Tom Hanks Said No To Acting
He never considered acting as a thing, a career. Something he’d be interested in. In high school Tom Hanks participated in plays and took drama classes. He graduated and never looked back at it. Then, he runs into an old friend. The friend asks, “are you still doing plays?” Tom responds, “no. I work at a hotel as a bellman.” The friend said, “shame on you.”
Tom admits that the exchange with his old friend rattled him. He didn’t think he could act, let alone well enough to make a life and career out of it. Not often do any of you continue to do the exact same things after high school that you did while during.
However, that is when it hit Tom, that being an actor is possible. So, just days later, Tom signed up for more drama classes at a community college and after two years transferred to California State University of Sacramento. “The only institute of higher education that I could get into where you could do plays,” Tom says.
Dropping out to be a part of a professional theater company, the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. Tom Hanks would win Best Actor for his role as Proteus in Shakespeare’s “The Two Gentleman of Verona.”
His Hollywood debut would happen one year later and we have the Tom Hanks we do today.
In previous blogs I have written about where you start is not where you finish. About not giving up and doing the thing you want and love to do, step by step. For you it may not be acting. It could be writing or another form of art. It could be cooking, baking, fitness or anything else. All it takes, just like with Tom is belief in yourself. And at times, the belief someone has in you.
Here is the Tom Hanks interview with Guy Raz on the Great Creators podcast.
Thought Provoking Questions : What have you said ‘‘no” to that should be a yes? What dream are you keeping dormant or hidden?
Dan Roman is a writer that releases a daily meditation. A quick read. Sharing wisdom and asking thought-provoking questions. Influenced by the obstacles, success and failures in life and of others. Using history, books, current events, philosophy, and ancient wisdom. These writings are actionable, thought-provoking, designed to make your life better.
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