What Religion Is Tom Hanks?

American actor and film maker, Tom Hanks is a Christian. His family religious history was Catholic and Mormon.

One journalist characterized Hanks’s teenage self as being a “Bible-toting evangelical” for several years.

In school, he was unpopular with students and teachers alike, later telling Rolling Stone magazine, “I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who’d yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn’t get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible.”

In 1965, his father married Frances Wong, a San Francisco native of Chinese descent. Frances had three children, two of whom lived with Hanks during his high school years.

Hanks acted in school plays, including South Pacific, while attending Skyline High School in Oakland, California.

Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California, and transferred to California State University, Sacramento after two years.

During a 2001 interview with sportscaster Bob Costas, Hanks was asked whether he would rather have an Oscar or a Heisman Trophy. He replied he would rather win a Heisman by playing halfback for the California Golden Bears.