Watch Tom Hanks' 10 finest moments - from photobombing, to touching speeches, via Castaway and more
See the Oscar-winning actor's career highlights, including the Big piano, coining catchphrases and being a beauty queen
Tom Hanks is THE MAN. One look at your film collection will prove he has made some of the finest films ever made and he is set for yet more Oscar glory with his new movie, Captain Phillips.
The nail-biting true story, released today, sees Hanks play Richard Phillips, the captain of a US cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009.
His performance is already impressing critics, but it isn't the first time the 57-year-old has proved he is one of the greatest film stars of all time.
We're not just talking about his acting, either. Did you know he is an accomplished rapper, loves beauty pageants and is the official (according to us) king of the photobomb?
We've assembled Tom Hanks' greatest moments, from the funny to the tense and the tear-jerkingly emotional.
Making a splash
Before that Tom Daly programme about celebrities jumping in to water, there was Splash - Hanks' first big break. A film about a man who falls in love with a mermaid, as you do.
He honed many essential movie star skills during filming, from underwater kissing, to acting panicked and being, like, a total stud with fish-human hybrids. Why he didn't win an award for it is beyond us.
"Reach for the Sky!"
In 1995, Toy Story rocketed Pixar to the big time, known for making family friendly films packed with adult-only humour. And Hanks was the leading man.
He manages to make a computer-generated toy a character with more layers than a prize-winning onion: funny, pitiful, caring, selfish and, surprisingly, a convincing action hero. Did someone say The Expendables 3?
He's the bomb...
...When it comes to photos, that is. Mainly thanks to this incredible picture of Hanks appearing to stumble on a drunk guy in a diner and take pictures on his phone while he was passed out.
Another version of events is that the chap in question asked Hanks to appear in the fake photos, but either way, these photos are phenomenal.
Football crazy, football mad
Tom Hanks has been in some of the saddest films known to mankind. But the saddest scene of all has to be his farewell to Wilson in Castaway.
Only he could make the parting between a grown man and a football he has drawn a face on, one of the most heart-wrenching pieces of cinema ever. Wilsooooon!
"Don't want no preacher. You can say a prayer if you like."
Near the top of any film fan's favourite movies list must be Death Row drama The Green Mile, starring Tom Hanks alongside Michael Clarke Duncan, who played prisoner John Coffey.
When Duncan died of a heart attack in September of last year, Hanks attended his memorial service and delivered this heartfelt speech, that made mourners both laugh and cry.
Life is like carrying a watermelon...
...Hang on, that's not right. We're talking about the iconic scene from Forrest Gump, a film that warms the heart so much there is little need for central heating. And won Tom Hanks his second Oscar.
Would this line have become the piece of cinema history it is had it not been Mr Hanks saying it? We think not.
Beauty School Dropout
Even the most serious of actors should be able to make fun of themselves and Hanks proved he's a pro when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and spoofed American fly-on-the-wall documentary Toddlers & Tiaras.
Starring in a skit with his 'daughter' (played by an actress), Hanks pranced around in a tutu while pretending to be a pushy parent obsessed with beauty pageants. Brilliant.
He is the next Jay-Z, or was, before Jay-Z's career started
Any credible actor that can also rap ups their cool points by at least 50. This is a fact that we have just made up, but this video of Tom Hanks rapping with Dan Akroyd in '80s cop comedy Dragnet, essentially validates our claim.
There is just so much to love about it. The bad costumes, the fact it was choreographed by Paula Abdul, the backing dancers... In fact he is such a good rapper, he spat some rhymes a year later in Big.
Big-time musical skills
No list of Tom Hanks' best bits would be complete without that piano scene from 1998 coming-of-age comedy, Big.
Hanks managed to do the entire keyboard number himself, without the need for stunt doubles and he loved it SO much, he recently recreated the famous scene on The Jonathan Ross Show.
The King (of cinema)'s Speech
When Hanks won his first Oscar in 1993 for his performance in the heart-wrenching Philadelphia, he shocked some viewers by thanking his high school drama teacher Rawley T Farnsworth and a former classmate.
He said: "They are two of the finest gay Americans, two wonderful men that I have the good fortune to be associated with."
The reason his acceptance speech was surprising, was that neither of these men had actually come out as being homosexual. Whoops.
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Only joking...
* Captain Phillips is in cinemas now