According to a New Poll, Tom Hanks Is America’s Favorite Movie Star
Tom Hanks, America’s sweetheart.
A new Harris Poll says that for the fifth time in his career, Tom Hanks is America’s favorite movie star.
Harris polled over 2200 adults last December, and found that Mr. Forrest Gump himself, good old Captain Phillips, the beloved John Bridgeofspies, remains the standard bearer for the American movie actor. Here is the full top five of the Harris poll:
- Tom Hanks
- Johnny Depp
- Denzel Washington
- John Wayne
- Harrison Ford
There were no women in the top five, but there were three in the top ten; Sandra Bullock came in sixth, Jennifer Lawrence was seventh and Julia Roberts landed the number ten spot. (Clint Eastwood and Brad Pitt were stuck between them at eight and nine.)
Harris’ site also reveals the favorites among a variety of demographics. Conservatives’ top choice remains John Wayne (who died almost 40 years ago) while liberals preferred Denzel Washington. Millennials age 18-35 prefer Johnny Depp; their third favorite actor is Adam Sandler. (Millennials, c'mon.) Harrison Ford was tops in the East; Hanks ruled in the West. Johnny Depp was the king of the South and “Rural” audiences (who also dig Jason Statham, which is an awesome choice).
After Statham (and maybe Nicolas Cage?), I probably would pick Tom Hanks too. His appeal is nearly universal; you look through that Harris demo chart and he pops up over and over; he’s popular with men and women, Republicans and Democrats, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, people in the suburbs and people who live out West. And I think it helps that he’s actually made some great movies in the last couple years (Bridge of Spies, Captain Phillips, Cloud Atlas) while the rest of that top 5 is mostly there on the basis of their past work (except maybe Harrison Ford, depending on how you define “past work”). And he’s got Toy Story 4 and a new Dan Brown thriller coming soon so he could very well top this list for many more years to come.