Skip to main content
Partly Cloudy icon
72º

Greece gives actor Tom Hanks honorary Greek citizenship

1 / 2

2019 Invision

Actor Tom Hanks attends a special screening of "A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood," at the Henry R. Luce Auditorium, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Tom Hanks may officially consider himself Greek.

Greece's President Prokopis Pavlopoulos has signed an honorary naturalization order allowing the 63-year-old actor to claim Greek citizenship, his office told The Associated Press on Friday.

Recommended Videos



Hanks frequently spends his summer vacation on the Greek island of Antiparos and his wife, actress and producer Rita Wilson, is of Greek and Bulgarian ancestry.

Under Greek law, honorary naturalization may be granted to people “who have provided exceptional services to the country or whose naturalization serves the public interest."