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49 free Tom Hanks trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Tom Hanks trivia questions with answers. Tom Hanks has been a leading man since 1984, which gives a quiz plenty to work with. These 49 questions run from the sitcom where he wore a dress to the fourth-highest career box-office total in American film, taking in the mermaid comedy that made him a star and the two Best Actor Oscars he won back to back. There are film-by-film rounds on Big, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Cast Away and Toy Story: the fortune-telling machine, the piano duet, the volleyball, the real words spoken on the way to the Moon, and how the cross-country running sequence got paid for when the budget ran out. Every answer was checked against a primary reference before publication, so the box-office figures and award details are accurate rather than approximate. Difficulty runs from questions any moviegoer will get to a handful aimed at people who read the end credits.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year was Tom Hanks born?
1956
He was born at Mount Diablo Hospital in Concord, California. His first fame came from a sitcom in which he wore a dress.
Q 02In which state was Tom Hanks born?
California
Concord, in the East Bay, was the town. He grew up moving frequently between relatives.
Q 03Which sitcom gave Hanks his TV breakthrough, playing a man dressed as a woman for cheap rent?
Bosom Buddies
It ran on ABC from 1980 to 1982. Peter Scolari played the other half of the pair.
Q 04Which 1984 mermaid comedy became a surprise hit and made Hanks a film lead?
Splash
It grossed more than $69 million. Ron Howard directed it, beginning a partnership that lasted decades.
Q 05Which 1988 fantasy comedy earned Hanks his first Academy Award nomination?
Big
He played a twelve-year-old boy in an adult body. The film established him as a major Hollywood talent.
Q 06What is the name of the fortune-telling machine that grants the wish in Big?
Zoltar
The machine has since become a fairground fixture in its own right. The wish is granted overnight with no warning.
Q 07Which two tunes are played on the giant walking piano in Big?
Heart and Soul and Chopsticks
The scene was filmed at the FAO Schwarz toy shop in New York. The keyboard was 16 feet long.
Q 08What milestone did Big achieve for its director, Penny Marshall?
First film by a woman to gross over $100m
It took $151.7 million worldwide. She had come to directing from acting in Laverne & Shirley.
Q 09For which film did Hanks win his first Academy Award for Best Actor?
Philadelphia
He played a lawyer with AIDS suing his firm for discrimination. He won again the following year.
Q 10Hanks became only the second performer in Oscar history to do what?
Win consecutive Best Actor Oscars
Spencer Tracy had done it in 1937 and 1938. Nobody has managed it since.
Q 11Which actor was the first to win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars, for Captains Courageous and Boys Town?
Spencer Tracy
He won in 1937 and 1938. Hanks matched it 56 years later.
Q 12Who directed Forrest Gump?
Robert Zemeckis
He also directed Hanks in Cast Away and The Polar Express. The film won six Academy Awards.
Q 13Forrest Gump was adapted from a 1986 novel by which author?
Winston Groom
The book is far stranger than the film, sending its hero into space with an ape. Its author had to sue for a share of the profits.
Q 21In Saving Private Ryan, who did Hanks work with as director?
Steven Spielberg
The two later made Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal together. The film follows a search through France after D-Day.
Q 22What job does Hanks's character do before being marooned in Cast Away?
FedEx systems analyst
The parcels wash ashore with him and one is never opened. The film reunited him with the director of Forrest Gump.
Q 23What is the name of the volleyball companion in Cast Away?
Wilson
The face is drawn in blood from an injured hand. The brand name on the ball supplied the name.
Q 14Roughly how much did Forrest Gump gross worldwide?
$678 million
It cost $55 million to make. It also took Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.
Q 15In which city's Chippewa Square was the bus stop bench scene of Forrest Gump filmed?
Savannah
The bench was a prop and now sits in a museum. The square is in Georgia.
Q 16How was the famous cross-country running sequence in Forrest Gump paid for?
Zemeckis and Hanks used their own money
The studio was ready to pull the plug with the budget exhausted. Director and star split the cost between them.
Q 17Which astronaut did Hanks play in Apollo 13?
Jim Lovell
Ron Howard directed, reuniting the pair after Splash. The film is based on the commander's own book.
Q 18What did the real crew of Apollo 13 actually say, as opposed to the film's famous line?
Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here
The film shifted it to the present tense and made it a catchphrase. The mission was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded.
Q 19How were the weightless scenes in Apollo 13 filmed?
In 612 dives aboard a KC-135
NASA granted almost four hours of genuine free-fall filming time. The aircraft is nicknamed the vomit comet.
Q 20Which two Academy Awards did Apollo 13 win?
Film Editing and Sound
It was nominated for nine in total. The winner for Best Picture that year was Braveheart.
Q 24How much weight did Hanks gain during pre-production on Cast Away?
50 pounds
Production then paused for a year so he could lose it and grow the beard. A second four-month halt covered the return scenes.
Q 25Roughly how much did Cast Away gross worldwide?
$429.6 million
That made it the third-highest-grossing film of 2000. Hanks was nominated for Best Actor again.
Q 26Which Pixar character does Hanks voice?
Sheriff Woody
The role began in 1995 with the first fully computer-animated feature. The fourth film in the series grossed over a billion dollars.
Q 27How much did Toy Story 4 gross worldwide in 2019?
$1.074 billion
That made it the eighth-highest-grossing film of its year. Hanks had voiced the character for 24 years by then.
Q 28In The Polar Express, what was unusual about Hanks's contribution?
He played multiple motion-capture roles
The film came out in 2004, the same year as The Ladykillers and The Terminal. He performed several characters at once through performance capture.
Q 29Which real airline captain did Hanks play in a 2016 Clint Eastwood film?
Chesley Sullenberger
The film covers the emergency landing on the Hudson River. Eastwood directed it.
Q 30Captain Phillips was based on which real event?
The Maersk Alabama hijacking
Barkhad Abdi played the pirate leader in his first film role. The ship was seized off Somalia in 2009.