Tom Hanks Rewrote His Career With Philadelphia

Tom Hanks began his screen career in 1980 with a small role in the slasher He Knows You're Alone and an episode of The Love Boat, then honed his comedic craft on sitcoms from 1980 to 1982. His breakout movie turn came in Ron Howard's romantic comedy Splash, which established him as a bankable comedic lead and led to a string of popular comedies through the 1980s, including Bachelor Party, The Money Pit, Dragnet, Big and The 'Burbs.

Jonathan Demme cast Hanks opposite Denzel Washington in Philadelphia, where Hanks played Andrew Beckett, a lawyer who is fired after contracting AIDS and facing discrimination for being gay. The film confronted a taboo subject for mainstream Hollywood at the time, portraying homosexual characters sympathetically and challenging the homophobic prejudices many patients endured.

Hanks risked his comedic reputation to take the role, and his performance earned him the Best Actor Oscar at the 66th Academy Awards.

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