America’s dad and Hollywood sweetheart Tom Hanks is known for his good-guy characters in films such as Forrest Gump, Big, A Man Called Otto, Philadelphia, and more. The actor won two consecutive Academy Awards for his portrayal of Forrest Gump and Andrew Beckett. The actor is also known for his sweet off-screen persona that has amassed fans worldwide.
Hanks has been in the industry for over forty-five years and has played a variety of roles. From real-life heroes to fictional superstars, Tom Hanks has headlined some of the best Hollywood films of the past few decades. However, the actor seems to never play a completely bad guy in his films, as according to him, he does not understand them.
Tom Hanks’ On-Screen And Off-Screen Persona
Tom Hanks has made a reputation for his penchant for playing good-guy characters in films. While he started off with being a heartthrob in romantic comedies such as You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless In Seattle, Hanks transitioned to more dramatic roles and gained immense acclaim for his roles in films such as Cast Away, Forrest Gump, The Green Mile, and more.
Hanks has played many roles in the 2000s and 2010s that have established him as a good guy or an everyman representing the positive side of humanity in films such as Sully, Bridge of Spies, and Captain Philips. Hanks’ off-screen persona has also gained much appreciation and fanfare due to his extremely optimistic and humble attitude.
Tom Hanks has made the rounds on the Internet for being extremely nice multiple times. He has been credited with using stardom for good, in instances like offering selfies to passers-by to help sell Girl Scout cookies and making sure a wedding couple got to their altar while the production crew of his film Angels and Demons acted as an obstacle.
Former President Barack Obama appreciated Tom Hanks’ everyman personality and even awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. While honoring him at the 2014 Kennedy Center Honors Reception, Obama said,
“People have said that Tom is Hollywood’s Everyman; that he’s this generation’s Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper. But he’s just Tom Hanks. And that’s enough. That’s more than enough.”
Many Hollywood insiders have also mentioned his charming and positive personality off-screen, including frequent collaborators such as Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis.
Tom Hanks Cannot Play A Classic Villain In Films
While Tom Hanks is known for his everyman quality and good-guy personality on and off-screen, he has not been afraid to show some darker sides in his films. He has played controversial characters such as Charlie Wilson in Charlie Wilson’s War and Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis, while he has played antagonistic characters in films such as Cloud Atlas and Road To Perdition.
However, the actor maintained that he could never play a truly despicable villain as he could never understand or see the world from a negative point of view. He mentioned in an interview with The New York Times that he could never be perceived as fierce or menacing. He said,
“I recognized in myself a long time ago that I don’t instill fear in anybody. Now, that’s different than being nice, you know? I think I have a cache of mystery. But it’s not one of malevolence.”
Tom Hanks went on to say that it was one of the reasons why he could never convincingly play a villain in films and could only choose to play good guys in movies. He mentioned that he just could not play a character who would destroy things for no reason and that a lack of real motivation would deter him from giving a good performance. He said,
“It’s because I never get them, because bad guys, by and large, require some degree of malevolence that I don’t think I can fake.”
Tom Hanks still has not played a typical villain in the movies. Even though one of his Cloud Atlas characters had hints of menace in him, and another character flung a person down a building to their death, there were still other, more innocent and positive characters to cancel them out.
