admin If ever we, as a species, needed to prove the inherent worthiness of man to alien overlords, I think it’s pretty clear who we would show them: one Tom Hanks. The 67-year-old actor has been in Hollywood for decades, yet his charm hasn’t faded, and indeed, his essential niceness has turned into award-show joke fodder—and let’s not forget how Daddy Hanks took care of us all during quarantine.
It’s difficult to know how to appropriately appreciate Hanks, but we’re taking a stab at it with a roundup of his 15 most iconic and re-watchable film roles. If any of these are still on your watchlist, break out the popcorn and cozy blanket, because Hanks is guaranteed to soothe whatever ails you.
Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump, 1994
This may not be my favorite Tom Hanks movie (although I did spend a genuinely enthralling night watching it with Khmer subtitles in an Airbnb in Cambodia once), but the role is inarguably major, and seeing Hanks emerge as the secret architect of all of American history feels kind of right.
