avg. user rating: 4.8 (208 votes)
Tom Hanks was born in Concord, California, July 1956. His parents split when he was five, and Hanks experienced a nomadic youth as his father looked for work. After dropping out of university his movie debut came in the 1980 slasher pic He Knows You're Alone. After two years in cross-dressing sitcom Bosom Buddies, he was remembered by Ron Howard from his bit part in Happy Days and invited to read for Splash. After his Oscar-nominated turn in Big, it was not until 1993 with Sleepless In Seattle and Philadelphia that he could be counted as a major player. An Oscar regular ever since, he did give the rest a chance by turning down the lead in American Beauty.
