Who Are Tom Hanks' Kids? All About Colin, Elizabeth, Chet and Truman

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty

While many seeTom Hanksas America’s dad, the actor has four children of his own.

He welcomed his first child, sonColin, 46, with his first wife, Samantha Lewes, in 1977. Five years later, Hanks' second child and only daughter, Elizabeth Ann, 42, was born. After Hanks and Lewes divorced in 1987, he went on to marry actressRita Wilson, and the couple had two more children: sons Chet, 34, and Truman, 29.

“My son Colin was born when I was very young. As well as my daughter,” Hanks toldThe New York Timesahead of the 2019 premiere ofA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. “They remember when their dad was just a guy trying to, you know, make the rent. My other kids, they were born after I had established a beachhead in every way. And so their lives were just different.”

Hanks also touched on his parenting philosophy with theTimes, saying, “Somewhere along the line, I figured out, the only thing … a parent can do is say, ‘I love you, there’s nothing you can do wrong, you cannot hurt my feelings, I hope you will forgive me on occasion and what do you need me to do?’ You offer up that to them: ‘I will do anything I can possibly do in order to keep you safe.’ That’s it. Offer that up and then just love them.”

All four of his kids — plus Colin’s wife,Samantha Bryant, whom Hanks thinks of “as a daughter” — were present to watch their father accept the prestigiousCecil B. DeMille awardat the Golden Globes in early 2020, and Hanks got emotional talking about his familyduring his speech.

“A man is blessed with a family sitting down front like that,” he said. “A wife who is fantastic in every way, who has taught me what love is. Five kids who are braver, stronger, and wiser than their old man is, a loving group of people who have put [up] with me being away for months and months and months at a time. … I can’t tell you how much your love means to me.”

In January 2023, the Oscar-winning actor weighed in on theHollywood nepotism debate, calling the entertainment industry a “family business,” explaining, “This is what we’ve been doing forever. It’s what all of our kids grew up in.” He added, “The thing that doesn’t change no matter what happens, no matter what your last name is, is whether it works or not. … Doesn’t matter what our last names are. We have to do the work in order to make that a true and authentic experience for the audience.”

Here’s everything to know about Tom Hanks' kids: Colin, Elizabeth, Chet and Truman.

Colin Lewes Hanks, 46

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Colin Lewes Hanks, the first child of Hanks and actress Samantha Lewes, was born on Nov. 24, 1977, in Sacramento, California. He attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles but left before earning his degree to begin an acting career.

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Colin married publicist Samantha Bryant in May 2010. The couple havetwo young daughters: Olivia Jane, born in 2011, and Charlotte Bryant, born in 2013. Colin alsofounded a line of handkerchiefscalled Hanks Kerchiefs.

The actor is well aware of how much he looks like his dad, even joking about theconstant comparisons. Colin spoke toDax ShepardonArmchair Expertabout being the son of a famous actor while trying to carve out a career for himself.

“When I was starting off I was sort of lovingly naive, thinking that [being Tom Hanks' son] wasn’t as big a deal as it is that I would get the benefit of the doubt that I was my own person. And that doesn’t happen,” he said.

Elizabeth Ann Hanks, 42

Hank and Lewes' second child, Elizabeth Ann Hanks, was born on May 17, 1982, and grew up in Sacramento. As a child, she appeared as an extra inForrest GumpandThat Thing You Do!with her dad. After graduating from Vassar College, she began working as a writer under the name E.A. Hanks.

Elizabeth has written for several publications, includingTIMEmagazine,The Guardian,The New York Timesand Huffington Post.In 2021, she wrote a piece that accompanied a published version of the screenplay forLady Bird,Greta Gerwig’s 2017 film set in their shared hometown. “This Sacramento girl wrote an essay (‘Notes on Native Daughters’) about Sacramento Girls who wrote about Sacramento Girls,” Elizabeth announced onInstagram.

Her first novel is set to publish in 2024.

Chester “Chet” Marlon Hanks, 34

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After Hanks married actress Rita Wilson in 1988, they welcomed their first child together,Chester “Chet” Marlon Hanks, on Aug. 4, 1990, in Los Angeles.

He began using the stage nameChet Hazewhile he was a student at Northwestern University to launch a music career.

Chet has done some acting work, most notably on the Fox seriesEmpire. In 2018, he shared that his Oscar-winning dad passed down someadvice about acting: “Show up on time, know your lines and be nice to everybody.” Chet began the personal training company HanxFit in 2022.

In 2014, Chet went to rehab to treat substance abuse that he had been struggling with since he was 16 years old. Two years later, he shared that he got sober for his daughterMichaiah Hanks, whom he shares with his ex Tiffany Miles.

“I want to share something today because it’s about to be shared anyway in the press, which is the fact thatI have a daughter,” he said in 2016. “I do have a daughter, she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, she’s the reason why I turned my life around and got sober.”

Chet has now been sober for more than a decade.

“It’s not difficult at all. What’s difficult is when you’re trying to manage your life and you’renotsober, that’s what’s difficult,” he told PEOPLE in July 2024. “When you just commit and decide and you stick to it, it’s not even something that you negotiate with. And life becomes extremely easy.”

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Chet has also spoken publicly about growing up with famous parents. He opened up about his upbringing in aYouTube videoin early 2022, saying that growing up in Hollywood was a “double-edged sword” and that he’s often seen as a “spoiled brat,” but he wasn’t raised that way.

“I’m very privileged, but I wasn’t spoiled,” he shared. “My parents didn’t spoil me; I was never just given money or an allowance. I had to work and earn everything that I’ve made, and it’s been that way for my entire life.”

Truman Theodore Hanks, 29

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The youngest of the Hanks clan,Truman Theodore Hanks, was born on Dec. 26, 1995, in L.A. Truman graduated from Stanford University in 2018 and has since kept a lower profile than his siblings.

While he isn’t primarily an actor, Truman has joined the entertainment business, having worked on the production teams ofWest Side Story(2021),Black Widow(2021) andAtypical(2017).

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“I talked [to him] a little bit about some physical gestures and the way to walk when you’re pissed off,” Tom Hanks said at a screening in December 2022. “The good news is that I looked like him when I was 26. The bad news is he’s gonna look like me in another 40 years. He is just gonna have to deal with that.”

source: people.com