Is Tom Hanks Okay? Fans Concerned About Beloved Actor’s Health

Tom Hanks is a true national treasure, one of the few universally beloved people. The back-to-back Academy Award winner has starred in some of the greatest movies of all time, including Forrest Gump (1994), Philadelphia (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me if You Can (2002), and The Polar Express (2004). 

Hanks also has an extensive history with The Walt Disney Company, playing Walt in Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and playing Geppetto in Pinocchio (2022). But Hanks’ most prominent Disney role has to be the voice of Woody in the Toy Story franchise. It has already been announced that Hanks will return for Toy Story 5 (2026).

Despite his universal role as “America’s Dad,” Hanks has been mired in controversy over his anti-Donald Trump stance. In some dark circles of the internet, Hanks has been falsely accused of being a pedophile, and his image was used in an AI-created ad promoting “miracle cures and wonder drugs.”

Despite all the false slander, Hanks has continued making great movies and working with charities that help veterans and their families. But now, it appears that Hanks may need our help.

Just before Christmas, Hanks appeared on Saturday Night Live, welcoming Martin Host into the five-time hosting club. Hanks gave the opening lines for the cold open sketch.

During the sketch, Hanks was sitting in a leather chair, and fans began to look at his hands. Throughout the opening few minutes of the sketch, Hanks’ hands kept shaking and moving while he delivered his lines.

Later in the sketch, Hanks hands Short a drink, and his hand is visibly shaking as he holds onto cocktails. Other actors would take over the sketch, moving Hanks to the background.

After the sketch, fans took to social media to share their genuine concern for Hanks’ health. Besides his shaking hands, the eyes looked heavy and remained slightly closed throughout the sketch.

Hanks tested positive for COVID-19 in early 2020 while filming Elvis (2021) in Australia. He later said:

I was wiped. Whoever it was, a doctor or nurse, would come into our air-pressurized isolation rooms. She said, ‘How are you feeling?’ and I said, ‘I just had the weirdest thing. I just tried to do basic stretches and exercises on the floor and I couldn’t even get halfway through.’ And she looked at me through her glasses like she was talking to the dumbest human being. And she said, ‘You have Covid-19.’

Let’s hope that Hanks was just a little under the weather and the 68-year-old actor has many more years and many more great movies.