Colin Hanks

Hanks was born in Sacramento, California to actor Tom Hanks and producer and actress Samantha Lewes (born Susan Jane Dillingham). He has a sister, Elizabeth, and through his father's marriage to his stepmother, actress Rita Wilson, he has two younger half-brothers, Chester "Chet" and Truman.

Hanks attended Sacramento Country Day School, and then Chapman University, before transferring to Loyola Marymount University. He left without earning a degree.In 1999, Hanks was cast as Alex Whitmann in the science-fiction series Roswell, where he appeared for the first two seasons (making a brief appearance in the third). During that time, he acted in the teen comedies Whatever It Takes with Shane West and Get Over It with Ben Foster. Hanks also made an appearance in an episode of The OC. He appeared in part eight of HBO mini-series Band of Brothers as Lt. Hank Jones. In 2002, he starred in his first film as Shaun Brumder in Orange County, alongside Jack Black and Schuyler Fisk. The comedy features Hanks' character trying to get into Stanford University after his guidance counselor mistakenly sends out the wrong transcript.

In 2005, he appeared in the remake of King Kong, playing the assistant to Jack Black's character. In 2006, Hanks had a cameo role in Black's Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, playing a drunken fraternity brother. He starred in the romantic comedy The House Bunny in 2008, playing Oliver, a charming manager of a nursing home and the love interest of Anna Faris' character. In 2008, Hanks began work as director on All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records, a documentary about Tower Records which ultimately premiered on March 17, 2015, at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. The film received funding of nearly $100,000 through a Kickstarter campaign.

In 2009, Hanks appeared in The Great Buck Howard, which was produced by his father and also starred John Malkovich. He also played Father Gill, a young Roman Catholic priest, in season 2 of the TV show Mad Men. In 2012, he made his Broadway debut, acting alongside Jane Fonda in the Moisés Kaufman play 33 Variations. Hanks starred in the 2010 Fox TV series The Good Guys as young detective Jack Bailey, alongside Bradley Whitford who played an old-school detective (Dan Stark). In 2011, he starred in the indie film Lucky, alongside Ari Graynor, Ann-Margret, and Jeffrey Tambor. He also joined the cast of Dexter for season six opposite Edward James Olmos, where he portrays an art historian Travis Marshall who is involved in a murderous apocalyptic cult.

In 2014, he starred as Allison in the second season of the web series Burning Love. The same year, he also portrayed Dr. Malcolm Perry in the historical film Parkland. In 2015, he played Officer Gus Grimly in the FX television series Fargo, for which he received Critics' Choice Television Award and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. In 2014, Hanks began a voice role in the show Talking Tom & Friends. He voices Talking Tom, the main character.

In 2018, Hanks appears as the adult Alex Vreeke in the film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a role he would later reprise in the film's 2019 sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level. In 2019, Hanks portrays a young Fred Rogers on the Comedy Central show Drunk History. The same year, Hanks appears as a guest judge on Netflix's baking competition Sugar Rush in the episode "Sweet Geeks".