Tom Hanks has got to be one of the most adored actors, and why wouldn’t he be? He’s played some of the most interesting and beloved characters during his career.
Just knowing how awesome he is on screen could probably be enough to make us love him more than Woody loves Andy, but as it turns out, there are some real-life things about him that not only make us love him even more, but make him even cooler.
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1. He was honored with the highest civilian award from the U.S. Navy, the Distinguished Public Service Award, on Veterans Day in 1999 for his work in “Saving Private Ryan.” The movie "dramatically increased the American public's awareness and appreciation of the sacrifices made by U.S. veterans during the Battle of Normandy," the Navy said in a statement.
2. He’s related to Abraham Lincoln. Hanks confirmed he is a third cousin four times removed from Lincoln via the former president’s mother, Nancy Hanks, according to Daily Mail, which also reported genealogists have confirmed Hanks is a descendant of Lincoln.
3. He's got some cool friends. No big, right? Well, maybe. He's come to be friends with people like Julia Roberts, Ron Howard, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Spielberg and Sandra Bullock, to name just a few.
4. An asteroid is named after him. Thanks to his stellar work in "Apollo 13," when NASA discovered a main-belt asteroid in 1996, they named it 12818 tomhanks.
5. He’s a collector of typewriters. Who else could make typewriters sound appealing? Hanks’ love affair with typewriters is so real that he even wrote a book about them — a collection of short stories in which he sneaks in the typewriter as a character: “Uncommon Type.”
6. After more than 30 years of marriage, he’s still crazy about his wife, Rita Wilson.
7. One of his first jobs was working as a vendor at the Oakland Coliseum, selling peanuts and popcorn. It's always nice hearing normal stories about extraordinary people, isn't it?
8. He received back-to-back Oscar awards for Best Actor. One was for his role in “Philadelphia” in 1993, then “Forrest Gump” in 1994. He’s only one of two actors to earn the Oscar for two consecutive years.
9. He was and still is the youngest person to receive the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award in 2002. He earned the award at age 46.
Also, did you see Hanks test Tom Holland’s (Spiderman) acting on The Graham Norton Show last year? Watch the hilarious video below.
What’s your favorite thing about Hanks? We know this could be a long list, but fill us in below in the comment section.