Our first assignment in Drama was to put together a collage of an actor and present through pictures, certain acting patterns and traits the actor brings to each of their movies. I chose Tom Hanks as my subject actor. I showcased 20 pictures or so from different movies, each with a distinct yet familiar expression on Hanks' face. I wanted to illustrate to the class that Hanks conveys a different point in each of his scenes through a very nonchelant, solemn expression on his face. Hanks' acting patterns are those of comedy, romance, distinguished success, leadership and hero. We find in the movie Big (1998) that he brings an element of comedy to his portfolio. We see the same in The Burbs (1989), A League of Their Own (1992) and Forrest Gump (1994), as well as others.
In 1986, Hanks starred in the movie Nothing In Common, where he played a young man struggling to repair a relationship with his father. It didn't connect very well in the box office; however it was this movie that opened his mind to more serious roles. "It changed my desires about working in movies; it focused on people's relationships" -Hanks. In 1993 Hanks tried out a more serious, down to earth role in the movie Philidephia and went for a romatic role with the movie Sleepless in Seattle in the same year. Both movies were a box office success and put Hanks on Hollywood's A-List as one of the "leading men" in films. In 1998 Hanks teamed up with producer/director Steven Spielberg to do Saving Private Ryan, a remake of the landing at Omaha Beach during World War II. That was more of a hero/leadership role for Hanks; one in which he played superbly, a performance which helped skyrocket him into the status of one of "hollywood's most trusted celebrities" (Forbes Magazine, 2006).
In the movie The Green Mile (1999), an adaptation of Stephen King's bestseller, Hanks plays a darker role of a more nalstolgic prison warden who has to execute a man he knows to be innocent. This showed yet another side of Hanks' dynamic acting ability, and in 2000 he won a Golden Globe for his work in the movie Castaway, a portrayal of a FedEx system analyst who is stranded on an island after his plane wrecks in the sea. Hanks has also shown his animated side as a voice-over in movies such as Toy Story (1996), The Polar Express (2004) and The Simpson Movie (2007).
As a whole, I think it's fair to say that Tom Hanks is an incredibly dynamic actor, whos acting ability has evolved immensly over the last 20 years, yet has kept an undoubtably consistant style, whether it be a romantic leading man, to a platoon leader in war-stricken Germany, to a voice-over of a toy cowboy named Woody. Hanks is one of the greatest actors of our generation, easily topping the list of the most "elite" actors in Hollywood's history.
-Isaac
