TOM HANKS

Tom Hanks is the ultimate cinematic comforting presence, a bloke who has spent over forty years acting as the moral compass of modern film. Rising from goofy 1980s comedies, he transformed into the absolute definition of the trustworthy, everyman hero, bringing an unmatched, earnest warmth to the screen that makes you feel instantly safe the moment he pops up in a movie.

He didn’t just find success in Hollywood; he completely dominated the 1990s by pulling off one of the most legendary back-to-back Oscar-winning runs in history, breaking hearts as Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia before completely charming the entire world as Forrest Gump. Hanks has a rare knack for playing thoroughly decent men trapped in extraordinary situations. Whether he’s keeping his head down leading soldiers through the chaos of Saving Private Ryan, surviving on a desert island with a volleyball in Cast Away, or screaming “There’s a snake in my boot!” as Woody in Toy Story, he brings a proper, grounded honesty that is impossible to fake.

He’s stayed incredibly busy lately too, continuing to pick projects that show he’s still got that massive storytelling hunger. He reunited with Wes Anderson to star as an eccentric billionaire in the stylish espionage caper The Phoenician Scheme, and put a proper hard shift in for Robert Zemeckis’s unique drama Here, using cutting-edge tech to play a character across several decades. On top of that, he’s spent time writing his own fiction books and producing heavy-hitting television like the massive World War II aerial drama series Masters of the Air.

Right now, he isn’t showing a single sign of slowing down to quietly count his accolades. He’s currently back in the recording booth preparing to voice the iconic cowboy doll once again for the highly anticipated Toy Story 5, and he’s gearing up for high-stakes action by penning the script and preparing to star in the massive Pacific-theater naval sequel Greyhound 2. He is a monumental pillar of classic Hollywood, a proper class act who treats the craft with absolute zero pretentiousness, and seeing his name on the box is always a guaranteed safe bet for a cracking watch.

Insomniacs Trivia

• The Typewriter Obsession Grind: Tom doesn’t just use modern tech; he is completely obsessed with vintage, manual typewriters and has been collecting them since the 1970s. He owns well over a hundred different classic models from all over the world and routinely packs a heavy, portable typewriter into his luggage whenever he travels for massive film shoots, refusing to use a laptop to write his personal letters because he claims the mechanical click of the keys helps him clear his head.

• The Uncredited Chutzpah Hustle: When he was starting out as a young, completely unknown actor in New York, Tom was struggling immensely to get his foot in the door. To secure his very first professional union card, he had to boldly lie to a theater director, claiming he was a highly seasoned performer from Cleveland with a massive resume. He completely bluffed his way into the gig, memorized the entire script overnight, and performed so brilliantly that nobody ever realized he had completely fabricated his credentials.

• The Deep Space Asteroid Legacy: Tom’s legendary performance as astronaut Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 didn’t just bag him massive critical acclaim—it actually landed his name in deep space. Astronomers who were massive fans of the film officially named a newly discovered, real-life asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter “12818 Tomhanks” in his honor. He’s one of the very few actors in history to have an actual giant space rock flying through the cosmos permanently carrying his name.

Insomniacs Take

Tom Hanks is a proper national treasure of global cinema who represents pure, old-school class. In a modern entertainment industry crammed with safe, hyper-polished performers who feel like they’ve been put together by a corporate PR team, he stands tall because he brings a genuine, vulnerable sincerity that you simply cannot manufacture in a lab. He doesn’t do loud, arrogant celebrity fluff; he just turns up, puts the hard yards in, and delivers an absolute masterclass in subtle, powerful acting every single time. He is a massive credit to the entire history of motion pictures, and he remains the ultimate safe bet for a top-tier watch.