Tom's Trades Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lawyer

"Philadelphia" is a 1993 drama with Hanks playing the part of Andrew Beckett, a lawyer with AIDS who is fired from his law firm - supposedly for other reasons. Becket sues the company for discrimination and eventually wins just before he dies. The movie co-stars Denzel Washington as his lawyer and Antonio Banderas as his partner Miguel.

It was one of the first major Hollywood movies to deal with HIV/AIDS and homosexuality and won Hanks the Best Actor at the Academy awards. Bruce Springsteen also won for his song "The Streets of Philadelphia".

Answer: Coach

"A League of Their Own" is a 1992 drama based around the beginning of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1943, when Major League Baseball was threatened by the players going to war. Hanks plays the part of Jimmy Dugan, a former washed up player with a drinking problem who becomes the Manager/Coach to the Rockford Peaches.

The movie also stars Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty and Rosie O'Donnell as four of the Peaches who all have their own stories and reasons for joining the team.

Answer: Pilot

"Sully" is a 2016 biographical film based upon the real life events of Captain Chesley Sullenberger (played by Hanks) on January 15th 2009 and its aftermath. Sullenberger was the Captain on the US Airways Flight 1549 from LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The plane flies into a flock of birds which disables both engines and Sullenberger manages to land the plane safely on the Hudson River with no casualties.

Sullenberger was hailed as a hero but later investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board suggested that one of the engines was still working and that he could have made it to an airport to land. The rest of the movie revolves around the investigation into the incident which eventually exonerates him.

Answer: Detective

"Turner and Hooch" is a 1989 comedy starring Hanks as Detective Scott Turner and Beasley the Dog as Hooch, a huge Dogue de Bordeaux. Turner is an obsessive clean freak who ends up with custody of Hooch after his owner is murdered. Hooch is an enormous slobbering dog who destroys Turner's house and well-ordered life but he knows who killed his master and leads Turner to the crooks.

Answer: Prison Guard

"The Green Mile" is a 1999 movie based on the novel by Stephen King. The title refers to death row, which is where the story is set, at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Hanks plays head guard Paul Edgecomb who becomes drawn into the world of John Coffey.

Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is a large black, mentally challenged man who has been wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of two young white girls in 1935 America. He has supernatural talents that begin to show throughout the movie. He is able to 'show' Edgecomb who really committed the murder and is able to influence someone else to kill him. Though innocent he is prepared to die as he finds the world a very cruel place to be.

Answer: FBI Agent

"Catch Me If You Can" is another biographical film. Made in 2002 it is based on the life of Frank Abagnale, a successful con artist and cheque fraud genius. Abagnale is played by Leonardo Di Caprio and Hanks plays Carl Hanratty, an FBI Bank Fraud Agent who is trying to catch him.

Abagnale successfully impersonated a pilot, a doctor and a prosecutor all before he was 19 and then moved all over Europe forging cheques. Hanratty finally catches him in France and brings him back to the USA where he is sentenced to 12 years in prison. Hanratty then convinces the FBI and Abagnale that they could use him in the fraud office instead to catch other criminals.

In the end Abagnale ends up making millions of dollars a year legally by his ability to create unforgeable cheques and he and Hanratty become good friends.

Answer: University Professor

"The Da Vinci Code" is a 2006 thriller based on the novel by Dan Brown. Hanks plays Robert Langdon, a Professor at Harvard who is a specialist in religious icons and historic symbols. He gets caught up in solving a mystery cypher, a murder and a search for the Holy Grail. He has strong opponents from two secret societies who wish to find it before him - one to protect it and the other to destroy it.

The book and film were highly controversial as it starts with the premise that Jesus and May Magdalene were married and that she was pregnant at the time of his death and that the Holy Grail is actually the descendants of Christ through this daughter.

Answer: Army Captain

"Saving Private Ryan" is a 1998 war epic starring Hanks as Captain John H. Miller and Matt Damon as Private James Ryan. The movie begins with 27 minutes of the D-Day landings by the Americans at Omaha Beach for which the movie won huge critical acclaim.

It then shifts to the war department in Washington where someone realises that three brothers from the same Ryan family have been killed in action at the same time and there is only one left surviving. A decision is made to bring James Ryan home and Miller and a group of 6 men are sent to find him and bring him out safely.

Answer: Astronaut

"Apollo 13" is a 1995 film based on the true story of the aborted 1970 lunar mission. Astronauts Jim Lovell (Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) launched on the 11th of April to attempt the third moon landing. Three days into their flight one of the oxygen tanks explodes and rips a hole in the craft and the mission changes to trying to get the crew home safely. The crew is aided by Flight Director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) and fellow astronaut Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) who work to solve the difficulties that the crew experience.

Hanks worked closely with NASA to ensure that the movie was technically accurate; his cast received proper training from them and he obtained permission to actually film the movie in one of their reduced gravity aircraft.

Answer: Architect

"Sleepless in Seattle" is a 1993 romantic comedy starring Hanks as Sam Baldwin and Meg Ryan as Annie Reed. Sam's wife dies from cancer and he takes his 8 year old son Jonah to Seattle to start a new life. Eighteen months later Jonah makes a call to a radio station and gets Sam to talk about how much he misses his wife. This results in him receiving mail from women all over the country.

Meanwhile in New York, Annie Reed (who is in a relationship she's unsure of) hears the show and writes a letter which a friend posts against her knowledge. Jonah decides she is the one for his dad and the rest of the movie revolves around him attempting to get the two together against all obstacles.