Tom Hanks to speak at Tri-C as part of Dec. 2 Cleveland visit

November 17, 2016

Nearly 40 years after the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival helped to launch Tom Hanks’ acting career, the two-time Academy Award winner still has a soft spot for Cleveland.

In October, he punctuated his appearance on Saturday Night Live with a “Go Tribe,” as the Indians were preparing for the World Series. But in December, Cleveland will get much more than baseball well-wishes from a sound stage in New York – they’ll get Hanks in the flesh.

On Dec. 2, Hanks will travel to Cleveland for a pair of speaking engagements, one of which will take place in the auditorium at Cuyahoga Community College’s Metropolitan Campus.

Hanks will travel to the Metro Campus of Tri-C, where he will speak to high school and college students from throughout the region. The focus of the Tri-C discussion is career development in media. Hanks will relay stories from his own career, and talk to students about how they can pursue their own careers in acting, film, television and other forms of media.

He will also appear at a fundraiser for local film and TV production businesses, which will be held at the InterContinental Hotel, adjacent to the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic. The fundraiser event will be moderated by WKYC news anchor Russ Mitchell.

The Greater Cleveland Film Commission is sponsoring Hanks’ visit.

Hanks, a native of the Bay Area, began his professional acting career as an intern at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, where he played a minor role in “Hamlet.” After a successful run in comedies throughout the 1980s, including “Splash” and “Big,” Hanks transitioned to dramatic roles, where he became one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood throughout the 1990s, reeling off a series of blockbuster hits, including “A League of Their Own,” “Philadelphia,” “Forrest Gump,” “Apollo 13” and “Saving Private Ryan.”

Hanks won back-to-back Best Actor Oscars in 1993 and ’94 for his performances in “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump.”

More recently, Hanks garnered a Golden Globe nomination for his 2013 performance in “Captain Phillips.” He’s also received acclaim for his portrayal of symbologist Robert Langdon in “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons.” The third installment in the film series, “Inferno,” was released in October. Hanks also recently portrayed airline pilot Chesley Sullenberger in the Clint Eastwood-directed “Sully,” released in September.