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Meet Tom Hanks’ eldest actor son, Colin Hanks: he’s starring alongside Rami Malek and Russell Crowe in upcoming historical drama Nuremberg, and has 2 kids with publicist Samantha Bryant

Tom Hanks and his eldest son Colin Hanks, who’s also a Hollywood actor. Photos: @tom_hanks_fansite, @colinhanks/Instagram
Tom Hanks and his eldest son Colin Hanks, who’s also a Hollywood actor. Photos: @tom_hanks_fansite, @colinhanks/Instagram

Tom Hanks’ firstborn son is also an actor, having starred in sci-fi series Roswell and two films with Jack Black; he even earned several nominations for his role in acclaimed show Fargo

It’s not hard to imagine the pressure that comes with following in the footsteps of a famous father who’s universally regarded as one of the best actors of his generation. But for Colin Hanks, his dad wasn’t always the wealthy Hollywood A-lister everyone knows today, because he was born long before the Saving Private Ryan actor hit the big time.

Here’s what you need to know about Tom Hanks’ eldest son Colin:

Not quite Hollywood royalty

Tom Hanks and his eldest son Colin Hanks. Photo: @tom_hanks_fansite/Instagram
Tom Hanks and his eldest son Colin Hanks. Photo: @tom_hanks_fansite/Instagram
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Colin is the son of Tom Hanks and his first wife, the late actress Samantha Lewes. The couple married and shared their first child when Tom was just 22 years old. At the time, the budding actor was still trying to get a footing in the film industry and described himself as “just a guy trying to, you know, make the rent” in an interview with The New York Times.

 
Following his parents’ divorce, Colin spent time between Sacramento, where his parents met as acting students, and Los Angeles, where his dad worked. Unlike his half-siblings, Chester and Truman, who were born after their father had become famous, Colin and his mother struggled when he was growing up.

“I don’t know how much money my mother was getting in alimony, but what I heard was, ‘We don’t have the money for that. Your dad has that. We don’t have that,” he shared candidly on a podcast in 2018.

Colin Hanks chose acting as his career. Photo: @colinhanks/Instagram
Colin Hanks chose acting as his career. Photo: @colinhanks/Instagram

Despite seeing first-hand the struggles his father had breaking into a highly competitive industry, Colin followed in his father’s footsteps, dropping out of Loyola Marymount University to pursue a career in acting, according to Metro.

Latest projects

Colin Hanks is set to star alongside Bob Odenkirk in Nobody 2. Photo: @colinhanks/Instagram
Colin Hanks is set to star alongside Bob Odenkirk in Nobody 2. Photo: @colinhanks/Instagram