Elizabeth Anne Hanks (born May 17, 1982) is an American writer and journalist. She has written for publications including Vanity Fair and The Huffington Post, and in 2025 she released her memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road.
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Early life
Hanks was born in Burbank to actors Tom Hanks and Susan Dillingham, who was also known by the stage name Samantha Lewes. After the couple's separation, their two children, Elizabeth and her older brother, Colin, lived with their mother. When the divorce was finalized in 1987, Dillingham was given primary custody. She moved with the children to Sacramento, initially without their father's knowledge. Elizabeth spent "some weekends and most school holidays" with her father, who still lived in Los Angeles. She traveled with him to the sets of several of his films, including to the set of Forrest Gump (1994), in which she had a brief non-speaking role as "School bus girl".
Hanks has described her childhood as being "filled with confusion, violence, deprivation, and love", and has said that she experienced "a level of neglect" by her mother. Dillingham struggled with substance abuse, including cocaine addiction, and undiagnosed mental health conditions that led to symptoms of paranoia and delusion.