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' films have grossed more than $4.9 billion in North America and more than $9.96 billion worldwide, making him the fourth-highest-grossing actor in North America. He has received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honor both in 2016, as well as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2020.
Hanks made his breakthrough with leading roles in a series of comedy films which received positive media attention, such as Splash (1984), The Money Pit (1986), Big (1988), and A League of Their Own (1992). He won two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor for starring as a gay lawyer suffering from AIDS in Philadelphia (1993) and the title character in Forrest Gump (1994). Hanks collaborated with film director 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 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), which launched him as a director, producer, and screenwriter. He also frequently collaborated with film directors Ron Howard, Nora Ephron, and Robert Zemeckis.
Hanks' other films include 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 has also appeared as the title character in the Robert Langdon film series, and voiced Sheriff Woody in the Toy Story film series (1995–2019).
For his work on television, Hanks has also won seven Primetime Emmy Awards for his work as a producer of 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). In 2013, he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role in Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy.
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, on July 9, 1956, to hospital worker Janet Marylyn (née Frager) and itinerant cook Amos "Bud" Hanks. His mother was from a Portuguese family; their surname was originally "Fraga". His father had English ancestry, and through his line, Hanks is a distant cousin of President Abraham Lincoln and children's host Fred Rogers, whom he played. His parents divorced in 1960. Their three oldest children, Sandra (later Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer), Larry (who became an entomology professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim (who also became an actor and filmmaker), remained with their mother in Red Bluff, California. In his childhood, Hanks' family moved often; by the age of 10, he had lived in 10 different houses.
Hanks married American actress Samantha Lewes (1952–2002) in 1978. They had one son, actor Colin (born 1977), and one daughter, Elizabeth (born 1982). Hanks and Lewes divorced in 1987. Lewes died in 2002 at the age of 49 from bone cancer.
In 1981, Hanks met actress Rita Wilson on the set of TV comedy Bosom Buddies (1980–1982).
They were reunited in 1985 on the set of Volunteers. Wilson is of Greek and Bulgarian descent, and a member of the Greek Orthodox Church. Before marrying her, Hanks converted to her faith. Hanks and Wilson married in 1988 and have two sons. The older, Chet, released a rap song in 2011 and had recurring roles in Empire and Shameless. Their younger, Truman, was born in 1995, and portrayed the younger version of his father's character in A Man Called Otto (2022). Hanks lives with his family in Los Angeles, California, and Ketchum, Idaho.
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 1 cup Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 (8-ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
- Preheat oven to 350º. Coat a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef and onion, stirring until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain.
- Stir in ketchup, mustard, Cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Unroll crescent rolls. Place wide end of triangles in center of pizza pan, forming a ring, overlapping dough as necessary. Spoon meat mixture into center of each triangle. Bring smaller ends of triangles over meat, tucking ends under.
- Bake 20 minutes, or until rolls are golden. Serve warm.
1972 – Sofia Vergara, Colombian actress
- There’s an application process. Read through it and understand it. The guidelines are for the safety of the animals, the employees, and you.
- Ask questions. It’s important there’s an understanding between you and the shelter. Most shelters have volunteers and paid employees. However, they work on a very tight budget. Please don’t expect any special accommodations.
- A good shelter will place the interests of the animal first. They want the cat to have a successful placement. Some animals have anxiety while others get along with anyone and every type of animal.
- Consider the size of your home and where you live – an apartment or house.
- Who lives with you? That includes people and pets – does everyone get along and does anyone have allergies?
- How much time do you have for a pet?
- So you’ve spotted the kitten for you. Be sure to make several visits to the shelter. Play with the kitten. Spend time grooming them. See how the kitten reacts to other cats. Learn the kitten’s behavior.
