Who is Tom Hanks?
A: 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 what?
A: An American cultural icon.
How much money has Hanks's films grossed in North
America?
A: More than $4.9 billion.
How much worldwide?
A: More than $9.96 billion.
Hanks made his breakthrough with leading roles in a
series of what?
A: Comedy film.
The films received positive media attention, such as
what?
A: 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 what?
A: 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 what five films?
A: Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Bridge of Spies,
and The Post.
Hanks's accolades include two Academy Awards out of how
many nominations?
A: Six.
Hanks has also won how many Primetime Emmy Awards for
his work as a producer of various limited series and television movies?
A: Seven, including From the Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers, John
Adams, and The Pacific.
In 2013, he received a Tony Award nomination for Best
Actor in a Play for his performance in what?
A: Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy.
In what year did he receive the AFI Life Achievement
Award?
A: In 2002.
He received what award for excellence in film from the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2004?
A: The Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award.
In 2014, he received a Kennedy Center Honor, and in
2016, he received what?
A: A Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
In 2020, he received what award?
A: The Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.
When was Thomas Jeffrey Hanks born?
A: On July 9, 1956.
Where was he born?
A: In Concord, California.
Who were his parents?
A: Hospital worker Janet Marylyn Frager and itinerant cook Amos "Bud" Hanks.
His mother was from a what?
A: A Portuguese family.
His father had what ancestry?
A: English.
Through his line, Hanks is a distant cousin of whom?
A: President Abraham Lincoln and children's host Fred Rogers, whom he
played.
When did his parents divorce?
A: In 1960.
In his childhood, Hanks's family moved often; by the
age of 10, he had lived in how many different houses?
A: 10.
In school, he was unpopular with students and teachers
alike, later telling Rolling Stone magazine what?
A: "I was a geek, a spaz”.
In 1965, his father married whom?
A: Frances Wong, a San Francisco native of Chinese descent.
Frances had three children, two of whom lived with
whom?
A: Hanks during his high school years.
Hanks acted in school plays, including South Pacific,
while attending what?
A: Skyline High School in Oakland, California.
During his years studying theater, Hanks met whom?
A: Vincent Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland,
Ohio
At Dowling's suggestion, Hanks became what?
A: An intern at the festival.
His internship stretched into a three-year experience
that covered most aspects of theater production, including what?
A: Lighting, set design, and stage management.
This prompted Hanks to do what?
A: To drop out of college.
During the same time, Hanks won the Cleveland Critics
Circle Award for Best Actor for his 1978 performance as what?
A: Proteus in Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the few
times he played a villain.
In 2010, Time magazine named Hanks what?
A: One of the "Top 10 College Dropouts."