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10 Performances That Prove Tom Hanks Is The Greatest Actor Of His Generation

There are very few actors working in Hollywood today that have the ability to do literally anything. Most become synonymous with a particular genre, and coast along in their comfort zone. Some occasionally dip into new material, but soon retreat to the familiar. Then there’s two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks.

Philadelphia (1993)

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Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia is notable as being among the first high profile Hollywood films to address the issue of AIDS discrimination. It is also notable as the film that won Tom Hanks his first Academy Award. He plays Andrew Beckett, who is a talented senior associate at one of the largest law firms in Philadelphia – and his employment is terminated shortly after AIDS-related lesions begin to appear on his face and body.

Feeling that he has been subjected to discrimination, Beckett seeks the assistance of various personal injury lawyers, with the intention of suing his former employer. The nature of his case means that every lawyer rejects him, however, and he finally opts to represent himself. After witnessing Beckett being ostracized in a public library, lawyer Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) – who previously rejected him – decides to help, and together, the two mount a case against the law firm.

The role of Beckett was a complete departure for Hanks, as it was his first time leading a film that is entirely dramatic in nature. We see the character transform from respected and successful attorney-at-law, to ailing and stigmatized victim of corporate and social ignorance. He is publicly and painfully humiliated by his former employers, while being supported and lifted up by his family and community. Ultimately, Beckett endures the onslaught of prejudice as he fights for his life, in order to create positive change and awareness on a national level.

In his performance, Hanks delivers a mixture of fear, devastation, love and determination as he crafts the nature of Andrew Beckett, and his reaction to his circumstance. But, the character reaches new levels in the scattered moments when we see Beckett processing his reality, and slowly, gently allowing himself to experience acceptance – his loved ones of him, and his of his fate.