Tom Hanks and his son, Chester "Chet" Marlon Hanks, posed in a rare photo recently. The father-son duo haven't been pictured together for a long time. The 33-year-old actor and musician shared the photo to his Instagram account on December 26, 2023. "Gang," he wrote as his caption. The picture shows Tom dressed in a dark green coat and a black beanie. He has a half smile, half mean mug. Chet is wearing a black hoodie and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball hat. He's slightly smiling in the selfie as well.
The 67-year-old actor shares Chet with his wife, Rita Wilson. They also have another son together, 28-year-old Truman Theodore.
Tom is also father to 45-year-old Colin Hanks and 41-year-old Elizabeth Hanks. Those two are from his marriage of nearly 10 years to the late actress Samantha Lewes.
More from LittleThings: Tom Hanks Found Out He Is Related To Mr. Rogers And His Reaction Was Pure Gold
In a 2019 interview, Tom spoke about becoming a dad at a young age. He and Samantha, college sweethearts, married in 1978 and welcomed their first child shortly after. Tom was only 21 at the time.
"I start thinking about mistakes I made with my own kids and not explaining things or not being there for them," he said in the interview. "Or being so preoccupied with other things that are going on in our adult world."
“My son Colin was born when I was very young. As well as my daughter, but that means we have this gestalt understanding because they remember when their dad was just a guy trying to, you know, make the rent," he said. "My other kids, they were born after I had established a beachhead in every way. And so their lives were just different."
"Somewhere along the line, I figured out, the only thing really, I think, eventually a parent can do is say 'I love you, there's nothing you can do wrong, you cannot hurt my feelings, I hope you will forgive me on occasion, and what do you need me to do?'" he added. "You offer up that to them: 'I will do anything I can possibly do in order to keep you safe.' That's it. Offer that up and then just love them."
Chet has followed in the footsteps of his father with acting. His most notable appearances include Fantastic Four, Shameless, and Empire, to name a few. He also acted alongside his dad in Greyhound.
“Fame is the most powerful drug known to man," Chet once said in a video, talking about his experience growing up with famous parents. "My experience is even more complicated because, on top of fame already being toxic, I wasn’t even famous. I was just the son of somebody famous, I hadn’t even done anything to deserve any sort of recognition, and that created a lot of contempt."
