Tom Hanks Tears Up Accepting Cecil B. deMille at Golden Globes 2020

It’s a beautiful day in Tom Hanks’ world! The decorated actor was awarded the coveted Cecil B. deMille Award at the 77th annual Golden Globes on Sunday, January 5.

Tom Hanks Receives Cecil B. deMille Award at the 2020 Golden Globes — Tom Hanks accepts the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles on January 5, 2020. Paul Drinkwater/NBC

Hanks, 63, opened up about his long career when he took the stage at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. In doing so, he said he’s “blessed” to be where he is in both his career and life.

“[I’m] a man [who] is blessed. … Blessed with a family sitting down front like that,” he said while choking up. “A wife, [Rita Wilson], who is fantastic in every way, who has taught me what love is. Five kids who are braver and stronger and wiser than their old man is, and a loving group of people who have put up with me being away months and months at a time.”

The Toy Story star said he “wouldn’t be standing here” without his family by his side. “I can’t tell you how much your love means to me,” he continued.

In September 2019, it was announced that Hanks would be the 2020 recipient of the high honor. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s board of directors select one major industry figure annually whose work has influenced the entertainment field. The Forest Gump actor joins standout talents like Audrey Hepburn and Robin Williams as A-listers who have earned the award previously.

“The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is proud to bestow the 2020 Cecil B. deMille Award to Tom Hanks,” Lorenzo Soria, HFPA president, said in a statement, per Variety, in September 2019. “For more than three decades, he’s captivated audiences with rich and playful characters that we’ve grown to love and admire. As compelling as he is on the silver screen, he’s equally so behind the camera as a writer, producer and director.”

Hanks is a 10 time Golden Globe nominee, but he’s also a four-time winner. He earned his first win in 1989 for Best Actor — Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Big. He then scored wins for Philadelphia in 1994, Forrest Gump in 1995 and Cast Away in 2001. For this year’s affair, he’s a Golden Globe nominee once again for playing the late Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

He’s also a five-time Academy Award nominee, having walked away with his first win in 1994 for Philadelphia. He nabbed his second win in 1995 for Forrest Gump.

Though Hanks is often regarded as one of the best in the business, he has starred in movies that didn’t measure up. Speaking to The Guardian in October 2017, he candidly addressed his successes and coming to terms with his failures.

“Oh, I’d go through horrible doldrums. I’ve made an awful lot of movies that didn’t make any sense, and didn’t make any money, but that doesn’t alter the work that goes into it, or even what your opinion of it is,” he admitted at the time. “Like, I made a movie that altered my entire consciousness — Cloud Atlas — I thought, jeez, this thing is so fab; it’s the only movie I’ve been in that I’ve seen more than twice. And it didn’t do any business. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Hanks continued, “You must allow yourself a week of thinking, jeez, I’m so bummed out. But that’s not the only reason to do it. It’s lovely when it all works and you get ballyhooed. But if it’s 50/50, you’re way ahead of the game. In reality, I think it’s more like 80/20; 80 percent of what you do doesn’t work.”

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