Thomas Jeffrey Hanks alias 'Tom Hanks' is an American actor, director, producer and dubbing artist. He was born on July 6, 1956 in Concord, California, to Amos Hanks, a cook, and Janet Hanks, a hospital nurse. After his parents got divorced when he was five, his father raised him and the three siblings on his own. He attended the Skyline High school and graduated in 1974. Afterward, Tom studied acting at California State University, while interning at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Ohio. There he was offered to work with season professionals and three years later he received his professional union card.In 1978, Tom Hanks moved to New York City with Samantha Lewes, a popular actress and producer he met in the theater company. They had gotten married three years after they met for first time, on January 24, 1978. They had two children together: Colin was born in November 1977 and Elizabeth was born in May 1982. After a five-year marriage, the couple divorced in 1987 and in 1988, Tom married actress Rita Wilson, with whom he shares two sons, Chester (born in August 1990) and Truman Theodore (born in December 1995). After a few less successful films, he shot the film 'Big' in 1988. This role,for which he received an Oscar nomination in the 'Best Leading Actor' category and won a Golden Globe for 'Best Actor' , marked a breakthrough in his career. Tom won his first Oscar in 1994 for starring as Andrew Beckett, an advocate with AIDS. Just one year later, he received his second Oscar and third Golden Globe for his role in the tragicomedy 'Forrest Gump', which is one of his favorable films of all time. Tom Hanks becomes the only actor ever to win two consecutive Oscars (Besides Spencer Tracy,1937). Two years later, he directed for the first time the film "That Thing You Do". After 'Apollo 13' (1995) and Steven Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998), he also appeared in the films 'The Green Mile' (1999), 'Cast Away' (2000), 'Catch Me If You Can' (2002) and 'The Da Vinci Code' (2006). Besides the above mentioned awards, he also was nominated for three BAFTA Awards and three more Golden Globe Awards.
All the while, Tom Hanks established himself as one of the finest and most respected actor of his generation.