Tom Hanks isn’t driven by money. The Oscar-winning actor regularly commands multi-million dollar pay days for his movies, but he insists he would be just as happy making small sums like he did when he was a young upstart in Hollywood.
He explained: ”My attitude to money? On a 1980 TV series called ‘Bosom Buddies’ I made $5,000 (£3,000) a week. If I had made that kind of money for the rest of my life I would have been happy, honestly. But I have been getting ludicrous sums of money for quite some time.
”The best part is not owing money to anyone. Money, though, has never been my driving force. You can live in the biggest and best house in the world but it can be s***t if you are unhappy.”
The 57-year-old screen legend has earned critical acclaim for movies such as ‘Forrest Gump’, but he admits that he isn’t worried when one of his films flops because it keeps him grounded.
He added to The Sun newspaper: ”I have been lucky in my career simply because I made bad decisions, and learned good lessons, out of the public eye. I made the 1984 film ‘Splash’ and that was successful. Then I was in movies which flopped. No one was paying me any attention. But had it all happened for me overnight, I would have suffered problems. When fame finally came, I was as ready as you can ever be.
”I will always be known as Forrest Gump to some, but so what?”
– TEAMtalk Media
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.