By Derek D. Tircuit (Dtircuit) on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 08:05 pm:

Tom Hanks is one of today's most admired and respected actors. The first actor in 50 years to be awarded back-to-back Best Actor Academy Awarde, he received the 1994 OscarO for his outstanding performance in "Forrest Gump," which has become the fourth-largest grossing movie in history. In 1993, he was rewarded for his compelling performance as the AIDS-stricken lawyer in 'Philadelphia.' He also won Golden Globes for both performances. Through the success of "Forrest Gump", Hanks has been honored with the Golden Globe Award, the Peoples Choice Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Chicago Film Critics Award, the National Association of Theater Owners Male Star of the Year Award, and the Hollywood Women's Press Club Award.
For his performance as astronaut Jim Lovell in Ron Howard's "Apollo 13," Hanks was named Man of the Year by Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the nation's oldest undergraduate dramatic group.
In 1996, Hanks successfully made his feature film writing and directing debut with 'That Thing You Do!" for Twentieth Century Fox. "That Thing You Do!' follows the meteoric rise to fame of a local rock band named The Wonders from Erie, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1964. The film's signature song, '7hat Thing You Do!," not only reached the top 10 in many contemporary music charts, but was nominated for an Academy AwarclO for Best Achievement in Music (Original Song). In addition to his other responsibilities, Hanks also appeared in the film.
Bom and raised in Oakland, Cal., Hanks first became interested in acting during high school. He attended California State University in Sacramento, where he appeared in the production of "The Cherry Orchard," and met director Vincent Dowling, who was also the resident director of the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland. Dowling invited Hanks to intern with the company, where he made his professional debut, portraying Grumio in "The Taming of the Shrew.' Hanks appeared in other Great Lakes productions, including "Two Gentleman of Verona," for which he received the Cleveland Critics Award for Best Actor. From Cleveland, Hanks went on to New York, where he appeared in his first feature film, "He Knows You're Alone," and onstage in 'The Taming of the Shrew."
After moving to Los Angeles, where he performed in a production of 'The Dolimaker," Hanks got his first big break when he was cast as the lead in the ABC television comedy series "Bosom Buddies."
This led to starring roles in 'Bachelor Party' and Ron Howard's "Splash," a box-office hit that started him on his path to becoming one Hollywood's busiest and most sought-after actors. Hanks' many film credits include 'Volunteers," "Nothing in Common" and "A League of Their Own.' In 1988, with his boxoffice success established, Hanks found himself a critical success with highly acclaimed work in "Punchline" and "Big,' the latter of which earned him his first Academy AwarclO nomination and his first Golden Globe Award. The same year, the Los Angeles Film Critics recognized the two performances by bestowing on him their coveted Best Actor Award. In 1993, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his work in "Sleepless in Seattle," starring opposite Meg Ryan.
Constantly challenging himself, Hanks served as executive producer for HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon," an ambitious 12-hour dramatic film anthology that explores America's Apollo space program. Not only did Hanks personally help make this show a reality, he directed the first episode and wrote and appeared in the final episode.
Hanks starred in Steven Spielberg's feature film "Saving Private Ryan" for Paramount and DreamWorks SKG, which was released in July 1998. Hanks played a soldier who went deep behind enemy lines to save a trapped private during the Allied invasion. He also stared in Castle Rock's "The Green Mile." This film was written and directed by Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption") and is based on the six-part serialized novel by Stephen King.
Last winter, he was seen in "Cast Away' for Twentieth Century Fox. Hanks played the sole survivor of a plane crash that lands on a deserted island. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis ("Forest Gump"), and the screenplay was written by William Broyles Jr.
He recently served as executive producer for the new HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," which is
based on Stephen E. Ambrose's book of the same title, and debuts Sept. 9, 2001.
Currently, Hanks is in production on the film "Road To Perdition." Directed by Sam Mende ("American Beauty"), Hanks plays a mobster in this adaptation of the 1930s-era gangster novel of the same name for DreamWorks SKG.
Hanks resides in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Rita Wilson, and their family.

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