It's not that I'm unaware of his misfires. I mean, I sat through The Man With One Red Shoe (1985), The Money Pit (1986), Joe Versus The Volcano (1990), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Forrest Gump, The Ladykillers (2004) and The Da Vinci Code (2006), and there's 15 hours of my life that I'll never get back. But on the plus side, and it's a much bigger, happier side, there's Splash and Bachelor Party, Dragnet (1987), Big (1988) and Punchline (1988), The 'burbs (1989), A League of Their Own (1992), Philadelphia (1993), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Apollo 13 (1995), Toy Story (1995), That Thing You Do! (1996), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), The Green Mile (1999), Cast Away (2000), Road to Perdition (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004) and most recently, Charlie Wilson's War (2007), recently released on DVD and available now to add to your list.
A remarkable true story filtered through the savvy satirical perspectives of West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin and Primary Colors director Mike Nichols, Hanks' latest hit is Charlie Wilson's War, a smart, sharp and fascinating account of how a hedonistic Texas congressman managed to win the Cold War virtually single-handedly. Breathlessly talky, but in the very best way, this spirited drama deftly navigates the ins-and-outs of a complicated political situation in a refreshingly clear, swift and breezy manner.
Commanding in the lead as the affable title character, Hanks plays a congressman with too few responsibilities, an eye for the ladies, and a taste for expensive scotch. Regardless of his proclivities, Charlie knows a crisis when he sees one, and when the Russians invade Afghanistan, his efforts to covertly arm and assist the rebels ultimately lead to the Soviet's humiliating defeat. Spurred on by a wealthy socialite (Julia Roberts) with no love for the commies, and assisted by a tenacious CIA agent (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who really knows the business, Wilson wages a war of words that conquers everyone in his path.
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in California on July 9, 1956 to chef Amos Mefford Hanks and hospital worker Marylyn Frager. "The year I was born, 1956, was the peak year for babies being born, and there are more people essentially our age than anybody else," notes Hanks with some satisfaction. "We could crush these new generations if we decided to." Growing up in what he describes as a "fractured family", Tom spent the majority of his childhood moving around, living with a succession of step-families after his parents divorced in 1960. "It's just as hard staying happily married as it is doing movies," notes the star, who has been married to second wife Rita Wilson for the past 20 years.
As a kid Hanks never really thought about acting, never considered a career on the stage or screen. Even by the time Tom reached college he'd done nothing to suggest he would one day be the biggest and most beloved Hollywood star of his generation. Eventually though, when Hanks finally did get around to embracing his destiny, his lack of experience made it impossible for him to get a role in even a college production. Suddenly determined to make it as an actor, and boasting, luckily for him, a wealth of natural talent, Hanks ended up auditioning for a community theatre production in downtown LA, and in true Tinseltown fashion, impressed its director enough to be invited to do a real play in Cleveland.
Following that, he got his first TV gig, appearing an episode of The Love Boat, and it wasn't long before he was dressing in drag every week as the star of his own semi-successful sitcom, Bosom Buddies (1980-1982). After a one-off guest appearance on Happy Days, Ron Howard asked Hanks to read for a secondary part in Splash, and he got the lead instead. The rest, as they say, is history. Even more remarkable than his meteoric rise to fame, though, is the fact that Tom's managed to hold onto it all these years, and build on it, and prove himself not only a king of comedy, but also a fine dramatic actor, with back-to-back Oscars for AIDS drama Philadelphia and American oddity Forrest Gump. Incidentally, it was Hanks' Oscar acceptance speech for Philadelphia, during which time he acknowledged and accidentally outed a former favourite teacher, that led to the plot of Frank Oz comedy In & Out (1997).
Frequently paired with Meg Ryan for the purpose of romantic comedy (Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepless in Seattle and 1998's You've Got Mail), Hanks has also hade a trio of movies with director Steven Spielberg, most recently The Terminal, before that Catch Me If You Can, and most famously, WWII masterpiece Saving Private Ryan, for which the actor received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the U. S. Navy's highest civilian honour. Wisely sticking with the directors who have served him best over the years, Hanks is currently making his fourth movie for director Ron Howard, Angels & Demons (2009), a sequel to The Da Vinci Code (2006). After all, it was Howard who got him started with Splash, and cast him as an astronaut in taut NASA thriller Apollo 13.
A space nut from childhood, at 6'1" Hanks is too tall to be a real astronaut, the maximum height being an even 6'0", but thanks to Howard he was at least able to play one, go to space camp, and experience weightlessness in NASA's 'Vomit Comet', a special airplane designed to plunge out of the sky in a parabolic arc and give everyone inside a taste of zero gravity. After his experiences on the movie, Hanks later produced and hosted TV's From the Earth to the Moon, an inspirational mini-series detailing the history of the Apollo space programme. Given his taste for space, it should come as no surprise to you to learn that Hanks is a Trekkie, and according to The Next Generation's Patrick Stewart, when the two first met, Trek was the only thing Tom wanted to talk about. Turns out Hanks was the original choice to play Zefram Cochrane in First Contact (1996), but had to back out due to his earlier commitment to write, direct, star in and compose the songs for That Thing You Do!
Thirty years after his overnight success, Hanks is busier today than he's ever been, not just as an actor (including 2008's The Great Buck Howard, with son Colin Hanks, and 2010's Toy Story 3), but also as a producer (including musical Mamma Mia! For 2008, and for 2009, Spike Jonze's long-awaited adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are) and director (2008's A Wilderness of Monkeys, with actress and screenwriter Nia Vardalos). He's Mr Hollywood, so please, if you've been holding out for any reason, just give in to him already, and enjoy the ride.
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