VITAL STATS:
Born: Thomas J. Hanks
Birthdate: July 9, 1956
Birthplace: Concord, CALIFORNIA
Education: California State University, Sacramento
Married: Wife and actress Rita Wilson

BIOGRAPHY:
Hanks was born July 9th 1956 in Concord California and went to school at California State University. He dropped out of college to pursue acting, where he did stage work until being hired to star in the sitcom Bosom Buddies. After the television series helped Hanks to develop some notoriety, he received a role in Ron Howard's Splash opposite mermaid Darryl Hannah.

The next years of Hanks' career were spent making low-budget, poorly received comedies link The Man With One Red Shoe, and The Money Pit. Then, Hanks received rave reviews in the Penny Marshall comedy Big in which Hanks played 12-year-old boy trapped in the body of a thirty-year-old. This paved the way for Hanks to make some higher quality comedies like A League of Their Own, and the box-office smash Sleepless in Seattle.

Then in 1993, Hanks took a role in the Jonathan Demme film Philadelphia. This was an attypical role for Hanks, partially because it was a drama, and because of the role in which Hanks would portray a homosexual lawyer who was fired from his firm after contracting AIDS. The role choice proved a wise one because it allowed Hanks to display his acting chops. It also proved to be a wise choice because Hanks walked away from the 1993 Oscars with an award for Best Actor.

Hanks turned around the next year and took a completely different role as Forrest Gump, a slow-minded man with incredible luck and talent, who has unbelievable adventures while dealing with the love of his life. Hanks picked up another Academy Award making him the first actor to win back-to-back oscars since Spencer Tracy.

Hanks has spent the last few years dabbling in direction (That Thing You Do!), production (the cable series From the Earth, to the Moon) and now returns in the Steven Spielberg WWII epic Saving Private Ryan playing Captain Tom Miller.