The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual gala next April 27 will pay tribute to Tom Hanks, whose sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” — “Angels & Demons” — will be opening in theaters a couple of weeks later. The two-time winner of the Oscar for Best Actor has also produced hits like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Mamma Mia!” The release is on the jump.

FIlm Society’s 36th Gala Tribute

To Honor Tom Hanks

New Alice Tully Hall hosts black-tie evening, April 27, 2009

NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2008—Two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks will be celebrated as the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 36th Gala Tribute honoree during a star-studded evening at the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall, Monday, April 27, 2009. The black-tie event will feature remarks by many of Hanks’s friends and collaborators and film clips commemorating his lauded career, culminating in the presentation of the Gala Tribute award. Ticket information will be available in January on filmlinc.com.

“There are so few actors who have been able to make the struggle and drama of being a good man compelling,” says Kent Jones, who will direct and produce the event with Jeanne R. Berney. “In that regard, Tom Hanks now stands alone. He’s had an exemplary career in movies, taking on genuinely challenging roles and expanding his creative reach into producing and directing. With his talent, his presence, his versatility, his sense of humor, he has set a very high standard for his fellow actors. We’re very proud that he’s going to be our next honoree.”

Hanks becomes just the third American-born male actor to be honored at the Film Society’s Gala Tribute this decade, following Al Pacino in 2000 and Dustin Hoffman in 2005. Begun in 1972 by bringing Charles Chaplin out of exile and back to the United States, the Gala Tribute—America’s longest-running annual career tribute and honors ceremony—celebrates actors and filmmakers who have defined the method by which movies are made and seen, and advanced the understanding of cinema as an art form. The roster of past Film Society honorees represents many of film history’s visionary talents, including Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Diane Keaton and, most recently, Meryl Streep.

Tom Hanks joins this illustrious list after spending much of the past two decades honing his impeccable skills in a series of acclaimed dramatic performances. He became the first actor in more than 50 years to win back-to-back Academy Awards—first as the assailed AIDS-stricken lawyer Andrew Beckett in Jonathan Demme’s “Philadelphia” (1994) and then as a picaresque hero for America’s post-war generation in Robert Zemeckis’s “Forrest Gump” (1995). His roles in recent years have included the voice of cowboy doll Woody in the groundbreaking Pixar animated features “Toy Story” (1995) and “Toy Story 2” (1999), survivor Chuck Nolan in “Cast Away” (2000), the several mystical heroes of “The Polar Express” (2004) and the title opportunistic senator in Mike Nichols’s “Charlie Wilson’s War” (2007).

Meanwhile, Hanks’s career has been distinguished by his frequent collaborations with two prominent American directors: Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg. The first partnership resulted from Hanks’s cameo appearance on “Happy Days” in 1982, which helped Hanks land his first starring film role in Howard’s “Splash” (1984). They have since worked together on “Apollo 13” (1995), “The Da Vinci Code” (2006) and its forthcoming sequel “Angels & Demons” (2009), and as producers on the Emmy Award-winning television mini-series “From the Earth to the Moon” (1998),

Hanks and Spielberg have partnered as actor and director on three films—“Saving Private Ryan” (1998), “Catch Me If You Can” (2002), and “The Terminal”(2004)—though their collaboration dates back to Spielberg’s work as a producer on the Hanks-led comedies “The Money Pit” (1986) and “Joe vs. the Volcano” (1990). As producers, they have also worked together on projects including the celebrated World War II television mini-series “Band of Brothers” (2001) and a planned future series “The Pacific,” based on the war in the Pacific theater.

Born in 1956 and raised in Oakland, Calif., Hanks followed a high school interest in acting to Chabot College in Hayward, Calif., and California State University in Sacramento. He made his professional acting debut as Grumio in “The Taming of the Shrew” at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio, performing in the company for three seasons before moving to New York in 1978. His first major onscreen role came in 1980 on the ABC television comedy series “Bosom Buddies.”

By the end of the ’80s, Hanks had established himself as one of the country’s most sought-after leading men. His stellar decade was marked by roles in a succession of popular comedies including “Bachelor Party” (1984), “Dragnet” (1987), “Punchline” (1988), “Big” (1988)—for which Hanks earned a Golden Globe and his first Oscar nomination—and “Turner & Hooch” (1989). Hanks branched out in the ’90s as a romantic lead alongside Meg Ryan in “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) and “You’ve Got Mail” (1998); in comic roles in a broader range of genres, including the period baseball film “A League of Their Own” (1992), as well as “Toy Story”; and as writer/director of the rock and roll fable “That Thing You Do!” (1996). In 2002, the American Film Institute acknowledged Hanks’s contributions to the movies with its Lifetime Achievement Award. He remains the youngest man to receive the honor.

Hanks is married to actress Rita Wilson. The couple has worked together on several projects, including “Bosom Buddies,” the comedy “Volunteers” (1985) and as producers of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (2002) and “Mamma Mia!” (2008).

The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Advancing this mandate today, the Film Society hosts two distinguished festivals. The New York Film Festival annually premieres films from around the world and has introduced the likes of François Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, and Wong Kar-Wai to the United States. New Directors/New Films, co-presented by the Museum of Modern Art, focuses on emerging film talents. Since 1972, when the Film Society honored Charles Chaplin in person, the annual Gala Tribute celebrates an actor or filmmaker who has helped distinguish cinema as an art form. Additionally, the Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming at its Walter Reade Theater and offers insightful film writing to a worldwide audience through Film Comment magazine.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Jeanne R. Berney, (212) 875-5416, jberney@filmlinc.com

Gabriele Caroti, (212) 875-5625, gcaroti@filmlinc.com

Past Film Society of Lincoln Center Gala Tribute Honorees

2008 Meryl Streep

2007 Diane Keaton

2006 Jessica Lange

2005 Dustin Hoffman

2004 Michael Caine

2003 Susan Sarandon

2002 Francis Ford Coppola

2001 Jane Fonda

2000 Al Pacino

1999 Mike Nichols

1998 Martin Scorsese

1997 Sean Connery

1996 Clint Eastwood

1995 Shirley MacLaine

1994 Robert Altman

1993 Jack Lemmon

1992 Gregory Peck

1991 Audrey Hepburn

1990 James Stewart

1989 Bette Davis

1988 Yves Montand

1987 Alec Guinness

1986 Elizabeth Taylor

1985 Federico Fellini

1984 Claudette Colbert

1983 Laurence Olivier

1982 Billy Wilder

1981 Barbara Stanwyck

1980 John Huston

1979 Bob Hope

1978 George Cukor

1975 Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman

1974 Alfred Hitchcock

1973 Fred Astaire

1972 Charles Chaplin