American actor Tom Hanks has revealed that his love for Aston Villa began in 1985, and he admitted he was "thrilled" to see the club lift European silverware last month.
Hanks, famed for his roles in Bridge of Spies and Cast Away, first spoke publicly about his support for Villa in 2008 during an interview with James Corden. He later attended Villa’s pre-season friendly against the Portland Timbers in the summer of 2012, flying in from Los Angeles to watch the match.
He has visited Villa Park several times since then, including in February 2023 for the club’s match against Arsenal, and again in May 2024 when Villa all but sealed a fourth-place finish with a draw against Liverpool.
"It's a very odd route that brought me to Villa Park... there is nothing greater for an American than having an English Premiership team locked into their soul," he said on The Rest Is Entertainment.
"I've had discussions with Leeds fans and I just feel sorry for them because they are not Aston Villa!"
"I will also say this - you become a fan of a team for the rest of your life, thinking that once I die, they will finally win! I will carry claret and blue for as long as I can. I will pass it on when the time comes."
"I feel bad that someone who has just adopted Aston Villa as their team might think ‘where do you go now’ and could be disappointed."
"I have been living with this hope since I did my first press junket in 1985, when I fell in love with this team that I saw on the BBC football scoreboard. They would say ‘Crystal Palace took on Queens Park Rangers’ and you think ‘where are these teams’.
"And then one came up and it was called Aston Villa. I said, that sounds like an island off of the Cote d'Azur. It's like, is that near Portofino, Aston Villa?"
"So I said, my favourite team is Aston Villa, because I know it's in Birmingham, but it sounds like it's in the middle of the Mediterranean. So, that's how long I've been rooting for something."
"And all those years of just saying, I'm just hoping we're going to avoid relegation. We won Europe in ‘82. So, here we are again. And here's the great thing, it happened in my lifetime. I'm so thrilled!"
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