Some Childhood Photos of Tom Hanks From the Early 1960s

Despite his sunny demeanor, Tom Hanks didn’t exactly have an idyllic childhood. The actor was born in California on July 9, 1956. His parents divorced when he was 5 years old, leaving him and his siblings feeling neglected. Some of his siblings lived with his mother, while others, including Hanks, lived with his father.

“Maybe there was a degree of loneliness because really no one — I kind of like fell through the cracks and didn’t really have adults per se that were taking care of me,” he said in an interview.

This feeling of loneliness and falling through the cracks defined Hanks’ early life. As his biographer, David Gardner, wrote, “By the time he was 10, Tom had had three mothers, gone to five different schools and lived in 10 different homes. At one stage, he had so many siblings and stepbrothers and stepsisters that he was known simply as “Number Eight.”