Tom Hanks: who does actor play in Elvis film, why was he seen shaking, how is his health, and how old is he?

Tom Hanks is a rare brand of celebrity, basically universally loved by all and lauded for his performances in films like Saving Private Ryan, Captain Phillips, Philadelphia, Cast Away, Forrest Gump and Apollo 13, just to name a few.

He will make his next appearance on the big screen in the Baz Luhrmann directed Elvis Presley biopic, set to hit UK cinemas later this month.

Who does Tom Hanks play in Elvis?

Hanks stars in the new Elvis Presley biopic, simply titled Elvis, as Colonel Tom Parker, who was Preseley’s infamous longtime manager who launched his career.

Parker discovered Presley in 1955, and the two worked together up until the singer’s death in 1977. Parker himself died in 1997 at 87 years old.

During the Elvis panel at the Cannes Film Festival at the end of May, Hanks opened up about the divisive role and why he chose to portray such an unlikeable character.

He said: “I’m not interested in playing a bad guy just for the sake of, “Before I kill you Mr Bond, perhaps you’d like a tour of my installations”. That’s okay, I get it, but that’s for other stuff.”

Hanks added: “There would have been no Elvis without Colonel Tom Parker; there would have been no Colonel Tom Parker without Elvis. A symbiotic relationship.

“What [Luhrmann] tantalised me with was, here was a guy who saw an opportunity to manifest a once-in-a-lifetime talent into a cultural force.”

Hanks said that Luhrmann described Parker as a “great carney”, or carnival worker.

He said: “The carney’s job is to bring people to the glittering lights on the outside of town, promise them something they’ve never experienced before, and then, almost giving it to them, at a cost.

“When he said that, I said, ‘I’m your man”.”

Elvis is set to hit UK cinemas on 24 June, and stars Austin Butler (The Shannara Chronicles, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood), Olivia DeJonge (The Staircase, The Society) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things, The Broken Hearts Gallery) alongside Hanks.

When was he seen shaking - how is his health?

Fans of the actor have expressed concerns for his health due to a clip that has gone viral that shows his hands shaking.

The footage, which was recorded on 4 June, was captured at the Australian premier of Elvis, and showed Hanks onstage as he appeared to struggle to keep a microphone steady. In the clip, he can be seen moving the mic back and forth, and at several points attempts to hold it in both hands.

Hanks did not address his shaking hands at the time the clip was filmed, and has not made a statement following the video surfacing online.

While some have speculated that the actor was perhaps simply suffering from nerves, others have speculated that his shaking hands might have been caused by his diabetes, a diagnosis which he shared in 2013.

At the time, Hanks appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and said: “I went to the doctor and he said, “You know those high blood sugar numbers you’ve been dealing with since you were 36? Well, you graduated! You’ve got Type 2 diabetes, young man”.”

In March 2020, Hanks also experienced a tough time recovering from Covid-19 after contracting the virus alongside his wife, Rita Wilson, whilst the pair were in Australia.

Chatting to the Guardian in July that year, Hanks said: “I just had crippling body aches, I was very fatigued all the time and I couldn’t concentrate on anything for more than about 12 minutes.”

How old is Tom Hanks?

Hanks is 65-years-old. He was born on 9 July 1956 in Concord, California.

His wife, Rita Wilson, is also 65 as well. The two met in 1981 on the set of the TV show Bosom Buddies and were reunited a few years later in 1985 on the set of Volunteers.

The two got married in 1988 and have two sons together - their eldest son Chester “Chest” Marlon, born in 1990, and their youngest son Truman Theodore born in 1995.