page_title: Tom Hanks
section_title: Politics and activism
hierarchical_section_title: Tom Hanks / Personal life / Politics and activism
caption_attribution_description: Dec. 7, 2014 "The President and First Lady applaud Tom Hanks, one of the honorees at the Kennedy Center Honors.". (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
context_page_description: Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is an American-Greek actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, Hanks is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Hanks's films have grossed more than $4.9 billion in North America and more than $9.96 billion worldwide, making him the fifth-highest-grossing actor in North America.
  Hanks made his breakthrough with leading roles in the comedies Splash and Big. He won two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor for starring as a gay lawyer suffering from AIDS in Philadelphia and a young man with below-average IQ in Forrest Gump. Hanks collaborated with film director Steven Spielberg on five films: Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Bridge of Spies, and The Post, as well as the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, which launched him as a director, producer, and screenwriter.
  Hanks's other notable films include the romantic comedies Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail; the dramas Apollo 13, The Green Mile, Cast Away, Road to Perdition, and Cloud Atlas; and the biographical dramas Saving Mr.
context_section_description: Hanks supports same-sex marriage, environmental causes, and alternative fuels. He has donated to many Democratic politicians, and during the 2008 United States presidential election uploaded a video to his MySpace account endorsing Barack Obama. He also narrated a 2012 documentary, The Road We've Traveled, created by Obama for America. In 2016, Hanks endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
  Hanks was outspoken about his opposition to the 2008 Proposition 8, an amendment to the California constitution that defined marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. Hanks and others raised over US$44 million to campaign against the proposition, in contrast to the supporters' $39 million, but Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote. It was overruled in June 2013, when the Ninth Circuit lifted its stay of the district court's ruling, enabling Governor Jerry Brown to order same-sex marriage officiations to resume. While premiering a TV series in January 2009, Hanks called supporters of Proposition 8 "un-American" and criticized LDS Church members, who were major proponents of the bill, for their views on marriage and role in supporting the bill. About a week later, he apologized for the remark, saying that nothing is more American than voting one's conscience.
  A proponent of environmentalism, Hanks is an investor in electric vehicles and owns a Toyota RAV4 EV and the first production AC Propulsion eBox. He was a lessee of an EV1 before it was recalled, as chronicled in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? He was on the waiting list for an Aptera 2 Series.
  Hanks serves as campaign chair of the Hidden Heroes Campaign of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. The stated mission of the campaign is to inspire a national movement to more effectively support the military and veteran caregivers.
  In 2004, while touring the White House, Hanks learned that the press corps did not have a coffee pot, and shortly thereafter he donated an espresso machine. He again donated new machines in 2010 and 2017. His 2017 donation was accompanied by a note that read "To the White House Press Corps, Keep up the good fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Especially for the truth part."
  He endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential election.
caption: Hanks with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the Kennedy Center Honors
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark III", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2014:12:23 22:45:08", "Image Artist": "Pete Souza", "Image Copyright": "This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.", "Image ExifOffset": "1024", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1734", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8783", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "2000", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "2000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:12:07 22:36:58", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:12:07 22:36:58", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "870723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "343/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Partial", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "28", "EXIF SubSecTime": "13", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "13", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "13", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1500", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1000", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "160", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "160", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "4", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "152028002633", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 70, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0325000075"}