12 June 2026
Tom Hanks has insisted the Oscars doesn’t need an extra category to accommodate voice actors.
Tom Hanks has weighed in on the debate over Oscars for voice actors
The Toy Story 5 star has given his verdict on whether the Academy Awards should be expanded to include a Best Voice Actor prize to honour those who bring characters to life without being seen onscreen with Hanks declaring an extra category is unnecessary because the Best Actor and Actress categories are open to all.
He told Gold Derby: “I think they have enough categories. The truth is, a voice actor can win Best Actor. The judgment is ‘any performance that moved you’.”
Hanks went on to reference Andy Serkis‘ motion-capture performances in The Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes franchises, adding: “Even though he does not appear as Andy Serkis, he gives all the raw material for it.
“There’s been people who have been close to being nominated that do not appear on camera. That could happen to a pure-vocal actor.”
Hanks, 69, has voiced the part of Sheriff Woody in the Toy Story franchise since 1995 with the most recent addition – Toy Story 5 – hitting cinemas on June 19.
The Big star recently admitted he can’t believe he’s “still a part” of the Toy Story franchise more than three decades on from the release of the first film.
Speaking about the new movie, Hanks told People: “I have seen it. I don’t know how they do it, but it is a vibrant and proper chapter in the Toy Story canon. “None of us can believe that we’re still a part of it.”
Asked to share some details about the new movie, the actor replied: “Oh my Lord, all I can say is the saga continues.”
However, an official synopsis for Toy Story 5 teased some details about the new film. The synopsis reads: “The toys are back and this time, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang’s jobs are challenged when they come face-to-face with Lilypad, a brand-new tablet device that arrives with her own disruptive ideas about what is best for their kid, Bonnie. Will playtime ever be the same?”
Hanks previously confessed that he’s “experienced the same anxiety” on all five Toy Story movies. The actor explained that he’s had a similar experience every time, even though the first Toy Story movie premiered in 1995.
He told Entertainment Weekly: “Over the course of five movies, we’ve gone back to the same confines, and it’s the same geometry.
“The mic is here, the stand is there, the team is there. They might have some props or what have you, but if you could have taken me at any point in all of the recording of all of these, I experienced the same anxiety, pressure, physical demands of it. So there actually is a familiar sameness.”
Despite this, Hanks admitted that Woody has evolved during the course of the five Toy Story films.
The Hollywood star said: “He has been played with to excess. “You put a rubber hat on top of a rubber head again and again and again and again, something’s gonna chafe. So, yeah, he does have … let’s say a worn area on the back of his head. “He is not shaped plastic. He is made of stuffing and cloth, and that stuff settles over time.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.femalefirst.co.uk ’
