Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks is the two-time Academy Award-winning American actor behind Forrest Gump, Cast Away and Toy Story's Woody. Born July 9, 1956, he turns 70 in July 2026 and is currently shooting the war drama Greyhound 2.

By Alexandre Le Hégarat · datastats · Updated July 2, 2026

Tom Hanks: Hollywood’s Most Trusted Everyman

Tom Hanks has spent more than forty years playing characters audiences instinctively root for. Born in Concord, California, on July 9, 1956, he broke through in 1980s comedies like Splash and Big before reinventing himself in the 1990s as one of the most dependable dramatic actors of his generation. The turning point was a remarkable two-year run: back-to-back Best Actor Oscars for Philadelphia in 1993 and Forrest Gump in 1994, a feat only one other actor had ever achieved.

From there his filmography reads like a list of modern classics. He was the marooned FedEx executive in Cast Away, the schoolteacher-turned-captain in Saving Private Ryan, the real-life astronaut Jim Lovell in Apollo 13, Captain Phillips in the 2013 thriller of the same name, and the airline pilot in Sully. For younger audiences, he is simply the voice of Woody, the cowboy at the heart of Pixar’s Toy Story, a role he has played since 1995. That range, from action drama to animated hero, is a big part of why he remains one of the most bankable and beloved names in cinema.

In 2026, Hanks is back behind and in front of the camera on Greyhound 2, the sequel to his 2020 World War II naval film. As with the original, he wrote the screenplay himself, and filming began early in the year in Sydney, Australia. The sequel widens the lens beyond the Battle of the Atlantic, and a release is expected around 2027.

Off screen, Hanks has been married to actress and singer Rita Wilson since 1988, one of Hollywood’s most stable partnerships. The couple were granted honorary Greek citizenship in 2020, reflecting Wilson’s Greek heritage and their long connection to the country. In March 2020, the pair also became among the first celebrities to publicly confirm a COVID-19 diagnosis, a disclosure widely credited with helping the public grasp the seriousness of the pandemic. As he approaches his 70th birthday in July 2026, Hanks remains as active, and as trusted, as ever.

People also ask

Tom Hanks lives in Los Angeles, California, where he has been based for most of his career. He and his wife Rita Wilson also spend time at properties in Idaho and on the Greek island of Antiparos, where the couple were granted honorary Greek citizenship in 2020. His exact home address is private and we do not publish it.

Tom Hanks is American. He was born on July 9, 1956, in Concord, California. Since 2020 he also holds Greek citizenship, granted as an honor by the Greek government partly in recognition of his family ties to Greece through Rita Wilson, whose father was a Greek immigrant.

Tom Hanks was born on July 9, 1956, so he is 69 years old and turns 70 on July 9, 2026. He has been a leading man in Hollywood for more than four decades, since his breakout in the 1980s.

Tom Hanks is 6 feet tall (1.83 m). It is a fairly average leading-man height, and he has played everyone from a stranded castaway to a starship-era astronaut without his stature ever being a defining feature.

In 2026 Tom Hanks is filming Greyhound 2, a sequel to his 2020 World War II naval drama. He wrote the screenplay himself, as he did for the first film, and principal photography began in early 2026 in Sydney, Australia. The sequel expands the story of Captain Krause beyond the Battle of the Atlantic, and a release is expected around 2027.

Tom Hanks has won two Academy Awards for Best Actor: for Philadelphia (1993), in which he played a lawyer with AIDS, and for Forrest Gump (1994). He won them in back-to-back years, a feat matched by only one other actor (Spencer Tracy). He has been nominated six times in total across his career.

Forrest Gump (1994) is probably his most famous film, winning six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor. Other career-defining roles include Chuck Noland in Cast Away, Captain John Miller in Saving Private Ryan, astronaut Jim Lovell in Apollo 13, and the voice of Woody across the Toy Story films.

Yes. Tom Hanks has voiced Sheriff Woody in every Toy Story film since the original in 1995, through Toy Story 4 in 2019. It is one of his most recognizable roles and reaches audiences who may know his voice long before they know his face.

Tom Hanks has been married to actress and singer Rita Wilson since 1988. The couple have two children together, Chet and Truman, and Hanks has two older children, Colin and Elizabeth, from his first marriage. The Hanks-Wilson marriage is one of the most enduring in Hollywood.

No verified figure for Tom Hanks's net worth exists, and any single number online is an unofficial estimate. As one of the highest-grossing actors of all time, with decades of leading roles plus producing credits, his wealth is very substantial, but the precise amount is not publicly confirmed.

Yes. In March 2020, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were among the first high-profile people to publicly announce they had tested positive for COVID-19, while Hanks was in Australia preparing to film. Both recovered, and their openness about it was widely credited with helping the public take the pandemic seriously in its early days.