Samantha Lewes was the stage name of Susan Jane Dillingham, an American actress best remembered today as the first wife of Hollywood icon Tom Hanks and the mother of actors Colin Hanks and E. A. Hanks. Although her own screen career was modest, her story has taken on renewed public interest in recent years, largely because of her daughter’s candid memoir about their family life. This article explores who Samantha Lewes really was, her early life, her marriage to Tom Hanks, her brief acting career, and the legacy she left behind for her children.
Bio Table: Samantha Lewes
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Susan Jane Dillingham |
| Stage Name | Samantha Lewes |
| Born | 29 November 1952, California, USA |
| Died | 12 March 2002 (aged 49), Sacramento, California, USA |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Known For | Bosom Buddies (1980), Mr. Success (1984) |
| Spouse | Tom Hanks (married 1978, divorced 1987) |
| Children | Colin Hanks, Elizabeth Ann (“E. A.”) Hanks |
| Education | California State University, Sacramento (theatre studies) |
| Notable Connection | First wife of actor Tom Hanks |
| Related Publication | Featured in E. A. Hanks’s memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road (2025) |
Quick Facts: Who Was Samantha Lewes?
Samantha Lewes was born Susan Jane Dillingham on 29 November 1952 in California. She met Tom Hanks while both were theatre students at California State University, Sacramento, and the pair married in January 1978. Together they had two children, Colin Hanks and Elizabeth Ann Hanks (known professionally as E. A. Hanks). The couple separated in 1985 and finalised their divorce in 1987. Lewes worked as a stage and screen actress under her chosen professional name, appearing in a handful of television and film roles during the late 1970s and 1980s. She died on 12 March 2002 at the age of 49 after a battle with cancer.
Early Life and Background
Susan Jane Dillingham was born in California in late 1952. Long before the world came to know her by her stage name, she grew up with a passion for performance that eventually led her to study theatre at California State University, Sacramento. It was there, in the mid-1970s, that she crossed paths with a fellow student who shared her love of acting: a young Tom Hanks.
Like many aspiring performers of her generation, Dillingham adopted a stage name once she began pursuing professional acting work. She chose “Samantha Lewes,” a name that would go on to appear in television and film credits throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Meeting Tom Hanks
Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks met as students in the theatre department at Sacramento State. Their shared ambitions and creative interests drew them together, and the relationship quickly developed into a serious partnership. On 24 January 1978, the couple married, well before Hanks had achieved any degree of fame. At the time, both were simply two young actors trying to build careers in a notoriously difficult industry.
Their marriage came during a formative period for Hanks, who had not yet landed the roles that would make him a household name. Lewes supported him through those early, uncertain years of his career, long before films such as Splash, Big, and Forrest Gump transformed him into one of the most recognisable actors in the world.
Marriage, Children, and Family Life
Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks had two children together:
- Colin Hanks, born in 1977, who went on to become a well-known actor in his own right, appearing in films and television series including Fargo and Life in Pieces.
- Elizabeth Ann Hanks, born in 1982, who now writes and works professionally as E. A. Hanks, and who has become the primary voice sharing her mother’s story with the public.
The couple’s marriage lasted seven years before they separated in 1985. Their divorce was finalised in 1987. Following the split, Lewes had primary custody of Colin and Elizabeth, while Hanks, whose acting career was accelerating rapidly at the time, saw his children on designated weekends and during school holidays.
According to accounts later shared by Elizabeth Ann Hanks, the years following the divorce were difficult for the family. She has spoken publicly about the instability of her early childhood, including a period when her mother relocated the family to Sacramento without informing Hanks in advance. In her memoir, she recalls her father arriving to collect her and her brother from school, only to discover they had not attended for two weeks and had already moved.
These recollections paint a picture of a challenging, sometimes turbulent home life during Lewes’s years as a single parent, a period her daughter has since described in detail as part of her own journey to understand her mother.
Samantha Lewes’s Acting Career
Samantha Lewes worked as a professional actress, though her filmography remained relatively small compared to her former husband’s prolific output. She began pursuing acting roles in the mid-1970s and continued to take on parts through the early 1980s.
Among her most notable credits:
- An appearance in an episode of the sitcom Bosom Buddies (1980), notably alongside Tom Hanks himself, in an episode titled “Cahoots.”
- A role in the television film Mr. Success (1984).
While her acting career never reached the heights of her ex-husband’s, Lewes remained active in the theatre and screen world for several years, balancing her creative pursuits with raising her two young children, much of that responsibility falling to her after the divorce.
Later Years and Death
After her divorce from Tom Hanks, Samantha Lewes largely stepped back from the public eye. She continued raising Colin and Elizabeth in Sacramento, California, while Hanks’s career took off nationally and internationally throughout the late 1980s and 1990s.
In the years before her death, Lewes was diagnosed with cancer. She died on 12 March 2002 in Sacramento, California, at the age of 49. Her passing came at a point when both of her children were already grown, with Colin pursuing his own acting career and Elizabeth beginning to carve out her own path as a writer.
E. A. Hanks’s Memoir and Renewed Public Interest
In 2025, Elizabeth Ann Hanks published a memoir titled The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, in which she wrote openly about her childhood, her relationship with her mother, and the impact of her parents’ divorce. The book brought Samantha Lewes back into public conversation decades after her death, offering readers a far more detailed and personal account of who she was beyond the brief “Tom Hanks’s first wife” description that had defined her public image for years.
In interviews following the memoir’s release, Tom Hanks himself acknowledged his daughter’s honesty in confronting difficult family history, describing it as a reflection of the fact that many families carry complicated, imperfect pasts.
Elizabeth’s account has added important nuance and depth to public understanding of Samantha Lewes, moving beyond a simple footnote in Tom Hanks’s biography and towards a fuller picture of a mother, an actress, and a woman who shaped two notable public figures.
Samantha Lewes’s Legacy
Although she never achieved lasting fame as an actress herself, Samantha Lewes’s legacy lives on primarily through her children:
- Colin Hanks has built a respected career as a film and television actor and director.
- E. A. Hanks has become a published author, using her writing to explore and share her mother’s story with a wider audience.
Her brief but meaningful connection to Tom Hanks during his formative years as an actor also places her in the earliest chapter of the story of one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars.
Conclusion
Samantha Lewes, born Susan Jane Dillingham, was far more than simply “the first wife of Tom Hanks.” She was a working actress, a mother of two accomplished children, and a woman whose life, though marked by both love and hardship, has recently come into sharper focus thanks to her daughter’s memoir. Her marriage to Hanks took place long before he became a global star, and her years as a single parent in Sacramento shaped the early lives of Colin and Elizabeth Hanks in lasting ways. Today, her story stands as a reminder that behind every well-known public figure lies a fuller, more complicated family history worth understanding on its own terms.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who was Samantha Lewes?
Samantha Lewes was the stage name of Susan Jane Dillingham, an American actress and the first wife of actor Tom Hanks. She was married to Hanks from 1978 to 1987 and was the mother of their two children, Colin and Elizabeth Ann Hanks.
How did Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks meet?
Samantha Lewes met Tom Hanks while both were studying theatre at California State University, Sacramento, in the mid-1970s. They married in January 1978, before Hanks had achieved fame as an actor.
How did Samantha Lewes die?
Samantha Lewes died on 12 March 2002 in Sacramento, California, following a battle with cancer. She was 49 years old at the time of her death.
Did Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks have children together?
Yes. Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks had two children together, Colin Hanks, born in 1977, and Elizabeth Ann Hanks, born in 1982. Both have gone on to have careers in acting and writing respectively.
Why is Samantha Lewes back in the news recently?
Samantha Lewes has received renewed public attention following the 2025 release of her daughter E. A. Hanks’s memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, which explores their family history and Lewes’s role as a mother in detail.
