Samantha Lewes was an American actress known not only for her appearances in the TV comedy series “Bosom Buddies” and in the TV comedy film “Mr. Success” is best known as the former wife of two-time Academy Award-winning American actor and producer Tom Hanks and the mother of his children Colin and Elizabeth Hanks, both actors. Samantha died in 2002.
- Samantha Lewes was an American actress, best known as the former wife of Tom Hanks and mother of their two children Colin and Elizabeth Hanks.
- She began her film career in 1978 and appeared in the TV comedy series “Bosom Buddies” and the TV comedy “Mr. Success”.
- She and Tom Hanks met at California State University, Sacramento, married in 1978 and later had two children.
- She died in 2002 while battling bone cancer.
- Her estimated net worth was $15 million.
Table of Contents
Personal life, biography and career
Susan Jane Dillingham was born on November 29, 1952 in San Diego, California under the star sign of Sagittarius in the family of Harriet Hall and John Raymond Dillingham and was not only of American nationality but also of white ethnicity.
No further details are known about the background of her siblings or family. However, regarding her educational background, it was confirmed that she enrolled at California State University, Sacramento after matriculating from Skyline High School.
Samantha immersed herself in the film industry in 1978 when she appeared briefly in an episode of the first season of the BBC TV comedy-drama series Grange Hill; However, this engagement remained uncredited. In 1981, she made a cameo appearance in the TV comedy series Bosom Buddies, starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. Lewes’ last on-screen acting engagement came in 1984, when she made a brief guest appearance in the TV comedy “Mr. Success”.

Married to Tom Hanks
Samantha and Tom first met at California State University, Sacramento. Tom was different from other students – “a geek, a spaz and terribly, painfully, terribly shy” – and caught her attention and not long after they began their relationship. They decided to drop out of college and move in together, and in November 1977, they were blessed with a child – a son they named Colin Hanks. Two months later, in January 1978, at age 26, Samantha married 22-year-old Tom Hanks. In 1979, the family moved to New York City, where Tom, still unknown as an actor and with the burden of supporting his family on his shoulders, began his career as a comedian, performing in the city’s bars and comedy clubs.
Three years later, in May 1982, the couple had their second child, daughter Elizabeth Ann Hanks. However, in 1984, Samantha and Tom separated due to misunderstandings in communication and eventually filed for divorce, which was finalized in March 1987. As Hanks stated years later in one of his interviews, he was too young when he married Samantha and did it mainly because he felt lonely and insecure.
Colin Hanks

Colin Lewes Hanks was born on November 24, 1977 in Sacramento, California. After matriculating from Country Day School, he enrolled at Chapman University before transferring to Loyola Marymount University, but eventually dropped out. He began his acting career in his father’s 1996 Oscar-nominated musical comedy That Thing You Do!
In the 2000s, he honed his skills by appearing in television series such as Roswell, Band of Brothers and Mad Men, as well as the films Orange County (2002) and 11:14 (2003). and the Oscar-winning blockbuster “King Kong” (2005). Colin also appeared in several leading roles, including films such as Alone with Her (2006), Untraceable (2008), The Great Buck Howard (2008) and The House Bunny (2008). In the 2010s, he appeared in various recurring roles on popular television series, including “The Good Guys,” “Dexter,” “Lucky,” as well as “What Lives Inside,” “Fargo,” and “Life in Pieces.”
Elizabeth Hanks

Elizabeth Ann Hanks was born on May 17, 1982 in Los Angeles, California.
She attended Archer School for Girls before enrolling at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Her first acting appearance was in her father’s groundbreaking film, the 1994 romantic drama Forrest Gump. She then appeared alongside her brother and father in the film That Thing You Do! (1996). After a 19-year hiatus, Elizabeth appeared in the short drama “Anchoraged” in 2015, while her most recent engagement was the role of voice actress in an episode of the TV adventure animated series “Big City Greens” in 2019.
Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey “Tom” Hanks was born on July 9, 1956 in Concord, California to Janet Marylyn and Amos Mefford Hanks.
In addition to being American, he is also of English descent on his father’s side and Portuguese descent on his mother’s side. Before enrolling at California State University, Sacramento, he was a student at Chabot College. His career began in 1980, while his first prominent appearance was starring in the Oscar-nominated 1984 comedy Splash. In the following decade, Hanks played a number of leading roles in critically acclaimed films such as The Money Pit (1986), Big (1988), The ‘Burbs (1989) and A League on. Their Own (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and Philadelphia (1993).
His big breakthrough came with the title role in “Forrest Gump” (1994), for which he won an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award. He went on to star in award-winning films such as Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Green Mile (1999) and the 2000 drama Cast Away, for which he also starred received an Oscar nomination as a Golden Globe Award.
While his career was on the rise, Hanks began appearing in now-memorable AAA films, including Road to Perdition (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and Charlie Wilson’s War (2007). ), “Cloud Atlas” (2012) as well as “Captain Phillips” (2013), “Saving Mr. Banks” (2013) and “Bridge of Spies” (2015) and many others.
He also starred in the Robert Langdon film series, based on a series of popular novels by Dan Brown and directed by Ron Howard, consisting of the films The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and Inferno .
Additionally, Tom Hanks is the creator of the TV series “Electric City” as well as the producer of several television series such as “From the Earth to the Moon”, “Band of Brothers”, “The Pacific” and “Big Love”. and “Masters of the Skies.” In 2016, he became a recipient of the French Legion of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom sasha czack .
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Samantha Lewes death
In early 2002, Lewes was diagnosed with bone cancer. Hanks did his best to help her, arranging a meeting with some of the country’s best and most experienced medical specialists in the field, but the disease had already spread beyond the tipping point, affecting her lungs, brain and other major organs. After struggling with carcinoma for several months, Samantha died on March 12, 2002 at the age of 49. She is buried at East Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Sacramento, California.
Net Worth
Sources have estimated that Samantha Lewes net worth would be around $15 million as of mid-2020.