Tom Hanks through the years: He made the understated, Average Joe a movie star

How many iconic roles has Tom Hanks played over the years? Have you thought about it? Let’s take a look.

Updated on: Sept 9, 2016 2:51 PM IST

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How many iconic roles has Tom Hanks played over the years? Have you thought about it? Let’s take a look.

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After making a splash with Splash, Hanks really burst onto the scene with Big (1988), a body swap comedy that remains a classic to this day - as do many of the films you’re about to see next.

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Sleepless in Seattle (1993) changed the romantic comedy genre forever and gave us one of the all time great pairings with Hanks and Meg Ryan.

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But it was the multiple Academy Award winning Forrest Gump (1994) that Hanks became a world famous movie star.

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In Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 (1995), Hanks played astronaut Jim Lowell, the commander of the failed Apollo 13 mission to the moon.

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In the same year, Hanks helped create on of the most memorable animated characters of all time in Toy Story (1995). He would go on to star in two more Toy Story films, with a fourth one on the way.

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Here he is in Steven Spielberg’s classic war movie Saving Private Ryan (1998). Hanks would go on to work with Spielberg in The Terminal, Catch Me if You Can and most recently, Bridge of Spies.

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In Robert Zemeckis’ Cast Away (2000), Hanks went through a staggering physical transformation to play Chuck Noland, a man who survives on a deserted island for years after a plane crash.

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Hanks re-teamed with Ron Howard for the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s bestseller The Da Vinci Code (2006). He played Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and is about to reprise his role for the third time in Inferno.

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The last five minutes of Captain Phillips (2013) was Tom Hanks at his very best. Go rewatch it.

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And now, Hanks is back with Sully, Clint Eastwood’s film on the Miracle on the Hudson, in which Captain Sully Sullenberger successfully landed his airliner after losing both engines.