NEW YORK – There isn’t an award in Hollywood that Tom Hanks hasn’t won; from back to back Academy Awards for Best Actor in a leading role, to the Golden Globes, the People’s Choice Award and the AFI’s Lifetime Achievement Award. But for the always-humble Hanks, no award means as much to him as his wife and children. Despite the constant glare of Hollywood’s spotlight, Hanks has managed to keep his private life out of the news.
A&E’s Network’s premiere Biography of Tom Hanks comes just as the Oscar winning actor’s latest movie, Catch Me If You Can, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Steven Spielberg, is about to open on Christmas Day. BIOGRAPHY: TOM HANKS: The Luckiest Man in The World, premiering Tuesday, December 10, 8-9pm ET/PT, traces the actor’s amazing career, from a dysfunctional childhood, through his early career as a Shakespearean actor, and finally down the sometimes bumpy road to stardom.
Interviews, anecdotes from behind the scenes and little known facts about Hanks’ life off screen, help round out the profile of the man who has been called “one of the nicest guys in Hollywood.”
Interviews include: Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Gary Sinise, Penny Marshall, Garry Marshall, Peter Scolari, Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, Miranda Wilson (former high school classmate), and Hanks’ former drama directors and childhood friends.
”Tom sometimes hides how serious he feels about where we are today in the world. And who we are in the human race. And I think he sometimes doesn’t really show in his interviews how seriously he takes, you know, where we are today in this, in society and in the world. He’s a great man who I think would make a phenomenal president of the United States some day…if I could dream!” – STEVEN SPIELBERG, Director
“What I learned from him…it is possible to be a great actor in this business, do great work and not become crazy. And that to me is the most successful thing in the world. If you can be so great at what you do, yet still be such a great, normal guy.” – LEONARDO DICAPRIO, Actor
