Tom Hanks' most iconic rolesfrom Forrest Gump to Toy Story

Early TV days

Hanks memorably guest-starred on a number of sitcoms in the early-'80sincluding Happy Days, Taxiand Family Ties. But his breakthrough was his starring role on ABC's Bosom Buddies, a comedy that paired him with Peter Scolari as businessmen who dressed up as women so they could move into the inexpensive Susan B. Anthony Hotel. Although the buddy comedy ended in 1982 after just two seasonsit put Hanks' charisma and comedy chops on the map. Ian Praisera producer on the showtold Rolling Stone"I thought'Too bad he won't be in television for long.' I knew he'd be a movie star in two years." —Rachel Yang

Splash (1984)

Praiser was right (mostly). Two years laterHanks starred with Daryl Hannah in the 1984 rom-com Splash, which was critically and commercially successful. He was chosen over more established stars like Richard Gere and Jeff Bridgesas the producers had liked Hanks' performance on Happy Days and Bosom Buddies. —R.Y.

Big (1988)

It wasn't until the success of 1988's Big that Hollywood took notice of Hanks as a multidimensional actor. The filmfeaturing Hanks playing a 12-year-old boy in an adult's bodyearned him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win. —R.Y.

A League of Their Own (1992)

Hanks followed Big with more comedies like the middling Punchline (1988) and the memorable Turner & Hooch (1989), which spawned a 2021 sequel series on Disney+. But his second home run came in 1992 with A League of Their Own. The ensemble film about a women's baseball league boasted a cast including Geena Davis and Madonnaand it's gone on to become an enduring classic (sparking a TV series of its own on Amazon Prime Video in 2022). Among many quotable lines from the filmHanks as the team's grumpy manager Jimmy Dugan gave us the iconic"There's no crying in baseball!" —R.Y.

Philadelphia (1993)

With 1993's Philadelphia, many audiences saw Hanks in a more dramatic role for the first timeas AIDS patient Andy Beckett. Hanks' moving portrayalcoupled with Denzel Washington's powerful performance as Beckett's lawyerhelped educate the public on homophobia and the HIV/AIDS crisis. The role would earn Hanks his first Best Actor Oscar. —R.Y.

Forrest Gump (1994)

A year laterForrest Gump won us over with its invaluable life lessons from Hanks' lovable titular character. The actor once again nabbed the Oscar for Best Actormaking him only the second man to win the category back-to-back. —R.Y.

1995's winning double feature

Few actors have enjoyed a run like Hanks did in the early-1990schurning out an astonishingly versatile output that began with A League of Their Owncontinued with Philadelphia and Forrest Gumpand peaked in 1995 with the double whammy of Apollo 13 and Toy Story. Hankswho once had aspirations to be an astronautgot to live out his fantasy in the epic space film directed by Ron Howard. —R.Y.

Rom-com leading man

During the 1990sHanks starred in two Nora Ephron-directed features opposite Meg Ryan: 1993's Sleepless in Seattle and 1998's You've Got Mail. (They had previously starred together in John Patrick Shanley's 1990 film Joe Versus the Volcano.) Both films made over $200 million at the box officecementing Hanks as the ultimate leading man — appealing in a sensitiveEveryman kind of way. Hanks earned a Golden Globe nomination for Sleepless in Seattle the same year he won for Philadelphia. —R.Y.

Behind-the-scenes force

While he's most famous for being in front of the camerathe Hollywood legend is also a powerful voice behind the lens. Hanks first made his directorial debut with 1996's That Thing You Do!, a musical comedy film he also penned. Some of his producing credits demonstrate his interest in a wide swath of genreslending his expertise to such films as My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), The Ant Bully (2006), Mamma Mia! (2008), and the HBO series Big Lovethrough his production company Playtone. —R.Y.

The best performances in every Steven Spielberg movie

26 of the most inspirational movies of all timefrom 'Rocky' to 'Legally Blonde'

Dynamic duo: Hanks and Spielberg

Some of Hanks' most memorable projects came out of collaborating with director Steven Spielberg. Arguably the most gripping was the 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryanwhich nabbed star Hanks his fourth Oscar nomination and a Golden Globewhile director Spielberg received his second Oscar win for directing. —R.Y.

Turn of the millennium

Hanks in the late-'90s and early-2000s continued to pick film roles that showcased his range. The year 1999 saw Hanks reprise his role as Woody in Toy Story 2 and star in The Green Mile alongside Michael Clarke Duncan. In 2000Hanks took on the challenging role of a marooned engineer in Robert Zemeckis' Cast Awaygarnering his fifth Oscar nomination and fourth Golden Globe win. —R.Y.

Band of Brothers (2001)

Spielberg and Hanks were behind the lauded 2001 HBO WWII miniseries Band of Brothersalong with its 2010 companion seriesThe Pacific. The duo won Emmys for their work on both limited serieswith Hanks winning an additional Emmy for directing an episode of Band of Brothers. —R.Y.

Box office king

The 2000s saw Hanks starring in some of his most crowd-pleasing movies. He lent his voice to 2004's The Polar Express, the first all-digital motion capture filmas well as 2006's Cars. That same yearhe played Professor Robert Langdon in an adaptation of the popular novel The Da Vinci Code, and he'd go on to reprise his role in 2009's Angels & Demons and 2016's Inferno. —R.Y.

Dramatic roles in the 2010s

In the 2010sHanks embodied a litany of dramatic characters based on real people throughout history. He portrayed the titular captain who's taken hostage by pirates in 2013's Captain Phillips (for which he earned another Golden Globe nom)while 2015 saw Hanks playing lawyer James B. Donovan in the Cold War picture Bridge of Spies. The next yearClint Eastwood's Sully featured Hanks as hero pilot Chesley Sullenbergerand 2017's The Post starred the actor as Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee and gave him his ninth Globe nod. —R.Y.

A star for the people

The name "Tom Hanks" is pretty much synonymous with the nicest guy in Hollywoodand his reputation as a salt-of-the-earth guy may be one of the reasons Americans flock to his movies. Hanks once helped the Girl Scouts sell cookies. Another timehe personally refunded a couple who hated Larry Crowne (2011), a movie he not only starred inbut also directed and co-wrote. Spielberg may have captured Hanks' essence the bestsaying if "Norman Rockwell were alive todayhe would paint a portrait of Tom." —R.Y.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

In 2019Hanks once again portrayed Woody in Toy Story 4but his most anticipated role of the year was in Marielle Heller's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. When Hanks was announced to play beloved TV personality Fred Rogersa.k.a. Mister Rogerseveryone collectively went"Yupthat makes sense." Both are seen by audiences as a friend or fatherly figureand Hanks' role reminded us thatdecades into his careerhe's not nearly done moving and inspiring us. In addition to scoring a sixth Oscar nomination nearly 20 years after Cast Awaythe Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave Hanks his 10th Globe nomination for the role and named him the Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree for lifetime achievement. —R.Y.

Scene-stealer

While Hanks continues to lead films four decades into his careerhe's also been utilized as a reliable supporting actor. Through his work as Col. Tom Parker in Elvis (2022)Geppetto in Pinocchio (2022)and Stanley Zak in Asteroid City (2023)the actor has embraced scene-stealing supporting rolescontributing to this vision of auteur directors rather than leading with his natural movie star presence. He's also frequently played in the sandbox of Studio 8H as a 10-time host with various additional guest appearances on Saturday Night Live. —Kevin Jacobsen

Loved by fans and respected by his peers

Amassing multiple OscarsEmmysand Golden GlobesHanks has certainly felt the love of his peers in the industry over the years. Perhaps one day he'll even nab the elusive EGOT. After allHanks did score a Tony nomination in 2013 for Lucky Guy — all he's missing is a winplus a Grammy.

On top of the Cecil B. DeMille Awardthe Hollywood legend already has an AFI Life Achievement Award (he was the youngest recipient) and was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2014. We can't wait to see what he does next. —R.Y.