It appears not. As this autumn/winter, Hanks is
back to his best in not one, but two new releases:
maritime drama, Captain Phillips, released in midOctober, and the extraordinary Saving Mr Banks,
out November-end. Making up an all-star cast,
his stellar performance in each film has already
sparked award speculation and I for one, am
championing this every step of the way.
But aside from the endless Forrest Gump
quotes and Woody-inflected voice, just how much
do we know about Hanks? Still at the top of his
game, I wanted to find out a little more about the
man of the moment.
Born in Concord, California, on 9th July
1956, Thomas Jeffrey Hanks lived with his chef
father, Amos, his hospital worker mother, Janet,
and three siblings. Growing up in what he has
since referred to as a 'fractured family’, his parents
were pioneers in the development of the
Dissolution of Marriage law, and eventually
divorced when he was just five years old. An
itinerant cook, Hanks’ father and the family's
eldest two siblings moved around a lot, whilst
the youngest remained with his mother in
California.
Despite frequent moves and a succession
of step-families, Hanks finally settled in Oakland,
California, where he attended Skyline High School.
A religious teenager, he has since admitted he
wasn't the most popular student: "I was horribly,
painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the
guy who'd yell out funny captions during filmstrips.
But I didn't get into trouble. I was always a real
good kid and pretty responsible."
However, theatre and drama was one
element of school that Hanks did enjoy, and he
went on to act in numerous plays during his time
there. Soon after, he went on to study theatre at
California's Chabot College, later transferring to
California State University. But despite pursuing
the field, castings didn't come easy and it was
purely down to a chance meeting with Vincent
Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theatre Festival
in Cleveland, Ohio, that he got his first break.
In the summer of 1977, the young actor
was recruited as an intern for Great Lakes,
securing a role in the Shakespeare leg of the
festival — a part that would continue for the three
summers that followed.
During the winter months, he would work
backstage at a community theatre company in
Sacramento in a bid to gain more experience.
But it was in 1978 that Hanks received his first
sense of recognition, after he won the Cleveland
Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his portrayal
of Proteus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
By 1980, Hanks had dropped out of university
and made the move to New York City, in a bid
to land his first industry role. Many auditions later
and he made his film debut in a low-budget
slasher movie called He Knows You're Alone.
However, it was his casting of the lead role in
the Riverside Shakespeare Company's production
of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Mandrake that
changed his path that very same year. Although
the show wasn't on Broadway, its profile landed
Hanks an agent and he was soon cast in ABC
television sitcom, Bosom Buddies.
The show ran for two seasons and although
it gained mixed reviews, the critics gave Hanks'
performance high marks. When talking about the
actor, co-producer Ian Praiser too admitted, "I
knew he'd be a movie star in two years."
Sure enough, Hanks’ exposure from the show
soon led to guest roles in popular shows such
as Happy Days, Taxi and Family Ties. It was on
one of these castings that he met Ron Howard,
a sought-after director that was currently casting
for his new movie, Splash. Hanks landed the lead
role playing a man who falls in love with a
mermaid, and the 1984 movie went on to do
surprisingly well.
Suddenly, Hanks was a recognisable face
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