Colin Hanks makes ordinary, well-meaning men interesting when their nerve fails. His quiet work in Fargo is the clearest reason to watch him, though casting him merely as the nice one leaves too much unused.
Fi1m perspective
On a dark road in Fargo (2014), Colin Hanks’s Gus Grimly stops Billy Bob Thornton’s Malvo and lets him go. The Duluth officer spends the season knowing what that decision cost, and Hanks makes the knowledge uncomfortable to watch. We felt for Gus because his fear was recognisable, even while we wanted him to do his job. Hanks is particularly good when being a decent person does not equip his character to deal with the person opposite him.
That is more demanding work than simply being the agreeable one, a limitation of some of his early casting. Roswell (1999–2001) gave him Alex Whitman, and Orange County (2002) his first starring film role, before supporting parts in King Kong (2005) and The House Bunny (2008). Earnestness and awkwardness became familiar features of his work. They are useful qualities, but a script that asks for nothing else risks making him easy to overlook.
Playing the antagonist Travis Marshall in Dexter (2011) broke with that casting pattern. Fargo found a different use for his familiar qualities, making Gus’s basic decency coexist with a serious failure to act. In Noah Hawley’s series, Allison Tolman’s Molly Solverson remains the performance we remember most, but Hanks earns his place beside her and Thornton. He keeps Gus’s regret present without turning every scene into a request for forgiveness, and the understatement suits a man who knows he has fallen short.
Life in Pieces (2015–2019) gave him a sustained sitcom role as Greg Short, while The Offer (2022) cast him as the obstructive studio executive Barry Lapidus. Ensemble work suits an actor who can make small details matter without insisting on being the centre of attention. The caveat is that quiet playing needs something more than a pleasant character to sustain it. Start with Fargo, and do not expect to approve of everything Gus does.
Biography
Colin Lewes Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the son of actor Tom Hanks.
Hanks first gained attention for his role as Alex Whitman in the series Roswell (1999–2001). He later appeared in films including Orange County (2002) and King Kong (2005), and played Lt. Henry Jones in the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001).
He is known for portraying Deputy Gus Grimly in the series Fargo (2014–2015), for which he received nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award. Other television roles include Travis Marshall in Dexter (2011) and Greg Short in Life in Pieces (2015–2019). Hanks has also directed documentaries such as All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records (2015).
