Tom Hanks – Biography

Tom Hanks is by far one of the most famous, highest-regarded, and best-paid actors in Hollywood.

Tom Hanks Net Worth and Salary

Tom Hanks is a $400 million net worth American actor, director, writer, and producer. He is one of Hollywood’s most well-known, highly regarded, and well-paid actors.

Hanks’ domestic lifetime box office gross exceeds $4.6 billion. As of this writing, his global box office gross is estimated to be around $9.7 billion. He is also the world’s highest-earning, most consistent box office star.

In 1980, he relocated to New York City and landed a co-starring role in the two-season cross-dressing sitcom Bosom Buddies. He was quickly followed by a string of minor film roles.

Tom Hanks rose to prominence in 1988 with his performance in the hit film Big. From then on, he made a career out of defying genre conventions. He went on to appear in a number of notable films, including Sleepless in Seattle, Apollo 13, Toy Story, You’ve Got Mail, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, The Da Vinci Code, and Angels and Demons. Hanks became only the second actor in history to win back-to-back Academy Awards for Best Actor in 1993 and 1994. He won in 1993 for his role as an HIV-positive attorney in the film Philadelphia. He won in 1994 for his performance as Forrest Gump in the film Forrest Gump.

Hanks wrote and directed That Thing You Do! in 1996, launching his career as both a producer and director. Since then, he has directed and/or produced several other films, including Cast Away and The Polar Express. From 1978 to 1987, Hanks was married to Samantha Lewes. In 1988, he married actress Rita Wilson. He has four children, two of whom are actors Colin Hanks and rapper Chet Haze.

Tom Hanks’s Career Highlights

Splash, a 1984 film, was one of Tom’s first big paychecks, earning him $70,000. After adjusting for inflation, that equates to about $172,000 in today’s dollars. Tom earned $1.75 million for Big four years later, in 1988. That equates to around $4 million today.

He earned $5 million for “Punchline” the same year. That equates to $11 million today. Tom’s salary remained in the stratosphere from the late 1980s onward.

In 1993, Tom was filming Forrest Gump, for which he was to be paid $7 million. The film had gone significantly over budget at some point during production. Rather than having the film derailed, Tom offered to forego his salary in exchange for “first dollar” backend points.

In that case, he was paid a portion of the box office receipts owed to Paramount after the theater owners took their cut and before the studio began deducting expenses. Tom did extremely well when Forrest Gump became a huge box office success. In the first year alone, his backend points amounted to approximately $70 million, which is equivalent to approximately $120 million today. It is still by far his largest acting salary and one of the largest acting salaries in Hollywood history.

Tom earned approximately $300 million in movie earnings between 1988 and 2010. After adjusting for inflation, it’s about the same as $450 million. He is expected to earn at least another $100 million over the next decade.

Without accounting for inflation, Tom has most likely earned at least $400 million in film salaries during his career. This does not include payments for producing and directing.

Real Estate

In April 1991, Tom and Rita paid $2.95 million for a large oceanfront mansion in the ultra-exclusive Malibu Colony. Director John Frankenheimer was the buyer.

This house is now most likely worth $20 million, if not more. Tom and Rita spent $26 million in January 2010 to purchase their primary residence in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

Tom and Rita sold two side-by-side Palisades homes for $18 million in May 2017. The buyer, who concealed their identity through a San Francisco-based lawyer and LLC, proceeded to demolish the two houses to make way for a massive single mansion. Tom and Rita also own at least five other properties in Pacific Palisades.

Tom Hanks’s Quotes:

“There’s nothing particularly mysterious about me. What I do is glamorous, and it attracts a lot of white-hot attention. However, the actual work requires the same discipline and passion as any other job you enjoy, whether you are a skilled pipe fitter or a highly creative artist.”

“Everyone would do it if it wasn’t so difficult. It’s the difficulty that makes it great.”

Also Read: Jon Moxley, Dean-Charles Chapman, Lane Factor, James Shigeta

Quick facts of Tom Hanks

• Tom Hanks is an American actor, director, writer, and producer who has a net worth of $400 million.
• In total, Hanks’ domestic lifetime box office gross is more than $4.6 billion.
• Tom earned $40 million off Saving Private Ryan and then $20 million for each of You’ve Got Mail, Cast Away and The Green Mile.
• He earned $18 million for The Da Vinci Code and $50 million for its sequel, Angel’s & Demons.
• As of 2019, his net worth is $400 million.