Hollywood Icon - Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks has forged one of the most successful movie careers of our time, with back-to-back Oscars and salaries in the tens of millions of dollars. Sure, he made his name in romantic comedies (Splash, Bachelor Party) but he gets his cred from message films: No other star has made the big issues of the day as easy to understand. Think about it...

Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks, 1994, © Paramount Pictures. Courtesy The Everett Collection.