When did Tom Hanks become an actor?

Tom Hanks didn't just "become an actor" at a specific point in time. He started acting in the early 1980s and gradually built his career.

Here's a timeline of key events:

* 1980: He made his professional acting debut in the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival.

* 1984: He landed a role in the film "Splash" which gained him wider recognition.

* 1993: He won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in "Philadelphia."

* 1994: He won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for "Forrest Gump."

So, while he's been acting since the early 1980s, his career really took off in the mid-1980s and he achieved massive success in the early 1990s.