Tom Hanks doesn’t believe his famous last name gave his kids a head start (Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Tom Hanks is not here for the nepotism debate.
For those who actually have a social life and don’t spent all hours on social media, for a refresher, nepotism discourse has dominated the internet over recent weeks, with stars including Jamie Lee Curtis, Kate Hudson, and Lily Allen throwing in their two cents.
Sharing his own opinions, Tom, 66, has hit back at claims that his children were beneficiaries of nepotism, explaining that they didn’t reach success purely because they are offspring of a Hollywood icon.
The film star has four children who are all in showbiz. He shares son Colin, 45, and daughter Elizabeth, 40, with ex Samantha Lewes, and Chester, 32, and Truman, 27, with Rita Wilson.
Speaking to Reuters via The Sun, Tom said that, by getting into acting, his kids were merely entering the ‘family business.’
‘Look, this is a family business. This is what we’ve been doing forever,’ he began.
The film star has four children: Colin, 45, Elizabeth, 40, Chester, 32, and Truman, 27 (Picture: PA)
‘It’s what all of our kids grew up in. We have four kids, they are all very creative, they are all involved in some brand of storytelling, and if we were a plumbing supply business or if we ran the florist shop down the street, the whole family would be putting in time at some point, even if it was just inventory at the end of the year.’
He continued: ‘The thing that doesn’t change no matter what happens, no matter what your last name is, is whether it works or not. That’s the issue anytime any of us go off and try to tell a fresh story or create something that has a beginning and a middle and an end.’
Tom also said it ‘doesn’t matter’ what the family’s surnames are, as he believes they still ‘have to do the work’ in order to achieve big things.
Tom believes his children are simply entering the ‘family business’ by getting into acing (Picture: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures)
He explained that the quality of the projects his acting offspring appear in is not dependent on who their father is, because making the viewing experience ‘true and authentic’ for audiences is ‘a much bigger task than worrying about whether anyone’s going to try and scathe us or not.’
Tom’s children boast an impressive range of acting credits between them, with eldest Colin having starred in films including Orange County, King Kong, The House Bunny, The Great Buck Howard, and the Jumanji film series.
Actor and producer daughter Elizabeth also appeared in the much-loved Forrest Gump in 1994, and later appeared in That Thing You Do! in 1996, then Anchoraged in 2015.
Meanwhile, son Chester is an actor and musician, and he’s had recurring roles on Empire and Shameless, and appeared in legal drama miniseries Your Honour.
Eldest son Colin has appeared in the likes of King Kong and the Jumanji series (Picture: Lester Cohen/WireImage)
Chet has starred in Shameless and Empire to name just two famous projects (Picture: Walter McBride/Corbis via Getty Images)
Finally, youngest son Truman is known for more recent projects, such as Black Widow, Wrath of Man, and West Side Story, all from 2021.
In fact, Truman also acted alongside his famous father in their upcoming movie, A Man Called Otto.
While Tom stars in the leading role as Otto, a grumpy widower, Truman has been cast as the younger version of the character.
Speaking on a special edition of Classic FM’s Saturday Night At The Movies, Tom recently revealed the advice he gave to his mini-me ahead of filming.
The Forrest Gump star said it ‘doesn’t matter’ that his children have famous parents (Picture: David Livingston/WireImage)
Noting that Truman’s first day on set involved filming his ‘toughest scene,’ the actor recalled: ‘I said “That’s your first day? Welcome to the big leagues, my friend, you are playing in the Premiership”.
‘That’s what it requires sometimes. We compared notes but only in the most kind of surreptitious way because so much of being an actor is… look you have to do all the work but don’t show the work.
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‘You have to work hard, but you can’t make it look like you’re working hard.’
Aside from body language also being important, Tom told his son to turn up on time and always have an idea in his head.
‘That’s all you can do as an actor and then everything else should take care of itself after that,’ he said.
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He says they entered the ‘family business.’
