

1986
Walter Fielding, Jr.

David Basner

David Bradley

1987
Pep Streebeck

1988
Adult Josh Baskin
Steven Gold
1989
Detective Scott Turner

Ray Peterson

1990
Joe Banks

Sherman McCoy

1992
Jimmy Dugan
Older Mike
(uncredited)
1993
Sam Baldwin
Andrew Beckett
1994
1995
(voice)
1996
Mr. White
(writer and director)
1998
Captain John H. Miller
Joe Fox
1999
Woody
(voice only)
Paul Edgecombe
2000
Chuck Noland
2002
Michael Sullivan, Sr.
FBI Agent Carl Hanratty

2004
Viktor Navorski

Professor G.H. Dorr

Mailbox Elvis
(cameo)
Santa Claus, Express Conductor,
Hobo, Hero Boy, Father
(Executive producer)
(voice/motion capture)
2006

Sheriff Woody Car (Station Wagon)
(cameo - voice only)
2007
Himself
(voice)
2008
Mr. Gable

2009
Professor Robert Langdon

Various historical figures
(voice)

(producer)
2010
Sheriff Woody
filming

Television :

Year
Title
Role
Notes
1980—1982
Kip Wilson

1982
Gordon

Robbie Wheeling

Dr. Dwayne Twitchell
Episode "A Case of Revenge"
1983
Ned
Elyse Keaton's brother
1994
Director

1998
Narrator (also executive producer/director/writer)
Miniseries
2001
Producer, director, writer
Miniseries
2002
Interviewee

2006—
Executive producer
Television series
2008
Executive producer
Miniseries
2010
Executive producer
Miniseries

 Other accolades :

Year
Organization
Award
Result
Won
Man of the Year
Won
Won
Actor of the Year
Won
Britannia Award for Excellence in Film
Won
Bambi for Film - International
Won
Gala Tribute
Won


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