A biography for Tom Hankshasn’t been written yet.
“If you're funny, if there's something that makes you laugh, then every day's going to be okay.”
“I understand the concept of optimism. But I think with me what you get is a lack of cynicism.”
“It's always a combination of physics and poetry that I find inspiring. It's hard to wrap your head around things like the Hubble scope.”
“But television, when I was doing it, was all about scoring. You had to make these jokes bang, do whatever you could to make the material really pop. And if it didn't, there was something wrong with the material, or with you.”
“I love what I do for a living, it's the greatest job in the world, but you have to survive an awful lot of attention that you don't truly deserve and you have to live up to your professional responsibilities and I'm always trying to balance that with what is really important.”
“When I was growing up, everybody in charge, my parents and teachers, had all survived the war, and they talked about the war like it was the Kraken - you know, this huge beast that roamed the earth during their formative years.”
“I'm not interested in doing something edgy with a capital E just so everyone knows, 'Oh, OK, now he's showing us he can do edgy.'”
“I've made over 20 movies, and 5 of them are good.”
“Repertory theater is all about being part of the whole, one of the many colors in this vast palette.”
“I've talked to a number of actors who have gained weight for roles, and just the sheer physical toll it puts on one's knees and shoulders - no one wants to do it again. I'm 57 and I don't think I'm going to take on any job or go on vacation again and see to it that I can gain 30 pounds.”
“If you look at romantic comedies as pieces of commerce, the audience is looking for wish fulfillment.”
“You cannot look up at the night sky on the Planet Earth and not wonder what it's like to be up there amongst the stars. And I always look up at the moon and see it as the single most romantic place within the cosmos.”
“Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candour.”