Discussion Main / TomHanksSyndrome

Calling this "Tom Hanks Syndrome" seems questionable. While a lot, if not most, of his early work and success was in comedies, Hanks has always been, first and foremost, an actor, and it begs the question of why shouldn't an actor take different kinds of roles? It's not like he was a stand-up comedian, like Robin Williams or Adam Sandler (who also branched out into dramatic roles).

To expand on Touchstone's point, Hanks himself once explained his shift in roles by saying he'd gotten bored with playing the same type of character all the time.

Perhaps worth mentioning that people 1) grow and mature (thus inclining them to take on more "serious" projects); 2) typically get better at their craft over the years, enabling them to broaden their range.