Hanks joins board of Oscars body

Tom Hanks' Cast Away was a hit at the start of 2001

Tom Hanks is among four new board members of the Oscars body, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Hanks was one of two governors elected to the actors branch after the resignation of Gregory Peck, who chose not to fill out the remaining year of his three-year term.

Peck's position, filled by Tom Hanks, will be up for re-election next year, while incumbent Kathy Bates was returned for a second three-year term.

The other new board members were Curtis Hanson in the directors branch, Mark Johnson in the producers branch, and Freida Lee Mock - elected as first governor of the newly-created documentary branch.

Prominence

Returning to the board after twelve years is past president of the academy Richard Kahn, in the public relations branch.

Hanks' election to the actors branch is another indication of his growing prominence in Hollywood.

Born July 9, 1956 in Concord, California, Hanks' screen debut was the low-budget slasher movie He Knows You're Alone in 1979.

Hanks finally became prominent when he starred opposite Daryl Hannah in the Disney comedy Splash! - an unexpectedly big hit in 1984.

His subsequent hits have included Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13 and Saving Private Ryan, for which Hanks received a Best Actor nomination from the academy.

In 2000 Hanks took home the Golden Globes' Best Actor in a drama award for his portrayal of a shipwrecked systems engineer in the film Cast Away.

And in 2001 Hanks was named as the actor with the most clout in the influential Premiere Power List.