Tom Hanks was born in California in 1956. His mother worked in a hospital and his father was a chef. They divorced in 1960 and Tom remained with his father and two siblings while his youngest brother moved in with his mother.

Tom attended Skyline High School in California and later studied theatre at Chabot College before transferring to Sacramento State University. Hanks later went on to The Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland and won a Cleveland Critics Circle Award for best actor in a Shakespeare Play.

In 1979, Tom Hanks moved to New York and went to work. From low budget films to television, Hanks was on his way to stardom. In 1982, Ron Howard discovered Hanks working on a Happy Days episode and became interested in his acting. He cast him for the movie Splash that would go on to gross over sixty-nine million at the box office.

Following Splash, Hanks had several roles including a part in Bachelor Party and three appearances on Family Ties, the television hit that put Michael J Fox on the celebrity map. Other movies would follow including the 1989 hit movie Turner and Hooch.

Tom Hanks would realize phenomenal success in the mid-nineties with Sleepless in Seattle and Philadelphia. However, the one that would go down in Tom Hanks history as one of his finest performances would be discovered in Forrest Gump.

Hanks won an Academy Award for Philadelphia and then another for Forrest Gump placing him in a category with Spencer Tracy, the only other actor to win back to back Best Actor Academy Awards. Tom Hanks is married to actress Rita Wilson and they have two sons. From a previous marriage, Tom has a daughter and a son who has also chosen acting as a career choice.