Colin Hanks

The Long Shadow of Sacramento

Colin Hanks was born in 1977 with a label stuck to his forehead that would take decades to peel off. Being the eldest son of Tom Hanks doesn't open every door for you. Sometimes it slams them shut with a metallic bang, because the comparison is inevitable and often cruel.

He started out studying theater at Loyola Marymount University, but he left the books behind for film sets in 1999. His first serious role came with the series Roswell. There he played Alex Whitman, and the producers saw something that wasn't just genetics. It was an unusually restrained physical presence for a twenty-year-old kid.

But commercial film soon came knocking. In 2002 he starred in Orange County alongside Jack Black. Critics expected a teen disaster and found an actor capable of keeping up with a whirlwind of comedy. It was his first wake-up call to the industry.

Nobody handed him anything.

In 2001 he took part in the miniseries Band of Brothers. He played Lt. Henry Jones in an episode directed by his father. But before shooting, he read the script and understood that his character reflects inexperience and fear. That role earned him the respect of veterans in the industry.

A Home in Cable TV

Big studio films never quite gave him the breaks he was looking for, so he took risks in other formats. In 2010 he joined the cast of Mad Men to play Reverend John Gill. It was a brief appearance, but it carried a strange melancholy that unsettled audiences with its maturity.

And the gamble paid off.

His real breakout came in 2014 with the first season of Fargo. His role as Gus Grimly earned him Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Hanks built a mediocre, frightened, deeply human cop who moved away from any cheap Hollywood heroism. He made viewers forget his last name for ten straight episodes.

Because Colin Hanks prefers characters who fail. He's drawn to guys who don't know what to do with their hands when a situation overwhelms them. In 2011 he tried it in season six of Dexter, playing Travis Marshall. It was a turn toward darkness that few expected from such a friendly face.

He is not his father.

Cameras, music and the streaming business

In 2015 he decided that acting wasn't enough and moved behind the camera. He directed the documentary All Things Must Pass about the rise and fall of Tower Records. He spent seven years of his life getting the project off the ground and raised $92,000 through a crowdfunding campaign. The result was a flawless technical piece about the nostalgia of vinyl.

His affinity for physical comedy shone again in 2017 with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. He didn't need to be the lead for his presence to carry weight in the story. He repeated the formula in the 2019 sequel and showed he can hold his own in big-budget productions when the script has some soul.

In 2022, he took on the challenge of playing Barry Siegel in the miniseries The Offer. The production tells the story of the struggles to film The Godfather, and Hanks plays the executive in charge of controlling costs. It's a dry, bureaucratic role that demands surgical precision in every line of dialogue.

That same year he appeared in A Friend of the Family, playing Bob Broberg. It's a true story about manipulation and abuse, in which Hanks explores the vulnerability of a father who loses control of his surroundings. The series required months of psychological preparation for the cast because of the harshness of the source material.

Hanks divides his time between his production company and his handmade pocket square brand, Hanks Kerchiefs. On the set of The Offer, the production had an estimated budget of $50 million to recreate 1970s Hollywood.