How Cleveland Shaped Tom Hanks’ Early Career

Tom Hanks wanted to become a theatrical actor, and the training he got at what was then called the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival has served him throughout his lengthy and illustrious career.

“You can show up late for a movie,” Hanks said in a 2009 interview with Cleveland Magazine. “You can show up not knowing your dialogue. You can show up not knowing what you are going to do in a scene. But I still can’t. Otherwise, I’m being unprofessional — and I got that in my first 72 hours at the Great Lakes Theater Festival.”

Hanks grew up in Oakland, which he referred to in an interview as “Cleveland East,” and decamped for Ohio after meeting Vincent Dowling, artistic director of the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival.

As an intern in 1977, when the festival was at Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Hanks was immersed in all sides of theater, not just acting. “I knew there would be a lot to do, but this is really a lot,” Hanks told the Cleveland Press. “You have to be a jack of all trades.”

He served as a production assistant before playing Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew. Hanks earned his Actors’ Equity card and returned to Cleveland the next two summers, touring Ohio with the company and becoming an Indians fan when rooting for the Tribe wasn’t for the faint of heart.

In 1978, Hanks won a Cleveland Critics Circle award for best actor and was determined to make acting a career. He sold his Volkswagen and moved to New York, landing stage roles and a bit part in the slasher He Knows You’re Alone. In 1980, he landed a lead role in the TV comedy Bosom Buddies, and his career took off.  

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