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Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Acting Legend Tom Hanks?

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What romantic comedy about mermaids was Hanks’ breakout role?

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Hanks had really only played small parts on TV when Ron Howard spotted him and cast him in Splash in 1984 opposite Daryl Hannah. When they met, Howard considered him for the role that eventually went to John Candy before casting him in the lead.
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In which of the following movies was Hanks NOT stranded at sea?

Wikimedia Commons
In Captain Phillips, Hanks technically wasn’t stranded—he was held hostage.
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For what film was Hanks inducted as an honorary member of the US Army Rangers Halls of Fame?

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Hanks was honored by the US Army Rangers for his role as an army captain in Saving Private Ryan.
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What is the name of Tom Hanks’ wife?

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Hanks and Rita Wilson met in 1981, on the set of the short-lived sitcom Bosom Buddies. After Hanks divorced his first wife in 1987, he married Wilson a year later.
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What is the name of the son that Hanks shares with his first wife, Samantha Lewes?

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Colin Hanks is Tom’s first son, born in 1977. He’s become an actor and director in his own right, recently appearing as a series regular on Life in Pieces.
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Which of the following Hanks projects was NOT set in World War II?

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Bridge of Spies is a Cold War-set film from 2015, in which Hanks starred alongside Mark Rylance and Amy Ryan.
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What was the name of the buddy cop comedy Hanks co-starred in with Dan Aykroyd?

Universal Pictures
In Dragnet, Hanks played the young, upstart cop to Akyroyd’s uptight force veteran. The film was a hit critically and commercially.
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What was the name of the team that Hanks’ character Jimmy Dugan managed in the 1992 film A League of Their Own?

A League of Their Own ,Columbia Pictures
In the film, Dugan coaches the Rockford Peaches—although the film is fictionalized, both the league and the Rockford Peaches were real.
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What film garnered Hanks his first win for Best Actor?

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While Hanks was nominated for his role in Big, his first actual win was for Philadelphia. He won again the very next year for Forrest Gump!
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What was Hanks’ character’s profession in Philadelphia?

Philadelphia, TriStar Pictures
Hanks’ character, Andrew Beckett, starts the film as a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia, before being fired for misplacing important case paperwork—an excuse which he suspects is cover for homophobia and fear of his AIDs diagnosis.
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Who plays Tom Hanks’ girlfriend in the 2000 film Cast Away?

20th Century Fox
Helen Hunt played Kelly Frears, who was Hanks’ long-term girlfriend before the plane crash stranded him for years, leaving her and his family to give him up for dead.
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True or false: Hanks in the youngest person ever to win the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award?

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True: Hanks won the award in 2002, at the age of 45.
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Which Tom Hanks Saturday Night Live character got so viral-popular that he got his own special?

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After Hanks appeared as David S. Pumpkins—a skit he was reluctant to appear in, as he thought it was too bizarre—stores began selling out of his pumpkin-motif suit immediately after. Hanks provided the voice for Pumpkins in the follow-up special The David S. Pumpkins Animated Halloween Special in 2017.
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What popular British comedy group did Hanks join for one night in 2002 at a memorial concert for George Harrison?

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Hanks joined Monty Python for one night in 2002 at a memorial concert for George Harrison.
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Which hit musician, a longtime friend of Hanks, penned a song for one of Hanks’ films in 1993?

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Bruce Springsteen’s song “Streets of Philadelphia,” made for the film Philadelphia, went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.
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What type of outmoded technology does Tom Hanks collect?

Pixabay
Since 1978, Hanks has purchased manual typewriters from all over the world. He has more than 80 in his collection.
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Which of these name-title movies did Tom Hanks turn down?

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Hanks was offered the role of Jerry Maguire but turned it down, leading it to go to the other Hollywood Tom of the 90s, Tom Cruise.
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Which of these is the only film that Hanks has co-written, produced, directed, and starred in?

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While Hanks wore multiple hats during the filming of each of the abovementioned movie, he only did quadruple-duty on Larry Crowne.
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Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan appeared together in two of the greatest rom-coms of all time: Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. But there was another film that came out before those two in which Hanks and Ryan co-starred—what is it called?

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The pair co-starred in 1990’s Joe Versus the Volcano, as a dying man and the woman who helps transport him to the volcano that he plans to throw himself in. Yes, that’s the real plot.
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Who played the 30-year-old version of Josh Baskin’s love interest in Big?

Big,Gracie Films
Elizabeth Perkins, also known for her time on the show Weeds, played Susan Lawrence, an executive at the toy company that the adult version of Josh Baskin gets a job at in Big.
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What was the name of the machine that transformed Josh into an adult in the movie Big?

Big,Gracie Films
In Big, Josh goes to a wish-granting Zoltar machine, very similar to the real-life fortune-telling Zoltan machines, manufactured from the late 60s to the early 70s.
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What restaurant company based its name off of one of Hank’s films?

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The first Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., inspired by Forrest Gump, opened in 1996 and currently has 45 locations worldwide.
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What future CSI star played Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump?

Forrest Gump, Paramount Pictures
Lieutenant Dan Taylor, Forrest and Bubba’s Vietnam War platoon leader, was played by Gary Sinise.
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Of all the historical characters in Forrest Gump, who played himself, as opposed to appearing through manipulated archival footage?

Forrest Gump, Paramount Pictures
Although I’m sure Lennon, Presley, and JFK would’ve all been honored to make cameos as themselves, they weren’t around to do so at the time, so Dick Cavett was the only one to actually appear as himself—with makeup applied to help him appear younger, of course.
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What WWII event does Saving Private Ryan famously/infamously open with?

Saving Private Ryan, Paramount Pictures
The film is set during the invasion of Normandy, and opens with the Omaha Beach assault in a taxing and intense 27-minute scene.
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Which blockbuster director has Tom Hanks collaborated with on five different hit films (and one HBO miniseries)?

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Although Hanks has worked with Zemeckis (three times) and Howard (five times), he’s teamed with Spielberg five times: for Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Bridge of Spies, and The Post.
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Which of these late-career Tom Hanks films is NOT based on a true story?

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The Circle is the only title not based on a real event/person—it’s based on a 2013 Dave Eggers novel of the same name.
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Hanks will play which beloved childhood icon in a Marielle Heller-directed biopic?

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Fred Rogers gets his due in more than one film this decade—after the success of the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Hanks will appear as Mr. Rogers in the biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
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Which SATC cast member got caught rolling their eyes at Tom Hanks at a New York Rangers game?

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Tom Hanks is known as one of the most beloved stars in Hollywood—not just among fans, but among other stars in general. So people were surprised when Sarah Jessica Parker was caught slipping him a look of disgust during a hockey game. She later claimed the two were joking, but it sure didn’t look like it.
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What dubious distinction is Hanks’ son with Rita Wilson known for?

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Proving there’s one in every family, Chet Hanks, AKA Chet Haze—his rap name—is responsible for all of the above incidents.
About This Quiz
Few actors are as beloved as Tom Hanks—and who can blame fans for loving this versatile star? From his breakout role in Splash and beloved characters in other ‘80s comedies Big and Turner & Hooch, and later, more serious turns in timeless dramas like Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, and Saving Private Ryan. Now that he’s in his 60s, he still takes on award-bait dramatic roles on the regular, while also sprinkling in some producing and directing credits here and there—he even released a book of short stories! With a career like that, there’s a lot to know about Tom Hanks—are you as much of an expert as you think?

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