Saving Private Ryan

TOM HANKS: America's favorite actor doesn't draw fire for social causes — Tom Hanks' extracurricular missions focus on higher ground, where partisan politics is irrelevant. His Oscar-winning performance as an attorney stricken with AIDS in 1993's "Philadelphia" led Hanks to become ... more a spokesperson for AIDS organizations such as AIDS Project Los Angeles. As a lifelong fan of NASA who once dreamed of becoming an astronaut, Hanks followed his on-screen performance as astronaut Jim Lovell in Ron Howard's "Apollo 13" by serving on the board of governors of the National Space Society founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun. The actor also produced the ambitious HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon," which chronicled the entire Apollo program. Hanks' admiration for the sacrifices of U.S. civilian soldiers during World War II led to similar labors of love that included another historically accurate, HBO series, "Band of Brothers," and the acclaimed "Saving Private Ryan," directed by Steven Spielberg.

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