Tom Hanks: America's Sweetheart Turns 69

0:03 Calarogus Shark Media. Greetings, trivia fans. I'm Mark Allison, and today we're celebrating the sixty ninth birthday of America's sweetheart, Tom Hanks. Question one, for which two consecutive films did Tom Hanks win Academy Awards for Best Actor in the nineteen nineties? Question two? In which nineteen eighty eight film did Tom Hanks play a child trapped in an adult's body after making a wish at a carnival machine? Question three? What animated character has Tom Hanks voiced in four feature films since nineteen ninety five?

0:50 Question four? In which two thousand film did Tom Hanks play a FedEx executive stranded on a deserted island? Question five? What production company did Tom Hanks co found with Gary Gutzman that has produced many of his films. We'll be right back with these oscar worthy answers after this break. Welcome back, trivia fans. Let's reveal today's answers. Question one, for which two films did Hanks win consecutive Best Actor Oscars? Answer? Philadelphia nineteen ninety three and Forrest Gump nineteen ninety four.

1:32 In Philadelphia, he played a lawyer with aids fighting discrimination, and in Forrest Gump, he portrayed the title character in the epic drama. These back to back wins established Hanks as one of the finest actors of his generation. Question two, in which nineteen eighty eight film did Hanks play a child in an adult's body? Answer? Big? Hanks played Josh Baskin, a twelve year old boy who makes a wish to be big and wakes up in an adult's body. His childlike performance, including the famous piano scene at Fao Schwartz, earned him his first Academy Award nomination and proved his dramatic range. Question three, What animated character has Hank's voice since nineteen ninety five? Answer Woody from the Toy Story franchise, making the character one of his most.

2:25 Beloved and recognizable roles. Question four, in which two thousand film was Hank's stranded on an island? Answer? Cast Away. Hanks played Chuck Noland, a FedEx executive whose plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean, leaving him stranded on an uninhabited island. For four years. His dramatic weight loss and powerful performance, including his relationship with a volleyball named Wilson earned critical acclaim. Question five, What production company did Hank's co found? Answer? Play Tone, Founded with Gary GutsMan. Playtone has produced many successful films and television series, including Castaway, Charlie Wilson's War, and the HBO mini series Band of Brothers and The Pacific showcasing Hanks's talents behind the camera as well. That concludes today's five Daily Trivia questions. I'm Mark Ellison, and today's questions were crafted with the help of AI technology. If you'd like to enjoy five daily trivia questions without ads, check the link in our show notes or visit Caloroga dot com slash plus see you tomorrow.

3:34 Stick around now for this interview our sister. I'm going to bring forward and yours and give it to you now. And he said, oh wow, that's great, thank you, that's so generous of you. Call that's great. But his wife, my sister in law, went ballistic. She said, this is too much money, this is wrong. I don't want anything to do with and stormed out of the room. And I thought, well that's not what I expected. Oh my god. So I realized from that that this was not an easy thing to do. So I learned a lesson from that, and I knew that I had to do this authentically. I had to do it right, otherwise it was not. Going to work. So that happened.

4:14 And then the third thing that happened was that I was looking at my financial statements and I had more money there than I was really using. It was sitting there. I mean, it was growing, making profits and so forth, but it wasn't being used. I wasn't using it for me. I wasn't using it for things that I really cared about, not for my people. So I thought, well, if I have all this money, now, why should I wait until I die? Why don't I bring it forward? And then, you know, it was a long process for me to come around to that, but that's what finally started this, and I said, well I'll do it. Now. Let's back up just a bit. Tell us a little bit about your new book. What is the Happiness Experiment. Well, this is a recording of the real events with real people who I decided that I would bring forward the money I had for them in my will and made.

5:03 It a prequest. So it was a chunk of money that they were going to get. Well, they were still young, enough to enjoy it, and I was still alive to see it happening. So I saw what they were doing. So when I. Sat down with them, I talked about money and happiness and how one can magnect. And I said, look, I'm going to bring this forward and give it to you, but what I want from you is a plan so you use this money, so it's really a big benefit for you. I don't want this to overwhelm you. And they said what kind of plan? I said, I want a happiness plan, and they said, a happiness plan? What's that? So so you know, nobody has seems to. Have a happiness plan, but it's one of the most important plans you can get, and it doesn't have to be very complex. What is it that makes you happy?

5:47 What values do you want to pursue? You know, what goals and dreams do you have, and you can pursue them. And so I got them to write a happiness plan. And then when I saw the plan, I gave them all the money all at one time, and so so then they took it and I watched them with their plan. I saw all their plans, what they did, and how they became happier, and so you know, that had to be written about so because I wanted other people to see what they did so they too could do the same thing. Which prequest is the most unique one you've come across. Well, it was a very very painful and sad story because two dear friends of mine had a beloved daughter and she was hit head on by a drunk driver and killed. She happened to be eight months pregnant at the time, so that killed the granddaughter too, and also their daughter. They were totally totally wiped out, devastated, and they died emotionally. They had decided that they could never be happy again. They would be wrong to be happy.

6:51 They didn't deserve to be happy because their darling daughter had been killed. Tremendously painful, awful, awful story. So they were grieving six years later, and I met with them and I told them how much they had added to my life and how much I was so grateful to them, and that I wanted to express the gratitude. And I put them in my will and they could accept that, and I said, but I want you to have it now, and they said, oh no, no, we can't accept it. They turned it down. They turned it down. Well, we worked and I said, look, I'm leaving it open. So several months later, I think his wife persuaded him to do it. Actually, you know, and you know, so they said, okay, we'll do it because I said.

7:31 We're going to wait until you die, why not do it now? And they did it. And it wasn't the money. Interesting Now, they said, it was the coaching that made the big difference, that changed their mind their mindset from being so negative. You know, we'll never be happy again. We don't deserve to be happy. And the coach turned there thinking their mindset around and said, look, you know it can be you can be happy again. And they started to get the mindset of happy people. And now you cannot believe these people that are traveling all over the world. They're in Tahiti right now. They climbed Killamu Garrett. These people are loving life. And it was a major change that is one of the most heartfelt, wonderful results of the And in a sense, she said, the wife said, this prequest changed or saved my life because we were no longer living, we were dead, and this brought us back to life.

8:23 Yeah, I mean dealing with grief and many of us have I have. You know, when you're in those depths, it's really it can be really difficult to find your way out of it. And you know, often it looks like there isn't a way out of it, and you know, sometimes you want to map right, and it looks like this concept could be a good map for you. If that sounds like it was for these folks. I always like to end interviews by asking is there anything that I didn't ask that I should have? How can my listeners benefit from this book? Should they do what would be good for them? And so I'll answer that question. First off, think about happiness, Think about being happiness. Do you deserve to be happy? And you can be happy, but you have to make it as a choice. I'm going to increase my happiness just that if you make that realistically, I want to and I'm going to increase my happiness that choice. And then talk to people about it. Talk to a husband or wife or a girlfriend or a friend, a therapist or coach, talk to somebody about it and say, look, I'm made the decision that I want to be happier, and I'm like you to help me create.

9:36 A happiness plan. And then work on it, and it's not that hard, but it is challenging, but it's a wonderful exercise. And if they do it, I guarantee they will increase their happiness. I guarantee it. Carl Barney is the author and the book is called The Happiness Experiments, A Revolutionary Way to Increase Happiness. Carl, where can people find the book? Wherever books are sold, And it's now available for pre order from Amazon, and they can go to the Happiness Experiment dot com and they can pre order it there, and I hope they will. Carl, thanks so much of the time. I really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you, Dan. It's been fun.