Keanu Reeves has a new girlfriend and *gasp* she’s age-appropriate
In Hollywood, there seems to be an unwritten rule that older, famous men must have relationships with women who are 20 to 30 years younger. These May-December romances are so common that they’re almost laughable. Dennis Quaid, 65, recently revealed he is engaged to Laura Savoie, 26. Comedian Dane Cook is dating 20-year-old singer Kelsi…
The heart wants what the heart wants, so who are we to judge? But it’s refreshing to see a man in Hollywood date a woman his age. That’s why people are pretty excited about Keanu Reeves, 55, and his girlfriend artist Alexandra Grant, 46.
Grant’s work explores the use of text and language in various media, including sculpture, drawing, photography, and painting.
The two were photographed holding hands on the red carpet at the LACMA Art + Film Gala on Saturday.
Keanu Reeves has gone public with his first girlfriend in decades, just look how fucking happy he is!!! HE DESERVES THIS!!! pic.twitter.com/mam6dJIdnn — Christmas Wilson (@CrisMovieCorner) November 5, 2019
People magazine confirmed they are dating. "Keanu wants to openly share his life with her," a source told People. "He is extremely happy and grateful to have Alex in his life."
Te magazine reported that the two "started dating earlier this year, but have wanted to keep it quiet."
The couple collaborated on the books "Ode to Happiness" and "Shadows" in 2011 and 2016 — with illustrations by Grant and text by Reeves.
They've also co-founded X Artists' Books, a publishing house that focuses on publishing "thoughtful, high-quality, artist-centered books that fit within and between genres."
In recent years, Reeves has developed quite the reputation for being a nice guy in a town full of ego maniacs.
Once reason is that he's mindful of women's personal space in photographs. Could it be that a man who has respect for women and doesn't treat them as sex objects also prefers to date people that are actually closer to his age?
In March 2023, after months of preparation and paperwork, Anita Omary arrived in the United States from her native Afghanistan to build a better life. Once she arrived in Connecticut, however, the experience was anything but easy.
“When I first arrived, everything felt so strange—the weather, the environment, the people,” Omary recalled. Omary had not only left behind her extended family and friends in Afghanistan, she left her career managing child protective cases and supporting refugee communities behind as well. Even more challenging, Anita was five months pregnant at the time, and because her husband was unable to obtain a travel visa, she found herself having to navigate a new language, a different culture, and an unfamiliar country entirely on her own.
“I went through a period of deep disappointment and depression, where I wasn’t able to do much for myself,” Omary said.
Then something incredible happened: Omary met a woman who would become her close friend, offering support that would change her experience as a refugee—and ultimately the trajectory of her entire life.
Understanding the journey
Like Anita Omary, tens of thousands of people come to the United States each year seeking safety from war, political violence, religious persecution, and other threats. Yet escaping danger, unfortunately, is only the first challenge. Once here, immigrant and refugee families must deal with the loss of displacement, while at the same time facing language barriers, adapting to a new culture, and sometimes even facing social stigma and anti-immigrant biases.
Welcoming immigrant and refugee neighbors strengthens the nation and benefits everyone—and according to Anita Omary, small, simple acts of human kindness can make the greatest difference in helping them feel safe, valued, and truly at home.
A warm welcome
Dee and Omary's son, Osman
Anita Omary was receiving prenatal checkups at a woman’s health center in West Haven when she met Dee, a nurse.
“She immediately recognized that I was new, and that I was struggling,” Omary said. “From that moment on, she became my support system.”
Dee started checking in on Omary throughout her pregnancy, both inside the clinic and out.
“She would call me and ask am I okay, am I eating, am I healthy,” Omary said. “She helped me with things I didn’t even realize I needed, like getting an air conditioner for my small, hot room.”
Soon, Dee was helping Omary apply for jobs and taking her on driving lessons every weekend. With her help, Omary landed a job, passed her road test on the first attempt, and even enrolled at the University of New Haven to pursue her master’s degree. Dee and Omary became like family. After Omary’s son, Osman, was born, Dee spent five days in the hospital at her side, bringing her halal food and brushing her hair in the same way Omary’s mother used to. When Omary’s postpartum pain became too great for her to lift Osman’s car seat, Dee accompanied her to his doctor’s appointments and carried the baby for her.
“Her support truly changed my life,” Omary said. “Her motivation, compassion, and support gave me hope. It gave me a sense of stability and confidence. I didn’t feel alone, because of her.”
More than that, the experience gave Omary a new resolve to help other people.
“That experience has deeply shaped the way I give back,” she said. “I want to be that source of encouragement and support for others that my friend was for me.”
Extending the welcome
Omary and Dee at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Vision Awards ceremony at the University of New Haven.
Omary is now flourishing. She currently works as a career development specialist as she continues her Master’s degree. She also, as a member of the Refugee Storytellers Collective, helps advocate for refugee and immigrant families by connecting them with resources—and teaches local communities how to best welcome newcomers.
“Welcoming new families today has many challenges,” Omary said. “One major barrier is access to English classes. Many newcomers, especially those who have just arrived, often put their names on long wait lists and for months there are no available spots.” For women with children, the lack of available childcare makes attending English classes, or working outside the home, especially difficult.
Omary stresses that sometimes small, everyday acts of kindness can make the biggest difference to immigrant and refugee families.
“Welcome is not about big gestures, but about small, consistent acts of care that remind you that you belong,” Omary said. Receiving a compliment on her dress or her son from a stranger in the grocery store was incredibly uplifting during her early days as a newcomer, and Omary remembers how even the smallest gestures of kindness gave her hope that she could thrive and build a new life here.
“I built my new life, but I didn’t do it alone,” Omary said. “Community and kindness were my greatest strengths.”
Are you in? Click here to join the Refugee Advocacy Lab and sign the #WeWillWelcome pledge and complete one small act of welcome in your community. Together, with small, meaningful steps, we can build communities where everyone feels safe.
This article is part of Upworthy’s “The Threads Between U.S.” series that highlights what we have in common thanks to the generous support from the Levi Strauss Foundation, whose grantmaking is committed to creating a culture of belonging.
It’s common to feel younger than our years, but for Gen X, the math really isn’t mathing—especially when discovering how old the “old” actors in shows from their childhood actually were.
Let’s start with Gilligan’s Island, an after-school staple for many a Gen Xer. Remember Thurston Howell III, the wealthy older man with his sweet wife, Lovey? Mr. Howell was played by Jim Backus, who was 51 when the show began. Just sit with that for a second.
The actress who played his wife, Natalie Schafer, was 13 years older than he was, but still. He was only 51? And what about The Skipper? He seemed like an old guy when we were kids, right? Nope. Alan Hale Jr. was only 43, two years younger than Tom Brady was when he retired from the NFL.
What about Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton, who played Archie and Edith Bunker on All in the Family? They had to have been in their 60s at least, right? Nope. They were also in their 40s when the show began.
Remember Julia Sugarbaker in Designing Women, who was the older, wiser one of the group? She didn’t necessarily seem “old-old” when we were kids, but we might have described her as an “older woman.” Turns out Dixie Carter was 47 when she started that role, which is younger than nearly all Gen Xers are now. Oof.
How about the fact that three of the four Golden Girls were supposed be in their 50s in the show? Or that Rue McClanahan, who played Blanche Devereaux, was 51 years old when the series began?
Going back further, do you know how old actor David Tomlinson was when he played Mr. Banks in the original Mary Poppins film? He seemed like a grumpy old man to us as kids, but he was 47.
Mr. Roper on Three’s Company was surely an older gentleman, right? Only if you consider 53 to be old. Are we seriously Mr. Roper now and not Jack Tripper? When did that happen?
On one hand, seeing that we’re now in the age range of these actors—and in some cases even older—is jarring. On the other hand, perhaps we should feel good about the fact that 50 (and sometimes 60) really is the new 40.
Why people look younger now than they did in the ’60s and ’70s
There may be some denial at play in not seeing ourselves in these actors who were our age, but that’s not the whole story. Objectively, some of these people looked much older than people in their 40s and 50s do today. Why is that?
this is nonsense but did people in the past look older when they were younger?
According to McGill University, there are several reasons people looked older, beyond just our bias against outdated hairstyles and clothing styles.
The primary reasons people looked older in the past were environmental and lifestyle factors. The ubiquity of cigarette smoking was a big one, as smoking causes premature aging of the skin. As smoking declined in popularity, its widespread aging effects did, too.
Sun exposure is another factor. Previous generations would slather themselves in baby oil to speed up UV exposure. Now we know that’s unhealthy on multiple levels. Increased use of sunscreen and greater sun avoidance have slowed the aging effects of the sun.
Even the reduction of certain kinds of air pollution has helped keep our skin looking younger. It turns out that fixing the hole in the ozone layer has had some ancillary anti-aging benefits for us all.
The push for health and longevity research since Gen Xers were kids has also led to better dietary habits and increased hydration. There have also been major advancements in medical and cosmetic interventions that help us look younger for longer.
So while it may make us blink twice to see how old the seemingly “old” actors of our childhood were, it’s all good. We may be as old as they were, but we likely don’t look as old as they did. Gen X still has time before “old age” really hits us.
During her Adele Live 2016 tour stop at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on June 1st, she did what she often does between songs: she invited a couple of kids from the crowd to come up on stage. Two young girls clambered up. Adele hugged them, crouched down to their level, and started chatting. Names, where are you from, the usual warm Adele small talk. Then one of the girls said she was from London.
Adele paused. She glanced out at the crowd and saw a man she recognized.
“Oh my god! No way! I knew you from when you were a baby!” she gasped, as Today reported in its coverage of the moment. “Her mum plays for me. She plays the cello. You were like two weeks old when I first met you.” She then rattled off four OMGs in quick succession, trying to process the fact that the small child she’d last seen as an infant was now standing on her stage at a sold-out arena in Amsterdam, having been pulled from the crowd entirely at random. “That just freaked me out,” she told the audience. “You were like 2 feet tall when I first met you.”
The girl’s mother plays cello in Adele’s touring band. Her father, who’d brought the girls to the show, was the familiar face in the crowd that gave it away. The girls, nicknamed Daiz and Roo according to an Instagram post captured by NME at the time, had no idea any of this was coming.
The video, originally captured by a fan and shared on YouTube, has been resurfacing regularly ever since. It’s easy to see why. In a single unscripted minute, it captures something you don’t often see from artists at that level: genuine surprise. Not performed delight, not a rehearsed crowd moment, but the specific look of a person trying to reconcile the baby they once held with the kid standing right in front of them. The whole arena got to watch Adele put the pieces together in real time.
This is something of a pattern. In a separate concert moment shared on TikTok by user @hannnny3, Adele spotted a young boy in the audience mid-performance, walked over to him, and sang directly to him as he visibly welled up. She brushed his cheek gently and kept going. No announcement, no setup. Just attention, fully given.
The Disney movie The Lion King was released in 1994, and it had a soundtrack full of bangers. Produced by Hans Zimmer with assists from Elton John, there are so many songs that remain classics—including “Circle of Life.”
The song begins with the iconic Zulu chant by singer and composer Lebo M at the start of the Disney film, as the sun rises and baby Simba is lifted into the sky by Rafiki: “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba Sithi uhm ingonyama“
And more than 30 years later, people are finally learning what it translates to. On the One54 Africa podcast, Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore Jonasi shared with hosts Akbar Gbajabiamila and Godfrey Daneschmah (and the rest of the world) the meaning of the Disney tune’s chant—and it’s hilariously underwhelming.
“I’ve seen The Lion King 100 times,” Gbajabiamila says, before giving his own soulful rendition of the chant. “What did I say?”
Jonasi tells him he said “nothing,” adding that it’s Zulu, a language from South Africa, and that it translates to: “Look! There is a lion. Oh my God.”
The three burst into guttural laughter. Gbajabiamila and Daneschmah react in disbelief, saying, “You are joking! That is not what that means!”
Jonasi assures him that’s exactly what it means, and they can’t contain their laughter.
“This whole time I thought it was like this beautiful, majestic [thing],” Gbajabiamila howls.
People react to Zulu chant meaning
On Reddit, people did not hold back their shock and hilarious disappointment about the song’s iconic opening:
“And here I thought it was some majestic phrase about life 😂.”
“It does. It does mean that. I found this out and had the same reaction. I f**king howled. ‘Oh look, here comes a lion, father a lion’ or something was how I was told it was. I was amused and somehow disappointed. But like… it’s accurate.“
“I mean it works in the song too since all the animals look at the lions at this part.”
“You know what… I’m okay with this.”
“See? This simpleton answer actually fits. Try and think about the sheer amount of people who’ve run around shouting this phrase in public looking like idiots (myself included), and then match their idiocy with the simplicity of this answer!!!”
“Okay so quite mundane and hilariously so.”
How “The Circle of Life” was made
The film’s composer, Hans Zimmer, “tapped Lebo M, a then-exiled South African composer living in the U.S., to help with the music,” according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Zimmer and Lebo M “riffed” together to come up with the film’s opener, along with Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, but struggled to nail down an idea until inspiration came to Lebo.
“Then, suddenly, Lebo cried out ‘Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba,’ and all present agreed—instantly—that the chant would open the film,” the publication noted.
“Circle of Life” was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 1995 Academy Awards but lost to another of the film’s iconic songs, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”
By 1973, the Bee Gees’ career had hit a low. After a series of hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including “To Love Somebody,” “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” and “I Started a Joke,” the band was in a rut. Their latest album, Life in a Tin Can, and single “Saw a New Morning” sold poorly, and the band’s popularity declined.
On April 6, 1973, the Gibb brothers (Barry, Robin, and Maurice) appeared on The Midnight Special, a late-night TV show that aired on Saturday mornings at 1 a.m. after The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Given the lukewarm reception to their recent releases, the Bee Gees decided to change things up and play a medley of hits from their idols, The Beatles, who had broken up three years before.
The Beatles were the biggest band on Earth in their heyday. Giphy
The performance, which featured five of the Fab Four’s early hits, including “If I Fell,” “I Need You,” “I’ll Be Back,” “This Boy,” and “She Loves You,” was a stripped-down, acoustic performance that highlighted the Bee Gees’ trademark harmonies.
“When you got brothers singing, it’s like an instrument that no one else can buy. You can’t go buy that sound in a shop. You can’t sing like The Bee Gees because when you got family members singing together, it’s unique,” Noel Gallagher, who sang with his brother Liam in Oasis, said according to Far Out.
A year later, the Bee Gees performed in small clubs, and it looked like their career had hit a dead end. Then, at the urging of their management, the band began to move in a new direction, incorporating soul, rhythm and blues, and a new, underground musical style called disco into their repertoire. Barry also adopted a falsetto singing style popularized by Black singers such as Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye.
This unlikely change for the folksy vocal group catapulted them into the stratosphere and they became the white-satin-clad kings of disco.
In the late ‘70s, the band had massive hits, including songs featured on the 40-million-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack: “Stayin’ Alive,” How Deep is Your Love,” More Than a Woman,” Jive Talkin’,” and “Night Fever.”
In 1978, the band made a significant misstep, starring in a musical based on The Beatles’ music called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, produced by Robert Stigwood, the man behind Saturday Night Fever and Grease. The film was a colossal bomb, although the soundtrack sold well.
The Beatles’ George Harrison thought the Bee Gees film was about what happens when you become successful and greedy.
“I just feel sorry for Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees, and Pete Frampton for doing it because they had established themselves in their own right as decent artists,” Harrison said. “And suddenly… it’s like the classic thing of greed. The more you make the more you want to make, until you become so greedy that ultimately you put a foot wrong.”
Even though the Bee Gees’ Beatle-themed musical was a flop, former Beatle John Lennon remained a fan of the group. He sang their praises after the public’s growing distaste of disco resulted in a significant backlash.
“Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone,” he told Playboy magazine in 1980. “There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then.”
The Bee Gees historic career ended when Maurice passed away in 2003 at 53. Robin would follow in 2009 at 62. Barry is the final surviving member of the band.
Broadway Rave is every theater kid’s dream come true.
When you’re a fan of Broadway musicals, the world is your stage. Or at least, you wish it was. The urge to break out in song always bubbles under the surface, but other than annoying your friends at karaoke or singing into your spatula while you make dinner, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to indulge the impulse.
Singing by yourself in your kitchen can be fun, but sometimes you want to experience the energy of joining a full chorus. What if there was a place where it’s not only okay to sing show tunes at the top of your lungs, but where everyone else will sing along with you?
Singing in your kitchen is fine, but not the same as a full chorus. Photo credit: Canva
Enter Broadway Rave, the nightclub experience for theater kids, Broadway fans, and anyone who prefers an alternative to the traditional clubbing experience. Broadway Raves take place in dance clubs, but instead of house music, you get Hamilton, Heathers, and Hairspray.
Imagine walking into a club and hearing the sound of your people:
Is it a rave in technical terms? That’s up for debate. But it certainly is a chance for people who want the energy of a communal social experience without all the stuff that goes along with clubbing. If a Broadway singalong appeals to you more than navigating a dance floor, it might be worth checking out.
Not that there isn’t dancing. It just might be more The Greatest Showman than “In Da Club.”
I mean, few Hamilton fans wouldn’t appreciate an opportunity to sing some of those iconic tunes with wild abandon, especially in a group that fully appreciates it.
Billed as a “musical theatre dance party celebrating the best of Broadway,” Broadway Rave takes place in various cities at different times. You can check their website for upcoming shows. If you don’t find one near you, you can submit a request for a rave to come to your city. They have shows around the United States as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom.
What musicals do they play songs from? That may depend on the DJ. Here’s what one person shared about their experience:
“The last time I went I stayed from 9:30 until about midnight. Went and looked up my post from that night.
They played songs from a bunch of shows, including Hamilton, Heathers, Rent, Dear Evan Hansen, Sweeney Todd, Cats, Six, Mamma Mia, Hairspray, Phantom, Les Miz, Grease, High School Musical, Hercules, Frozen, Waitress, Legally Blonde, Greatest Showman, Book of Mormon, Chess and I’m sure I’m forgetting some.
It was so much fun.”
Who would pass up a chance to join in on a group version of Wicked‘s “Defying Gravity”?
Most reviews of Broadway Rave have been positive, though some people have said the DJ really makes a difference. Shows last around 2.5 hours, and age restrictions vary by venue. Generally, they are either 18+ or 21+, which is a bummer for the high school drama club kids.
What a great idea, though, to give those of us who don’t really fit the typical nightlife mold a space to let our drama geek flag fly freely and proudly.
NBA legend Kobe Bryant was one of the greatest competitors of his generation, and his work ethic was distilled into a single phrase: Mamba Mentality.
“You wake up every single day to get better today than you were yesterday,” Bryant said in an interview posted on Twitter (X) in 2020. “Doesn’t matter what you are—basketball player, hockey player, golf player, painter, writer… doesn’t matter.”
It was about dedication to the process, not just the results, and about obsessively preparing and outworking everyone else in the building.
Bryant described one way he placed process above everything else in a 2015 interview with Jemele Hill during BET’s Genius Talks. She asked Bryant, “How did you become one of those people who doesn’t seem to be afraid of failing?” Bryant flipped the question on its head.
Bryant didn’t believe in failure
“Seriously, what does failure mean? It doesn’t exist. It’s a figment of your imagination. What does it mean? I’m serious. I’m trying to think. How can I explain it?” he responded.
He tried to explain the concept of failure through the opposite idea—perpetual success—which he also didn’t believe exists:
“So let’s use happy endings then we can relate this to failure, why it’s not existent. Everybody talks about how everybody wants a happy ending, right? Now, let’s go through the reality of it. Let’s look at a fairy tale story. It’s like Snow White. She gets a happy ending. She finds a prince or whatever, she goes along, she lives happily ever after. Well, I call bulls**t on that because two months later, the fact is they had an argument and he’s sleeping on the couch. Right? So the point is, the story continues. … So if you fail on Monday, the only way it’s a failure on Monday is if you decide to not progress from that, right?”
Bryant added, “So to me, that’s why failure’s not existent. Because, you know, if I fail today, okay, I’m going to learn something from that failure, and I’m going to try again on Tuesday. I’m going to try again on Wednesday.”
Later in the interview, he extended this belief across disciplines, noting that even if he never achieved his ultimate dreams on the basketball court, he would take the lessons he learned there and apply them to his next endeavor—for example, business.
“But, if I don’t take that stuff and apply that someplace else, then that’s failing, which to me is the worst possible thing you could ever have is to stop and to not learn,” Bryant said.
The Mamba Mentality has a life of its own
Bryant’s thoughts on success and failure mirror the oft-repeated wisdom that it’s not the destination but the journey that truly matters. Sure, you’re going to win some games and lose others, but the most important thing is constant improvement, no matter the arena. That’s the Mamba Mentality. Although Bryant may have left us, his drive lives on in everyone he inspired to be their absolute best.
George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope hit theaters in 1977, capturing the imaginations of people across the globe and launching a renewed interest in science fiction. Gary Marshall, producer of the hit show Happy Days, was looking to keep the series fresh in its fifth season, so he listened to his son—a huge Star Wars fan—who asked if there could be an alien on the show.
The show’s cast wasn’t too excited about the bizarre episode, which centered on an alien, Mork from the planet Ork, who landed on Earth in an attempt to bring Richie Cunningham back to his home planet. “It really wasn’t a very good script. It was the worst script we ever had,” Anson Williams, who played Potsie Weber on the show, later recalled.
The actor originally cast as Mork quit just two days before filming, leaving the crew scrambling to find another alien. Al Molinaro, who played diner owner Al Delvecchio on the show, suggested Robin Williams, an actor from his improv class. Williams was brought in to read for the role, and his surprising take on the alien would launch him into superstardom.
Williams made an incredibly unexpected choice during the audition—one that could have jeopardized his chances of securing the role. When Marshall asked Williams to take a seat, he turned upside down, with his head in the chair and his butt in the air.
“He did the whole audition standing on his head,” Marshall said, according to Parade. “He was a whole different, fresh view of a guy doing an outer-space alien.” The producer gave Williams the role, explaining that “he was the only alien to audition.”
“When Robin Williams came on as a Martian, he was all over the place and was improvising some, and they gave him room,” Marshall recalled. “At the end of the episode, 300 people in the audience stood up and applauded, which is not usually done. It didn’t take a genius to know he could do his own show, and we made one for him, Mork & Mindy.”
During rehearsals, the rest of the cast gave Williams room to improvise, and he quickly created the unique Mork character with his “Na-Nu-Na-Nu” greeting and Star Trek-esque handshake.
The episode, “My Favorite Orkan,” which originally aired on Feb. 28, 1978, would go on to become one of the most memorable in the series. “It was one of the best shows in the history of the series,” Anson Williams recalled.
Robin Williams’ performance as the character was so memorable that Paramount rushed an entire show based on the alien, Mork & Mindy, which debuted on Sept. 14, 1978. The Mork character was also invited back on Happy Days the following year for a follow-up episode, “Mork Returns.”
Mork & Mindy initially surpassed Happy Days in the ratings before experiencing a sharp decline over the next three seasons. In the final season, Mork and Mindy had an Orkan baby, played by Jonathan Winters, who aged backward. By the final episodes in 1982, Williams had become a bona fide movie star, having starred in Popeye and The World According to Garp.
Williams was such an incredible talent that one audition—where he stood on his head—probably wasn’t the sole reason for his incredible success. But it is a great example of how extraordinary talent expresses itself in ways most people can’t fathom. Kudos to Gary Marshall and the producers of Happy Days for embracing his lunacy instead of laughing Williams out of the studio, and for giving him the space to explode into America’s living rooms.
“There’s a snake in my boot!” may be one of the most recognizable lines in children’s films across multiple generations. Voiced by the iconic Tom Hanks, Toy Story‘s trusty cowboy toy hero, Woody, has been a beloved character for over 30 years.
But what people may not realize is that when you hear Woody’s voice anywhere but the films, you’re likely not hearing Tom Hanks. You’re hearing his brother, Jim Hanks. Didn’t know Tom Hanks had a voice actor brother? You’re not alone. An interview with Jim explaining how he’s voiced Woody for three decades is blowing people’s minds.
Jim Hanks has played Woody more often than Tom Hanks
When Toy Story came out in 1995, it made history as the first full-length, 3D computer-animated film. Since then, the film franchise has become one of the most successful in history. We not only have four (going on five) movies, but also toys, merch, and themed experiences.
We know the voice in the film is Tom Hanks. But the voice in Woody toys? That’s Jim. Computer and video games? That’s Jim. Theme park rides? Also Jim. Disney on Ice shows? Jim.
“I think I went in and did the first toy in ’94 before the first movie came out,” Jim told Jace Diehl. He said he voiced Woody for a short film that came out after the fourth movie, in addition to the various other places Woody can be found.
— Stitch Kingdom has BUM WORMS (@stitchkingdom) August 11, 2024
People thought it was a myth that Tom Hanks’ brother voices Woody
“I never really knew that my voice was as similar to Tom’s,” Jim shared. “I have since then seen videos of myself…where I watch myself and go ‘Oh my God, yeah, I do sound like him, even if I’m not trying.”
Watching the interview, it’s quite remarkable how much Tom and Jim look and sound alike. Tom Hanks has also talked about Jim’s Woody work in interviews, including this one in which Graham Norton thought it was an urban myth:
Commenters on the Jim Hanks interview video were blown away to find out this bit of Toy Story trivia:
“I can’t be the only one who didn’t know Tom Hanks had a brother, where the hell have I been.”
“I feel like I just got Mandela effected.”
“I’m not entirely convinced that’s not just Tom Hanks with a shaved head.”
“They should make a docudrama about Jim Hanks played by Tom Hanks.”
“Seeing Jim talk casually is surreal, because he looks and sounds just about as much Like Tom Hanks as a person possibly can. But at the same time, he has a totally different personality and way of carrying himself.”
“This is breaking my brain right now. I’m 33, grew up on Toy Story, and I was today years old when I learned that collectively, Jim Hanks has more of a right to the title ‘the voice of Woody’ than Tom Hanks does. Such a talented family.”
I feel like more people should know that Woody has been played by Jim Hanks more than Tom Hanks.
Jim said he thinks of his Woody voice as an impression of Tom yelling at his kid, which makes sense. Even though they are brothers, their voices aren’t identical, so Jim has to work to find Tom’s voice. The way he describes pushing on his diaphragm while having the voice up in his nose, but also deep at the same time, makes it clear he’s a skilled voice actor. He may have a clear genetic advantage, but he has to work to play Woody.
And if you’re wondering whether the brothers’ work ever comes into their family life, the answer is yes.
“One time, Tom and I were up visiting my mother, and we called my other brother,” Jim shared. “We were just blabbing away, and my brother Larry finally says, ‘I just got to say, this is like listening to dueling Woodys.'”
Countless kids and adults have a lot to thank the Hanks family for, especially knowing that Woody has been a family affair from the beginning.
