Tom Hanks is often considered to be one of the best actors working in Hollywood right now. The two-time Academy Award winner is known for his poignant roles in films such as Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Cast Away, Captain Philips, and more. He has seen both critical acclaim and commercial success for his films.
Hanks has worked with some of the greatest directors in Hollywood, collaborating with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, The Wachowskis, and more. While he has starred in many critical darlings, Hanks considers this obscure and critically panned film as the best movie in his filmography.
Legendary Performances By Tom Hanks
In his four-decade-long career, Tom Hanks has headlined many acclaimed films and has been an irreplaceable part of them. While mostly playing the protagonist or being on the good side of things, Hanks has also convincingly played characters with greyer shades.
Hanks had his breakthrough role in the film Big, a comedy where he plays a teen who magically turns into an adult. The actor’s phenomenal performance earned him his first Best Actor nomination at the Oscars. While he had a slump after, he got back as a major box office draw with the film A League of Their Own.
Also read: Tom Hanks’ $679M Classic Movie Changed Marvel Star Chris Pratt’s Life Trajectory
Tom Hanks had a string of acclaimed performances and films in the 90s, starting with the romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle. He received his first Academy Award for his role as a lawyer who is inflicted with AIDS and is discriminated against by his workplace in the film Philadelphia. The actor won another Oscar the next year for his performance in the classic Forrest Gump.
Hanks has a long-standing collaboration with director Steven Spielberg, working on five films with him. He has starred in a supporting role in films like Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Bridge of Spies, and The Post. His acclaimed performances in the 2000s and 2010s came in the form of the survival drama Cast Away, the sci-fi film Cloud Atlas, the action thriller Captain Philips, and the aviation drama Sully.
Which Is Tom Hanks’ Favorite Performance?
Despite his huge body of work, Tom Hanks reportedly considered his performance in an obscure film of the late 80s as his best work. The film he refers to is Punchline, in which Hanks stars as a struggling stand-up comic and features along with his future Forrest Gump co-star Sally Fields.
The comedy was released in the same year as Big but failed to make a mark at the box office, earning only $21 million against a $15 million budget. Hanks mentioned in an interview with Playboy that it was the best work of his until that point and that it was disappointing to see it fail. He said,
“The movie didn’t do that well, which was really disappointing…If I were going to figure out why, I would end up taking a bunch of cheap shots at an awful lot of people who tried really hard, and that’s not fair. But it’s the best work I’ve ever done. We were talking some real naked truths about the characters and, in a lot of ways, about myself.”
The actor also went on to say that the character was closest to him as his worst aspects were similar to that of the character.
