Tom Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor who did the voice and motion-capture of the Conductor, the Hobo, Santa Claus, the Narrator and Hero Boy's father in The Polar Express film, a total of five characters, which is more characters than any other actor in the film. He was also one of the film's executive producers along with Chris Van Allsburg and Jack Rapke and did the motion-capture of Hero Boy.
The film's official soundtrack credit Tom Hanks as the performer in the songs, "The Polar Express" and "Hot Chocolate," both of which feature the Conductor, one of his characters, singing. The Conductor's vocals, however, are removed for "The Polar Express" song in the film, but the version in the credits does feature them.
When clips from the film were used in the video game, Tom's lines were kept, but his brother, Jim voiced his characters outside film clips.
Trivia
- When voicing Hero Boy, Daryl Sabara would mimic Hanks' voice.[1]
- Tom Hanks starred in two other films directed by Robert Zemeckis: Forrest Gump in 1994 and Cast Away in 2000.
- Hanks was also the founder of Playtone, one of the production companies that worked on The Polar Express.
- Tom Hanks and Michael Jeter both played roles in the 1986 film, The Money Pit.
- Tom Hanks was also the executive producer for the 2007 film, Evan Almighty, a film in which Jimmy Bennett plays a role.
- Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari both played roles in Bosom Buddies and From the Earth to the Moon.