Apollo 13 (1995)
The Role: Jim Lovell
Why It’s The Best: The true story of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission to the moon is that rare beast: a realistic space-set actioner.
Hanks plays Jim Lovell, one of the astronauts aboard the doomed craft. His character is a real father figure, not only to his family waiting for him back on Earth, but also to the other crew members. Even if you know the outcome of the real-life event, Hanks keeps the tension palpable.
Iconic Moment: The seemingly endless pause as the world watches from the ground, waiting for the Apollo 13 craft to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
Tom Says: “Jim made sure that I had some background and education and skills, he personally saw to it himself on a couple of weekends together. One of them, down in Texas, he made me fly his plane at night among other things.”
Big (1988)
The Role: Josh Baskin
Why It’s The Best: Young Josh Baskin wished that he were bigger on a magic machine at a funfair, and when he woke up the next day a whole generation had a new favourite actor.
Big marked out Hanks as possibly the world's finest manchild actor, and left us asking ourselves: "Why don't I have a trampoline in my living room?"
Iconic Moment: The duet on the gigantic piano in the FAO Schwarz toy store on 5th Avenue: surely one of the most infectiously fun scenes ever filmed.
Tom Says: “It's a genuinely good movie that I think is really honest and touches the consciousness.”
Road To Perdition (2002)
The Role: Michael Sullivan
Why It’s The Best: There are a number of underrated performances in this film, but it is Hanks, who plays against the grain of his established screen persona, who sticks in the mind.
Despite an iffy barely-there 'tache, Hanks convinces as a contract killer and, vitally, a committed father, in a way that a more obviously-cast actor may have failed to do. He's the emotional anchor at the centre of a veritable Venn diagram of father-son relationships, with his scared son and surrogate father on either side.
Iconic Moment: When Sullivan finally gets revenge on his boss (Paul Newman) who betrayed him and murdered his family. The intense, rain-soaked scene has become even more iconic on account of the fact that it is Paul Newman’s final onscreen appearance.
Tom Says: “The key to this whole thing is the father and son relationships in the various permutations of the fathers and the sons that go on in the movie. I've got a father and I have sons. That alone helped. But there's a whole ocean of emotions to explore here and a million ways to find the universe of what these relationships are going to be,”
The Green Mile (1999)
The Role: Paul Edgecomb
Why It’s The Best: Tom Hanks plays a prison guard working on death row in the 1930s in this Stephen King adap, and he soon finds that one of the inmates has inexplicable magic healing powers.
Under Frank Darabont's measured unshowy direction, Hanks doesn't have anywhere to hide, and he gets to show a more sombre side as an executioner who doesn't shy away from his duties.
Iconic Moment: A quiet scene in which Edgecomb screens Top Hat for John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan).
Tom Says: “What was intriguing to me, was that Paul Edgecomb is an executioner, and yet he lives the most civilised life that anybody possibly could inside a penitentiary.”
Turner & Hooch (1989)
The Role: Detective Scott Turner
Why It’s The Best: Hanks brings heart to what could have been a clumsy buddy-com.
It was the second canine-cop comedy in 1989, but Tom Hanks and Beasley the dog (Hooch) managed to overpower K-9 , which was out earlier that year.
Iconic Moment: When Turner gives his slobbery new houseguest the tour (" This is not your room..."). Or maybe the moment Tom proves he's the master of getting the audience weeping without resorting to histrionics when Hooch is on the operating table following the movie's climax.
Tom Says: “I saw Turner & Hooch the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby.”
Charlie Wilsons War (2007)
The Role: Charlie Wilson
Why It’s The Best: Based on a true story, Hanks portrays the Texan congressman who gets involved in some dodgy dealings in Afghanistan with good intentions. Hanks, who also produces, plays up the wit without belittling the story.
Iconic Moment: Seeing Hanks playing a suave ladies man, seducing girls in hot tubs. Tom, you cad.
Tom Says: “This is a tale that deals with something that is probably impossible to capture on film: how politics works.”
The Polar Express (2004)
The Role(s): Hero boy, father, conductor, Scrooge, Santa Clause and hobo
Why It’s The Best: Though the dead, zombie-like eyes still retain the capacity to creep, there's something mesmerising about the array of characters that Hanks portrays.
Years before Beowulf or Avatar , this was the first animated feature film to be shot entirely using motion capture technology, so Hanks deserves credit for getting involved with new tech at an early stage.
Iconic Moment: “Where are you going?” “To the North Pole, of course, this is the Polar Express!” Tom Hanks convinces that Santa Claus exists, and earns a place on Christmas viewing lists for years to come.
Tom Says: [ On his favourite character to play ] “I guess it was the big man, Santa Claus. It’s tantamount to playing Elvis in an Elvis movie.”
Splash (1984)
The Role: Allen Bauer
Why It’s The Best: A romcom for all ages to enjoy. Tom Hanks was still relatively unknown at this point, but his aquatic shenanigans with Daryl Hannah helped to propel him to stardom; over the next three years, he appeared in Bachelor Party , The Money Pit and Dragnet .
