Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born on July 9, 1956 in Concord, California. He is one of the greatest actors of this generation. He has been nominated for 152 awards throughout his career and has won 70 on them including two Oscars and four Golden Globes. He has produced several notable films including Polar Express (2004), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) and Cast Away (2000).
However he is best known for his on-screen performance in more than 70 TV shows or movies.
As for his personal life, he has been married twice. His first marriage was to Samantha Lewes (24 January 1978 - 19 March 1987) with whom he had two children but ended in divorce. His second and current wife is Rita Wilson (30 April 1988 - present) who he has another two children with. His first child Colin Hanks has recently been put into the limelight after hit TV series Fargo (2014).
It was hard to narrow down this list into a top ten because while most actors will never have a movie ranked 8.0 or higher on IMDB (Internet Movie Database), Tom Hanks has been a part of five movies with those such ratings.

[new page = 10. Apollo 13, 1995]

IMDB Rating: 7.6
Apollo 13 is a very intense and nerve racking movie. Even watching it the second time and knowing the outcome it keeps you on the edge of your seats. One of the most interesting aspects of the movie is seeing how the astronauts dealt with Houston. They had very limited means of communicating with their people back on Earth.
Hanks gave a very convincing performance of an astronaut and a team leader.

[new page = 9. The Terminal, 2004]

IMDB Rating: 7.3
This was probably one of Hanks most difficult roles to play. He plays a foreigner with a heavy accent who eventually is forced to reside in JFK airport after getting stranded there. It is interesting to see the connections his character is able to make throughout the movie just because of how kind he is and how much he cares about his fellow people.
His take on this character was very likable and he really draws in the audience to be on his side.

[new page = 8. Cast Away, 2000]

IMDB Rating: 7.7
How many actors can take up the screen by themselves for roughly two hours and keep people interested? He is one of two main characters in this movie, but the only one of the two that can speak – the other is volleyball. He plays a man stranded on an island who is slowly showing signs of going crazy due to lack of human encounters.
He was nominated for both a Oscar and Golden Globe for his performance in this movie but only won the Golden Globe.
He does a great job of keeping people interested and making every minor thing his character does to survive into a feature film.

[new page = 7. Philadelphia, 1993]

IMDB Rating: 7.7
His leading role in this film won Hanks his first Oscar. Opposite Denzel Washington it is a very intense movie about AIDS. It is one of the first big films to talk about the disease.
Washington is a homophobic lawyer who is helping Hanks sue his old company after they fire him because he contracted the disease. It is an interesting dynamic that forms over the course of the film because Washington’s character doesn’t really believe in Hanks but as the film goes on he slowly changes his mentality. It is a great film for both of the two men as far as great acting is concerned.

[new page = 6. Captain Phillips, 2013]

IMDB Rating: 7.9
Captain Phillips is Hanks best movie since The Terminal. Based on a true story he plays the captain of a cargo ship that gets overrun by Somali Pirates.
This is a movie that he could have easily won another Oscar for because of how well he played his character. He constantly has long speeches throughout the film talking to both his crew and the pirates that he completely nails. It is a longer film that can get very intense but in the entire cast does a great job of keeping you interested.

[new page = 5. Catch Me if you Can, 2002]

IMDB Rating: 8.0
Two of the best actors in the past twenty years shared a screen for this film – Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. DiCaprio is the lead role, a young kid who stole millions in a fraud scandal and he is being chased across the country by Hanks, an FBI agent. Hanks is only in half the movie but he plays his role as well as any other he has taken on.
His plays his character so well that throughout the film you begin to root for DiCaprio. But that is the point – he is playing a nosy and persistent FBI agent who is simply doing his job.

[new page = 4. Toy Story, 1995]

IMDB Rating: 8.3
Arguably the best animated movie of all time Hanks plays the lead role of Woody, the child’s once favorite toy. He is intimidated by the new toy on the block and things start to get out of hand. It is based on the premise that toys come to life when not in the view of humans.
Hanks does a great job of capturing the essence of the character and is very humorous in the process.

[new page = 3. The Green Mile, 1999]

IMDB Rating: 8.5
This is one of my personal favorite movies of all time. Hanks is in control of death row at a prison. His character has a urinary tract infection and that might be the most impressive part of Hanks performance, making people believe he has the disease much like in Philadelphia. Between that and how he deals with the new guy in his outfit he puts on a great performance as a kind and compassionate correctional officer.

[new page = 2. Saving Private Ryan, 1998]

IMDB Rating: 8.6
Hanks is leading his unit through a warzone during World War II to find and rescue Private Ryan (Matt Damon). This entire cast is full of big stars that all put on equally as important performances. An audience will really believe that they are in a warzone with Tom Hanks. The famous scene from the movie is in the very beginning when a grenade goes off near Hanks and he is aimlessly looking around a battlefield, hearing a deathly ringing noise.

[new page = 1. Forrest Gump, 1994]

IMDB Rating: 8.8
This is Tom Hanks best performance in any movie ever. He plays a mentally challenged individual who has something to do with nearly every important historical event from World War II to Vietnam. This is a historical comedy that is one of the best movies ever made. Hanks won his second Oscar for this performance and will forever be known for the famous quote, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gunna get.”