It can’t be too easy being the eldest son of one of Hollywood’s living legends, but so far Colin Hanks has done just fine. He’s had an impressive career and has been seen in just about everything you can imagine as far as genre, and he’s likely done his old man proud in the doing since he’s become a very well-renowned actor and has impressed a lot of people. Like so many others he’s definitely evolved throughout his career and has taken on new characteristics and mannerisms throughout his many roles as he’s had to grow up in the business essentially. He is the eldest son of Tom Hanks and was born to Hanks’ first wife Susan Dillingham, who sadly passed away due to bone cancer in 2002.
Since then his father had three more children, one girl and two more boys that are Colin’s half-brothers due to the fact that Hanks had children with his second wife. To date however Colin is perhaps the most well known next to his father when it comes to acting talent. So far it doesn’t seem like he might have anything in the works but what he’s done thus far is impressive enough to say that he has indeed come a long way since his beginning in the industry.
Here are just a few clips to show how he’s changed.
Orange County
It’s amazing how the death of someone close to you can change your entire perspective on life, as Shaun finds out. After losing his best friend in a surfing accident he decides that he absolutely needs to go to Stanford and after applying himself he finds that he has the right grades and SAT scores to get in. Unfortunately his teacher mixes up his transcripts with another, far less apt student and he’s denied outright. Even when attempting to plead his case to interviewers from Stanford things continually go wrong, which then prompts him and his brother Lance to make the trip to the university and thereby try to talk to the admissions director. That becomes yet another disaster however as they get the director high and end up burning down a building. After all this Shaun begins to wonder if Stanford is really the place for him. By the end of the story he figures out that Orange County is the best place for him to be and that life is about living with what one has, not with what they think they need.
Untraceable
Colin’s career took a step up in this underrated thriller where he plays the part of an FBI Special Agent with the cybercrimes division. He and his partner are charged with taking down some of the worst computer hackers and online criminals around, but when they meet up with one that they can’t anticipate and who seems to have a knack for getting around every last one of their tricks they suddenly realize that they not only have a very talented criminal on their hands, but a sadist and a murderer as well. As the killer continues to give live broadcasts of public executions they have to find the link between the victims and quickly deduce just what they all have in common as both Hanks and his partner are next on the target list.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
His part in this film is pretty short but it’s very meaningful as the newest version of Jumanji takes on a life of its own as the board game, found by a young man in the 90’s find the game it transforms into something that is more enticing to a young person in that day and age, a video game. Unfortunately the game is up to its old tricks as it sucks Alex into the world within the jewel, trapping him just as it did so many others. When the game is somehow dumped in a storage room in a local high school four students serving detention for various reasons find it and decide to turn it on. What they don’t know is that they’re about to play a real version of a game that has been around for much, much longer than anyone could possibly realize. This movie actually gives a nice nod to the original Jumanji with the mention of Alan Parrish, the character that was played by the late Robin Williams. Hanks however doesn’t come in until the group finishes the game, having recovered Alex from deep within Jumanji. Unfortunately when they all leave the game Alex is returned to 1996, when he was first sucked into the other world. When they meet up again he’s an adult with his own family, though he still remembers the four brave adventurers that helped him return home.
Hanks has done a lot so far and there’s no denying that we want to see more of him. Let the evolution continue.
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