10 Actors Who Made Insane Sacrifices For Movies (And Why)

9. Tom Hanks Developed Pre-Diabetes...But Won An Oscar - Philadelphia

The Sacrifice

Tom Hanks may have only been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes back in 2013, but he actually began to show pre-diabetic symptoms over 20 years prior, when he began yo-yoing his weight for several movie roles.

While preparing to play baseball coach Jimmy Dugan in 1992's A League of Their Own, Hanks packed on 30 pounds of weight, and less than a year later, he then went 26 pounds below his normal weight to resemble the gaunt, AIDS-afflicted lawyer Andrew Beckett in Jonathan Demme's hit drama Philadelphia.

Hanks has said that it was after this drastic yo-yo in weight that he began to show high blood sugar numbers, effectively making him pre-diabetic and plotting him on course to be diagnosed later in life, likely unaided by him again dropping 55 pounds for Cast Away in 2000.

In recent years, Hanks has deemed these physical transformations a young man's game, and not something he'll be attempting again (thankfully).

Why They Did It

It's important to remember that this was the hottest and most successful period of Hanks' career, and he was fully in the throes of being both a major box office draw and wanting to be considered a Serious Actor after spending most of the 1980s starring in frothy comedies.

Hanks was hungry for an Oscar, so he sacrificed his future health.

In the very least it paid off, as Hanks took home the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Philadelphia, and in a near-unprecedented move, won a second Best Actor award the very next year for his sublime performance as Forrest Gump.

Off the back of these roles, Hanks enjoyed a hot streak that ran all through the '90s, so it's tough to argue with his decision making, honestly.