13. He was a bellhop in San Francisco when he was young. He worked at the Oakland Airport Hilton and he carried luggage for Cher once.
12. Hanks is related to three US Presidents. Abraham Lincoln is his third cousin, four times removed. Apparently before Abraham’s mother Nancy married his father her name was Nancy Hanks. Tom is also Herbert Hoover’s 19th cousin, once removed as well as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 15th cousin, three times removed.
11. Before he got his big break, Hanks appeared as extras on shows like Taxi, Happy Days and Family Days.
10. When he played the older Josh Baskin in Big, Hanks based his acting off how the young Josh Haskins acted. The director for the film, Penny Marshall, sent Hanks film of David Moscow so he could nail his performance perfectly.
9. Hanks has hosted Saturday Night Live nine times making him a member of an elite crew. When he went on his fifth time back in 1990, he inspired the popular Five-Timer Club.
8. Tom put on 30 pounds before filming for ‘A League of their Own.’ He attributes a lot of the weight gain to Dairy Queen of all places. His director, Penny Marshall again, insisted on him to keep eating.
7. Hanks initially turned down the role in ‘Sleepless In Seattle.’ He eventually changed his mind after the screenplay was rewritten by the film’s director, Nora Ephron.
6. Tom Hanks and Bruce Springsteen are really good friends. They’ve worked on movies together, both received the Presidential Medal Of Freedom in 2016 and have even vacationed together along with Barack Obama.
5. Hanks and only one other actor have won back-to-back Oscars for best actor. He won it for his work on ‘Philadelphia’ and the following year he won for capturing the hearts of our nation with ‘Forrest Gump.’
4. An asteroid was named after Tom Hanks. After his role in ‘Apollo 13,’ an asteroid was discovered and the scientists that found it wanted to honor the actor. They named it ‘12818 tomhanks.’
3. A fan once sent Hanks fan mail and this is what she received back…
2. Hanks uses his Twitter feed to let us all know about New York City’s lost gloves.
See the bunny? Where's that bunny? Hanx. pic.twitter.com/5djHaRmwO2
— Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) March 19, 2015
1. And to top it all off, he once crashed a wedding party’s photoshoot. That’s why he’s known as “America’s Dad” I guess!