Tom Hanks has always been seen as one of Hollywood's nicest actors. As he explained in an interview with Kirsty Young on the radio show "Desert Island Discs," this is no accident. He learned, he said, that being a "nice guy" was an important part of being an actor, especially in a repertory theater company. "You had to show up on time, you had to know what you were going to say and even if you did not like the people personally you were working with, you had to respect their process," he said. "If anyone becomes a squeaky wheel, that means the show doesn't go on and, guess what, they could be fired." Since his very first jobs, Hanks has always been easy to get along with, simply because that's the best way to get the job done.
Of course, over the years, Hanks isn't always nice. As he told Conan, when people take advantage of him, he can get angry. And his family knows that he's about to lose his famous nice guy persona when he starts a sentence with the words, "Let me get this straight." It's good to know that even Tom Hanks has a bit of a temper!
