Named one of the “25 Hottest Bachelors” by People Magazine in 2003, Colin Hanks is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his role in the successful teen movie Orange County.
Born on November 24, 1977 in Sacramento, California, Colin Hanks is the eldest son of Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and his first wife, the late producer and actress Samantha Lewes, who died of bone cancer on March 13, 2002. He has a sister named Elizabeth, born in 1982, and two half-brothers Chester, born in 1990, and Truman, born in 1995, from his father’s second marriage to actress Rita Wilson.
Hanks studied at the Sacramento Country Day School before attending Loyola Marymount University and Chapman University.
In 1996, Hanks was cast in a minor role for the movie That Thing You Do!, which is written and directed by his father Tom. He then appeared in the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes, which starred Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Shane West and James Franco. Gradually, he made his way onto the TV circuit, first making a guest appearance on HBO’s Band of Brothers and then landing a role on the science fiction television series Roswell.
Colin Hanks finally took the center stage as he was cast as Shaun Brumder in he film Orange County, which is about a guidance counselor who mistakenly sends out the wrong transcripts to Stanford University under the name of an over-achieving high school student. The movie also featured John Lithgow and Jack Black, whom he would later work with in a string of film projects.
In the 2005 remake of King Kong, Hanks was given a significant supporting role, playing the assistant to film director Carl Denham, who was played by his Orange County co-star Jack Black. Hanks’ friendship with Black further solidified in the 2006 film Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny, where he had a cameo as a drunken fraternity brother.