Internet Is Just Realising That Tom Hanks Played 6 Roles In The Polar Express

Tom Hanks is an amazing actor and there is no secret to it. The actor is apparently so talented that he fooled the world into thinking that his multiple Polar Express characters were all played by different people.

Hanks introduced his voice to kids through his role as Woody in Toy Story, and a few after that kids came across the actor's voice once again with the 2004 Christmas film all about the train to the North Pole.

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Whether you fell into the 'I love this film!' party or were more of a 'what is this terrifying story?' viewer, there are great chances that you recognized Hanks to be the voice of the train conductor.

Well, we'd say it is hard to miss his voice in the movie, given that the animated character also physically resembles Hanks, so there's one we can tick off the list. But did you know that the actor actually brought other characters to life too? 

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It is believed that the actor took on not just one but five more characters in the movie. Well, if you want to take a short break to catch up on the movie again during this holiday season then we will catch you back here shortly.

If you just want us to tell you the characters, then stay with us.

As well as the conductor, we also hear Hanks speaking as the homeless man who ventures about on the top of the carriages and brings to life a role vital for a Christmas film: Santa Claus himself.

His work didn't stop there, as he also voiced the older version of the main character, dubbed 'Hero Boy', as well as Hero Boy’s father, and the Scrooge puppet.

The realization only came to the fans recently, 18 years after the classic movie was released and one fan wrote: "Also discovering Tom Hanks wasn’t just the conductor but hearing his voice in several different parts of this movie and googling it to find he did SIX CHARACTERS IN THIS MOVIE??? This is and has always been a Tom Hanks stan account. Polar express slander will not be tolerated."

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Another surprised viewer wrote: "The Polar Express? Oh, you mean “it took me 21 years to realize Tom Hanks voices almost all of the male characters in this movie”?"

Hanks has previously opened up about director Robert Zemeckis' decision to have him play numerous roles, telling IGN that there was a moment in time where Zemeckis suggested he take on every single character in the film.

He explained: "Bob at one point said 'I think you should play every role in this movie because then we could do it. You could play every role!' Forgive me, Bob. But I said, 'Well, wait a minute. There's girls in this movie. I'm going to play every elf?' He said, 'Yeah, it'll be great.'"

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Well, we actually have no doubt that the actor would have nailed the job of voicing each and every character, but he admitted there was 'only so much that [he] can internally grasp as an actor'.

He continued: "On the day of tests that we did I played five or six or seven roles in the course of that day, and I said, 'Bob, I'm exhausted here.'"

Even though the film is wild enough as it is, I have to admit it would have been interesting to hear Hanks take on the dozens of characters involved.

Credit: Cheese Scientist / Alamy Stock Photo