LITTLE KNOWN NIFTY AND COOL FACTS ABOUT TOM HANKS

A PROUD AMERICAN, TOM HANKS WAS BORN

IN CONCORD, CALIFORNIA, BUT HIS MOTHER,

JANET MARYLYN, WAS OF PORTUGUESE DESCENT,

WHILE HIS FATHER, AMOS HANKS, HAD

ENGLISH ANCESTRY

JUST 4 YEARS AFTER TOM WAS BORN, HIS PARENTS

DIVORCED. YOUNG TOM AND HIS OLDER SISTER,

SANDRA AND BROTHER, LARRY, WENT WITH

THEIR FATHER WHILE THE YOUNGEST CHILD,

JIM, STAYED WITH THEIR MOTHER. IN HIS

CHILDHOOD, TOM´S FAMILY MOVED OFTEN.

BY THE AGE OF TEN, HANKS HAD LIVED IN

TEN DIFFERENT HOUSES

TOM HANKS IS A THIRD COUSIN, FOUR

GENERATIONS REMOVED, OF FORMER

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN. THEIR

COMMON ANCESTOR IS JOHN HANKS (1680 – 1740),

WHO WAS THE GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER

OF LINCOLN AND THE SIX-TIME GREAT-

GRANDFATHER OF TOM HANKS

BEFORE HE PLAYED A GAY LAWYER WITH

AIDS IN THE FAMOUS 1993 DRAMA “PHILADELPHIA,”

HANKS LOST 35 POUNDS (16 KILOGRAMS) AND

EVEN THINNED HIS HAIR IN ORDER TO

APPEAR SICKLY FOR THE ROLE

THE MOVIE´S ICONIC SONG, “THE STREETS OF

PHILADELPHIA,” WRITTEN AND SUNG BY

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, WON THE ACADEMY

AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG AND FOUR

GRAMMY AWARDS. HANKS AND SPRINGSTEEN

HAVE BEEN CLOSE FRIENDS SINCE THEIR CHILDHOOD

TOM HANKS IS A KEEN FAN OF THE ENGLISH

SOCCER CLUB ASTON VILLA. HE FIRST

REVEALED HE WAS A VILLA SUPPORTER IN

2001 AND HAS FREQUENTLY SPORTED THE

CLUB´S CLARET AND BLUE SCARF WHILE

ATTENDING RED CARPET EVENTS

TALKING ABOUT ENGLISH SOCCER, TOM HANKS

MIGHT BE ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL

BETTORS EVER. IN APRIL 2016, HE SAID HE

HAD BET £100 ON LEICESTER TO WIN THE

PREMIER LEAGUE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE

SEASON WHEN THE ODDS WERE 5000/1

AS LEICESTER WERE THE LEAGUE´S BIGGEST

OUTSIDERS. INCREDIBLY, LEICESTER WON THE

LEAGUE, BUT IT REMAINS A MYSTERY IF HANKS

HAD REALLY PLACED THE BET OR NOT

TOM HANKS SHARES HIS BIRTHDAY, JULY 9TH,

WITH MUSICIANS JACK WHITE, DAVID O'HARA,

COURTNEY LOVE, ACTOR CHRIS COOPER AND

POLITICIAN DONALD RUMSFELD

ON OCTOBER 7, 2013, ON “THE LATE SHOW WITH

DAVID LETTERMAN,” TOM HANKS ANNOUNCED T

HAT HE HAS TYPE 2 DIABETES