Hanks for the selfie!
Toronto fan of Oscar winner thrilled to receive personal response to handwritten note
What began as a “silly bet” among friends ended up being a huge surprise for a Toronto woman after actor Tom Hanks sent a selfie and quick response to her handwritten fan letter.
“It’s a really fun story and I’m thrilled by the response I got,” Zena Gopal said. “I sent it in right at the beginning of December and had a response dated Dec. 8.”
While reminiscing about life before Twitter — when “people used to write handwritten fan mail to their favourite stars” — Gopal and her friend decided to bet on who would get a response first from the Oscarwinning actor.
In her handwritten letter, she told Hanks about the bet she made, as well as a few favourite movies that he starred in. She also asked for a selfie with the star and included a Polaroid photo she took with a llama at the Royal Winter Fair.
A little bit over a week later, Gopal received the response she never imagined, a photo and a typed letter.
“Does this count as a head shot? Sorry for the beard, but I have some shooting coming up and I must have whiskers,” Hank wrote. “My head shot is not all that current, taken long ago and I’d come off vain sending along.”
Hanks also took time to talk about Toronto.
“Toronto, huh? Damn fine town. Growing fast, all those condo towers down on the lake,” he wrote. “Nice views, I guess. I have not been there since one of the Film Festival dates sometime back.”
Also enclosed in Hanks’s letter was a Polaroid of a selfie taken by the actor while holding Gopal’s photo.
Since the photograph has been shared over Reddit, Gopal has been answering phone calls from around the world.
“I’ve been seeing myself on the news across the world, it’s pretty surreal,” she told the Star.
Now that she has the attention, Gopal is hoping that Hanks’s charitable spirit will be shared among others to support those in need this holiday season. She works at Toronto’s St. Felix Centre, a drop-in centre for homeless women.
“Tom Hanks is such a great and charitable man and I would love to see his greatness be put to some good, as agencies such as the one I work for . . . they are always in great need of donations to continue the work that we do.”