The most iconic roles of Tom Hanks' film career

The idea of Hanks in a Coen brothers movie was loaded with potential, so it’s a shame that “The Ladykillers” is generally considered the least of good movies from Joel and Ethan. That being said, no Coen brothers movie is without its charms, and Hanks is clearly having fun playing a bumbling villain. He also makes a meal of the Southern accent.

The “Dragnet” movie isn’t great, and it’s Dan Aykroyd who gets to play Sergeant Joe Friday. However, we have to include this role if only because of the rap song made for it that features Hanks rapping the plot of the movie.

Mr. White isn’t a huge role in “That Thing You Do!” That’s because Hanks was also making his writing and directing debut. It’s a fun film with an incredibly catchy soundtrack, which will forever keep the movie in people’s minds. That’s the power of an ear worm.

Walt Disney is one of the most iconic people in the history of pop culture? So when a living legend stepped into the role, as Hanks did for “Saving Mr. Banks,” it turned a lot of heads. The film, which tells the tale of Disney trying to convince P.L. Travers to let him make a “Mary Poppins” movie, didn’t make a huge impact, but everybody still remembers it as “the movie where Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney.”

“Charlie Wilson’s War” should have arguably made a bigger impact. It has two huge stars in it in Hanks, who plays the titular Charlie Wilson, and Julia Roberts. However, both are blown off the screen by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a tremendous performance that got him an Oscar nomination. When you take eyes off Hanks, you’re doing something impressive.

Yes, “Bosom Buddies” was a silly sitcom with a goofy premise. Two guys pretend to be ladies so they can live in an all-women building. Yet how many times have you heard people talking about Hanks getting his start on “Bosom Buddies?” It’s part of his story, if only because people find it funny.

Ray Peterson is a generic name, which may make it hard to place. That’s true even if you’ve seen “The ‘Burbs,” Joe Dante’s 1989 horror comedy. It’s a fun movie, and Hanks is great in it. He wasn’t quite a huge star yet, though, which may have led to it being overlooked. Also, his wife is played by Carrie Fisher! Talk about a power couple!

For a little while, Sully was seemingly all over the place. That’s what happens when you land a broken plane on the water and save everybody’s life. Naturally, a movie was made about the event, and of course Hanks was hired to embody Sully’s stoic, mustachioed demeanor. Is there a greater honor than being played by Tom Hanks in a biopic?

Hanks is certainly making...a choice in playing Parker, the longtime manager of Elvis Presley. No, it's not all the makeup in Baz Luhrmann's kaleidoscopic biopic. Hanks is using an interesting voice in the role as well, and he's definitely not reigning it in. Like the whole movie, Hanks' Parker is over the top, and definitely memorable as a result. And yet, somehow his turn as Geppetto in "Pinnochio," also a 2022 film, may have been even odder.

Speaking of biopics about captains, a lot more was asked of Hanks in “Captain Phillips.” Somehow he was in an even crazier situation than in “Sully,” as he played the captain of a boat overrun by pilots. The movie got several Oscar nominations, but surprisingly none was for Hanks. Maybe that’s because the No. 1 thing people remember from this movie is Barkhad Abdi, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, saying, “I’m the captain now.”

“You’ve Got Mail” may feel silly now in this modern world. It’s a movie built around people exchanging emails with a title taken from AOL. Nevertheless, at the time it was a wildly successful romantic comedy starring Hanks and Meg Ryan. Those two will show up again later on this list.

“The Green Mile” is one of those cases of a famous movie where maybe you don’t remember the characters’ names; you just remember them as Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan. This was definitely Duncan’s most memorable role, while it’s middle of the pack for Hanks. Still, lots of people remember Hanks from this film.

“Joe vs. the Volcano” isn’t as well-remembered of a movie as “The Green Mile.” However, while Hanks arguably plays second fiddle to Duncan in the latter, he’s the clear star of the former. His character’s name is right in the title! That’s pretty uncommon, even for Hanks. You DEFINITELY remember Hanks’ character in this movie, and it’s an underrated gem too.

Hanks basically had no movie career when “Splash” came out in 1984. It, along with 1984’s “Bachelor Party,” was his first go at leading a film. “Bachelor Party” doesn’t really hold up. It’s a mediocre, forgotten raunchy ‘80s comedy. “Splash,” though, was the first sign of Hanks’ future stardom and an indication that “Tom Hanks” was going to be a thing going forward.

“Sleepless in Seattle” is one of the quintessential ‘90s romantic comedies. While he and Meg Ryan would run it back in “You’ve Got Mail,” that one doesn’t quite hold a candle to this pairing. It’s one of the movies that is brought up when talking about the heyday of the rom-com. If you like this kind of film, you remember Sam Baldwin vividly.

Hanks won an Oscar for playing Andrew Beckett, a gay man dying of AIDs, in “Philadelphia.” It was his first Oscar win. Yet it doesn’t feel like “Philadelphia” has had a ton of legs. It’s sort of fallen into the past a bit. People still remember it, of course, and Oscar winners live forever. This character just isn’t quite as high up the list as you might think at first blush.

“Catch Me If You Can” is a fun movie that’s mostly a two-hander between Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. That’s some real star power, which has helped keep the movie in people’s minds. It’s a bit of a romp, in some ways, that people like to rewatch — you know, the kind of movie that gets showed on TV a lot. That helps burn a character into people’s minds, which certainly happened with Hanratty.

For the first time, Hanks played a character whose name was in the title. Of course, he was a little overshadowed by his co-star, the dog who played “Hooch.” However, Hanks was still a burgeoning movie star in 1989 when “Turner & Hooch” came out, and everybody remembers him acting along  with that big, slobbering dog.

Hanks has had two primary recurring roles. One we will get to later. The other is Langdon, who Hanks plays in three films based on Dan Brown books. The most famous of those is “The Da Vinci Code.” These aren’t necessarily beloved movies, but three of them were made. We’ve seen Hanks play Langdon for hours on end. That counts for something on a list like this.

We can sum up this entry in one sentence: “There’s no crying in baseball!” With those words, Hanks etched himself in sports movie lore. We’re talking about “A League of Their Own,” of course. You knew that, though, because you’ve heard that line dozens of times, both in and out of context.

“Saving Private Ryan” is an epic war movie, and people scratch their heads that it didn’t win Best Picture. While it’s an ensemble piece featuring many notable names, and the war violence may be the true star, Hanks is the center of the film. He’s the leader of the soldiers, the emotional core of the film, and he brings Captain Miller to life with gusto.

Here’s another case of Hanks playing a real person. In this case, it's astronaut Jim Lovell, famously remembered as one of the astronauts on Apollo 13. It was a crazy story when it happened, and it hasn’t gotten any less crazy. Making a movie out of the Apollo 13 crisis was an obvious decision, and people were happy with the film. Hanks, for his part, got to utter another iconic line, “Houston, we have a problem.”

You want to talk about carrying a movie? For a big chunk of “Cast Away,” Hanks is the only actor we see on the screen. It’s him and a volleyball. Not every movie star could pull that off. Hanks did it. As a movie, “Cast Away” has flaws, but what Hanks did was indelible.

If you’re asking the question, “When did Tom Hanks become a true movie star,” the answer is probably in 1988’s “Big.” It’s the film that shot him into the stratosphere. Yeah, a movie about a kid suddenly becoming an adult is weird, but Hanks somehow makes it work. That scene where he dances on the giant keyboard? That will be in film history montages until the end of time.

“Forrest Gump” is a polarizing movie. It won Best Picture, and Hanks won his second Best Actor award in as many years. A lot of people didn’t like it then, though, and even more are down on it now. We’re not here to litigate the film’s quality. This is about Tom Hanks’ most-memorable roles. EVERYBODY remembers him playing Forrest Gump. He was a quote machine. He got parodied endlessly. There’s a restaurant named in honor of the movie. Forrest Gump, like it or not, is one of the iconic characters in all of film.

Somehow, we don’t even see Hanks’ face in his best-remembered role. There was no other choice here. Hanks has voiced Woody in four “Toy Story” movies — three generations of kids have heard him voice the cowboy toy. The first “Toy Story” changed animation and made Pixar a thing. Since then you've seen Woody countless times over the years. Have you ever been to Disney World or Disneyland? You’ve come across Woody then. Hanks will never have another role as impactful as Woody, who doesn’t even have a last name.