America’s iconic nice-guy actor, Tom Hanks, is putting his son Truman in the spotlight — serving up his prized progeny to millions of devoted film fans. The same can’t be said for Truman’s brother, Chet, the self-styled black sheep of the clean-cut Hollywood clan.
Truman, 27, makes his acting debut Friday in “A Man Called Otto,” a comedy starring his two-time Oscar-winning father in which the junior Hanks plays a younger version of Tom’s cantankerous titular character.
Truman’s big-screen baptism by Tom, 66, contrasts dramatically with the introduction to the masses enjoyed by his older brother Chet, 32, who first appeared in 2007’s “Bratz,” a family comedy that raked in $26 million worldwide.
Small roles for Chet would follow, including playing an unnamed student in 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and as Jimmy Grimm (the brother of Ben Grimm, aka The Thing) in 2015’s “Fantastic Four.”
Just months before that superhero box-office bomb hit theaters, the tatted-up aspiring rapper, aka “Chet Haze,” entered rehab for cocaine addiction in November 2014. In an Instagram post, Chet thanked his father Tom, mother Rita Wilson and half-brother Colin Hanks for supporting him.
Video later surfaced in March 2021 showing a bloodied Chet following an altercation with ex-girlfriend Kiana Parker earlier that year in Sugarland, Texas. Hanks’ former flame obtained a restraining order against him for alleged attacks in October 2020 and January 2021, TMZ reported.
An attorney for Chet — who has also appeared on Showtime’s “Shameless” and TV’s “Empire” as a rapper — reportedly dismissed Parker’s claims as false.
Messages seeking comment from reps for Chet and Tom were not returned Thursday. Attempts to reach Truman Hanks, who lives in Pacific Palisades, Calif., were unsuccessful.
Chet has been vocal about his apparently strained relationship with his father, announcing on YouTube in February that he didn’t have a “strong male role model” growing up.
It’s unclear what impact the “White Boy Summer” rapper’s personal struggles have had on his relationship with his father, but Tom said the idea to cast Truman in “A Man Called Otto” didn’t come from him. Director Marc Forster suggested it, the star told “Today” show viewers Tuesday.
“‘You know what? It’s always so fake to get somebody else to come in and play you, ‘cause they never look right,’” Tom recalled Forster saying. “‘Could maybe Truman do this?’”
Tom also has two other children, son Colin, 45, and daughter Elizabeth, 40, with actress Samantha Lewes, whom he married in 1978. The couple divorced in 1987, one year before Tom’s “Big” Hollywood breakthrough. Lewes, 49, died of bone cancer in 2002.
Colin, who was nominated for an Emmy for his work in TV’s “Fargo” series, has appeared in many shows and movies, including “Orange County” and “King Kong.” He’s also directed several features and is currently producing a documentary about baseball legend Willie Mays.
Elizabeth, an extra on her father’s quintessential film, “Forrest Gump,” is a writer whose previous work has appeared in outlets like the New York Times and The Guardian.
Professionally known as E.A. Hanks, she will publish her first novel in 2024, according to her Instagram profile.
The foursome’s father, meanwhile, said he was uneasy about Truman’s moment in the spotlight — even as one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars — but wanted to let his youngest child navigate the journey himself.
“There’s only one way to do it and that is to wrestle the beast,” Tom Hanks told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. “The good thing about a movie is hey, if it’s no good, it’s not going to be in the movie.”
Hanks also acknowledged that the “Mr. Nice Guy” image might be a bit of a stretch, especially among his offspring.
“My brat kids will probably tell you, ‘When is Dad not in charge with his inner crank?’” Hanks joked. “Well, I like to use the word ‘fascinating,’ as opposed to nice. But listen, we have all been stuck in traffic, right? So when that stuff happens I do, in fact, go absolutely berserk.”
But working with Truman had been undeniably pleasurable and “special,” Hanks told People, while seemingly trying to stave off any accusations of Hollywood nepotism.
“Without a doubt, it’s special because, you know, I changed his diapers,” Hanks said. “But you get past that right away because you gotta show up, and you gotta hit the marks, and you gotta do it on time, and you gotta be right there.”
But being tasked with emulating his dad, Truman said, wasn’t as difficult as some might imagine.
“Whenever I do my imitation of him, people are like, ‘That’s not what he sounds like,’” Truman told People. “But I have to convey to you the way I hear him. Everyone hears, ‘Houston, we have a problem.’ I hear this grumpy old man who’s mad at the DVD player.”
