Unquestionably one of the finest actors ever to grace the big screen, Tom Hanks has had a long and varied career from bit parts on television to his latest cinema release, Dan Brown adaptation, Inferno.

With a career that has spanned several decades and includes hit comedies, dramas, period films, animation and dramas (to name a few) we take a look at some of Tom's defining roles. After all, who can resist a bit of Hanks?

Big

Although he came into the public eye in 1984’s comedy adventure Splash, it was 1988’s Big, the story of a child who gets his wish to become an adult that really set the ball rolling.

Hanks' portrayal of Josh, a 12 year old trapped inside a 30 year old’s body, was both hilarious and touching and his dedication to the role (he apparently had his child counterpart act all of his scenes so he could mimic his actions) made this an early example of one of many of his hallmark performances. But he wasn’t just about making us laugh…

More Hanks 80’s greats: Turner & Hooch, Dragnet, The 'burbs

Sleepless In Seattle/Philadelphia

Things went relatively quiet for Tom for a couple of years after Big but 1993 gave him two very different smash hits. First Sleepless in Seattle established him as a romantic comedy lead, a role he would visit many times over the course of his career.

But his role of lawyer Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia brought him critical acclaim and his first Oscar win to cement his status as a heavyweight dramatic actor. What followed showed that Philadelphia was no fluke…

More early 90’s hits: A League of Their Own, Joe Versus the Volcano, The Bonfire of the Vanities

Forrest Gump

One year later, Hanks starred in what was to become one of the most imitated movies in Hollywood history. Forrest Gump followed the title character, a dim-witted but kind-hearted man, through several decades of his remarkable life.

Again Hanks’ perfect mix of comedy and drama marked him out as one of the greatest actors around, and it bagged him his second Oscar. The remainder of the 1990s then beckoned...

Mid-90’s niceties: Apollo 13

Toy Story

Another year, another hit. While he had shown he had a great range of acting talent, this next film showed a whole new side of Hanks and introduced him to a younger audience.

Disney’s Toy Story was Pixar’s first full length animated film and it wowed everyone but, again, it was Hanks' voice work for fearless cowboy Woody that endeared the film to audiences across the world. The misadventures of Woody and his new found rival turned best friend Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) was an instant hit.

His reprisal of the role in both Toy Story sequels has created one of the most iconic children’s characters to date. But Tom wasn’t leaving live action behind for very long…

Cartoon Hanks: Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Cars, The Polar Express

You’ve Got Mail/Saving Private Ryan

Another double header for Tom (the 90’s just couldn’t get enough of him!), beginning with You’ve Got Mail in 1998. It's a story of two people pursuing an online romance who have no idea they’re actually business rivals in real life, and saw him teaming up with Meg Ryan for a third successful time and was another box office smash.

But it was another dramatic role that earned him another Oscar nomination. Also released in 1998, Saving Private Ryan coupled him with director Steven Spielberg for the first time to tell the story of an army squad trying to find the last surviving serviceman of a group of four brothers.

Packed with an all star cast, Tom stole the limelight (and the film’s only acting Oscar nom) as Captain John H. Miller. And his next big box office hit proved Hanks could act opposite just about anything…

More late-nineties Tom: The Green Mile

Cast Away

Tom Hanks and a volleyball. They're pretty much the only characters on-screen for the majority of director Robert Zemeckis' survival drama Cast Away. Tom plays Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer who is stranded on a desert island when his plane crashes, leaving him as the only survivor. He must learn to adapt to his new situation, all the while daring to dream of getting back home.

If that wasn’t enough he managed to make whole audiences cry over a football with a face painted on it… now that’s acting. Not only another great performance but it also garnered him his fifth Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category. His next film, once again, put Tom into a whole new, exciting, genre...

Noughties-period Hanks: The Terminal, The Ladykillers

The Da Vinci Code

Hanks continued to star in more hit films well into the 2000s, including Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Polar Express (2004). However in 2006 came possibly his biggest star turn of the decade when he accepted the role of Dr. Robert Langdon in the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. 

Hanks' first mystery thriller, it's a tense twisting storyline that saw him racing against time to solve a murder of which he is accused, whilst uncovering a divine conspiracy that could change the world forever. Hanks would return to the role of Langdon two more times, firstly in the sequel Angels & Demons (2009) and a third time in... well, take a wild guess?

Action-man Tom: Captain Phillips

Inferno

Yes, that’s right, our journey ends with Tom Hanks’ latest action packed thriller Inferno, where he will reprise the role of Dr. Robert Langdon. After waking up in a hospital in Florence with no memory of how he got there, he must team up with Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) to try and piece together what has happened to him all whilst trying to solve the most intricate riddle he has ever faced. Failure to do so will result in a deadly virus being unleashed – the race is on!

Future Hanks: Sully, Toy Story 4

Don't miss Tom back on the big screen! Be sure to catch everyone's favourite megastar in Inferno, opening on a Cineworld screen near you on 14th October. And don't forget to share your favourite Hanks movies with us @Cineworld.

Marvyn Wilson is a writer who blogs for Cineworld as part of our news team.