Page 218 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

Tom Hanks

9th Cousin

1 time removed

Common Ancestor

Father: L.ubbert Westervelt

Meppel, Drenthe, Netherlands Born:
1654 - 1694 9 July 1956
Concord California
Mother: Hilletje Pouluse
New York City, New York Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker.
1661 – Unknown Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, Hanks is one of
the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide and is
widely regarded as an American cultural icon. Hanks' films have
grossed more than $4.9 billion in North America and more than
$9.96 billion worldwide, making him the fifth highest-grossing
actor in North America.

Hanks made his breakthrough with leading roles in the
comedies Splash (1984) and Big (1988). He won two
consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor for starring as a
gay lawyer suffering from AIDS in Philadelphia (1993) and a
young man with below-average IQ in Forrest

Gump (1994). Hanks collaborated with film director
Steven Spielberg on five films: Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The
Terminal (2004), Bridge of Spies (2015), and The Post (2017), as well as the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers,
which launched him as a director, producer, and screenwriter.

Hanks' other notable films include the romantic comedies Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You've Got Mail (1998);
the dramas Apollo 13 (1995), The Green Mile (1999), Cast Away (2000), Road to Perdition (2002), and Cloud
Atlas (2012); and the biographical dramas Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Captain Phillips (2013), Sully (2016), and A
Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019). He has also starred in the Robert Langdon film series, and has
voiced Sheriff Woody in the Toy Story film series.
Hanks was born to hospital worker Janet Marylyn (née Frager, 1932–2016) and itinerant cook Amos Mefford
Hanks (1924–1992). His parents divorced in 1960. Their three oldest children, Sandra (later Sandra Hanks
Benoiton, a writer), Larry (an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign), and Tom,
went with their father, while the youngest, Jim (who also became an actor and filmmaker), remained with their
mother in Red Bluff, California. In his childhood, Hanks' family moved often; by the age of 10, he had lived in 10
different houses.

Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California, and transferred to California State University,
Sacramento after two years. During his years studying theater, Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of the Great
Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. At Dowling's suggestion, Hanks became an intern at the festival. His
internship stretched into a three-year experience that covered most aspects of theater production, including
lighting, set design, and stage management, prompting Hanks to drop out of college.

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