Samantha Lewes was an American actress and producer, born Susan Jane Dillingham, who became Tom Hanks’s first wife and the mother of actor Colin Hanks and writer E.A. Hanks. She met Hanks as a young theatre student in Sacramento, married him in 1978 before fame arrived, and stood beside him through his lean early years in Cleveland, New York and Los Angeles. The couple divorced in 1987, and she spent her final years quietly in Northern California until cancer took her life in 2002 at just 49. Her story holds ambition, love, hardship and a complicated family legacy that her children still explore today, and this guide walks through every chapter of it using verified records and reputable reporting.
Samantha Lewes Bio Table
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full birth name | Susan Jane Dillingham |
| Professional name | Samantha Lewes |
| Date of birth | 29 November 1952 |
| Place of birth | San Diego, California, USA |
| Date of death | 12 March 2002 |
| Place of death | Her home in Carmichael, Sacramento County, California |
| Age at death | 49 |
| Cause of death | Cancer (widely reported as bone cancer, which later spread) |
| Resting place | East Lawn Memorial Park, Sacramento |
| Father | John Raymond Dillingham Jr. (1922 to 1981), US Marine |
| Mother | Harriet Hall Collins Dillingham (1922 to 2014) |
| Education | Theatre studies at California State University, Sacramento |
| Profession | Actress and producer |
| Notable screen credits | Bosom Buddies (1981), Mr. Success (1984) |
| Spouse | Tom Hanks (married 1978, divorced March 1987) |
| Children | Colin Hanks (born 1977) and Elizabeth Ann “E.A.” Hanks (born 1982) |
| Grandchildren | Olivia and Charlotte, daughters of Colin Hanks |
| Nationality | American |
Who Was Samantha Lewes Before Tom Hanks?
Samantha Lewes began life as Susan Jane Dillingham, born on 29 November 1952 in San Diego, California. Her father, John Raymond Dillingham Jr., served as a career US Marine, and her mother, Harriet, worked as an English teacher. She grew up alongside three siblings in a household shaped by military life and frequent change.
Her parents separated in 1962, when Susan was still a young girl. That early break in the family came at a formative age, and her own household would later face similar strain.
As a teenager, she developed a strong love for the stage. Acting gave her a place to channel her energy and imagination, and she decided to pursue it seriously after school.
That decision led her to California State University, Sacramento, where she enrolled in the theatre programme. The campus would soon change the direction of her life in a way nobody could have predicted.
How Did Samantha Lewes Meet Tom Hanks?
Samantha Lewes met Tom Hanks in the theatre department at Sacramento State in the mid-1970s. Hanks had transferred there from Chabot College in Hayward, and both students spent long hours in rehearsals and campus productions.
She was about four years older than Hanks, who was born in July 1956. The age gap did not slow the romance, and the pair quickly became inseparable within their close circle of drama students.
Their son, Colin Lewes Hanks, arrived on 24 November 1977 in Sacramento. His middle name honoured the stage name his mother had chosen for herself, a touching detail that shows how closely she tied her identity to her acting dreams.
Around the same period, Hanks left university to take an internship with the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. The young family followed the work, living on very little money while he learned his craft on stage.
When Did Samantha Lewes Marry Tom Hanks?
Samantha Lewes married Tom Hanks in January 1978, a couple of months after Colin’s birth. Most records give the wedding date as 24 January 1978, when Hanks was only 21 years old.
The newlyweds soon moved to New York City in search of bigger opportunities. Money stayed tight, and the family lived modestly while Hanks chased auditions and picked up stage roles wherever he could find them.
His first film role arrived in the low-budget slasher movie He Knows You’re Alone (1980). Shortly afterwards, he landed the ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies, which pulled the family across the country to Los Angeles.
On 17 May 1982, the couple welcomed their daughter, Elizabeth Ann Hanks, in Burbank, California. Today the world knows her as E.A. Hanks, a respected journalist and author.
What Was Samantha Lewes’s Acting and Producing Career Like?
Samantha Lewes built a small but real screen career in the early 1980s. She appeared as a waitress in the Bosom Buddies episode “Cahoots” in 1981, sharing the set with her husband during his first big television break.
She also took a role as a customer in the television film Mr. Success in 1984. These credits may look modest, yet they show that she kept working in the industry while raising two young children.
Behind the camera, she worked as a producer, and official records such as her memorial listing describe her as both an actress and a producer. Few details of her producing work survive in public records, which reflects how private she remained after leaving Hollywood.
Her career never reached the heights of her husband’s, and she largely stepped away from Hollywood after the marriage ended. Even so, her theatre training and love of performance lived on in her son Colin, who became a successful actor in his own right.
Why Did Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks Divorce?
Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks separated around 1985 after years of strain, and their divorce became final in March 1987. The marriage lasted roughly nine years on paper, although the couple had lived apart for some time before the legal ending.
Several pressures pulled them apart. They married very young, struggled with money for years and then faced the sudden weight of fame once Splash (1984) turned Hanks into a leading man.
Hanks has spoken over the years about how young and unprepared they both were for marriage and parenthood. Their daughter later described them as “two hurt kids trying to dig out of a well together”, a phrase that captures the sadness of the split without placing all the blame on one side.
Hanks had first met actress Rita Wilson when she guest-starred on Bosom Buddies, and the pair grew close again while filming Volunteers (1985). He married Wilson on 30 April 1988, about a year after his divorce from Lewes was finalised.
What Happened to Samantha Lewes After the Divorce?
After the divorce, Samantha Lewes moved back to Sacramento with Colin and Elizabeth. The children lived mainly with her and spent weekends and holidays with their father in Los Angeles.
Life in those years proved difficult. According to E.A. Hanks, her mother battled substance abuse and mental health struggles that were never properly diagnosed, and the home often fell into disorder.
Money problems and instability shaped much of E.A.’s childhood between the ages of five and fourteen. Tom Hanks remained part of his children’s lives throughout, but day-to-day care rested largely with their mother.
Around the mid-1990s, Elizabeth moved to live with her father and Rita Wilson in Los Angeles. Lewes remained in Northern California and kept a very private life away from the press.
How Did Samantha Lewes Die?
Samantha Lewes died of cancer on 12 March 2002 at her home in Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento. She was 49 years old.
Doctors diagnosed her illness in December 2000. Most reports describe it as bone cancer that later spread to her lungs and brain, while some accounts, including those tied to her daughter’s memoir, describe lung cancer with secondary bone cancer.
Her family laid her to rest at East Lawn Memorial Park in Sacramento. Her father had died in 1981, and her mother, Harriet, outlived her by twelve years before passing away in 2014.
Her death came quietly and drew little media coverage at the time, even though her former husband ranked among the most famous actors on the planet. That silence reflects how far she had moved away from public life in her final years.
What Did E.A. Hanks Reveal About Her Mother?
E.A. Hanks shared a detailed and painful portrait of Samantha Lewes in her 2025 memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road. The book follows a solo road trip along Interstate 10 from Los Angeles to Palatka, Florida, retracing a drive she had taken with her mother in 1996.
In the book, she describes her childhood with her mother as a mix of “confusion, violence, deprivation, and love.” She writes that her mother pushed her, shook her, pulled her hair and once locked her in a closet.
Yet the memoir does not paint Lewes as a simple villain. E.A. writes with compassion about a woman who faced untreated illness, addiction and deep personal pain, and she clearly still loves the mother she lost as a teenager.
Tom Hanks has publicly supported his daughter’s decision to tell her story. The Washington Post praised the book as “vibrantly alive with vulnerability and courageous honesty”, while other critics found its structure uneven.
The memoir brought Samantha Lewes back into public conversation more than two decades after her death. For many readers, it was the first time they learned that Hanks had a first wife at all.
What Is Samantha Lewes’s Legacy Today?
Samantha Lewes’s most lasting legacy lives on through her two children. Colin Hanks has built a strong career in film and television, with roles in Orange County, King Kong, Fargo and Life in Pieces, as well as work as a documentary director.
E.A. Hanks has made her own name as a writer. She graduated from Vassar College in 2005, worked at Vanity Fair and The Huffington Post, and has written for Time, The Guardian and The New York Times.
Colin married Samantha Bryant in 2010, and the couple have two daughters, Olivia and Charlotte. Lewes never met her granddaughters, yet her stage name survives in her son’s middle name and her family story continues through them.
Her life also reminds us of the people who stand beside a star before the spotlight arrives. She shared Tom Hanks’s hardest, poorest years, and she played a real part in the early chapters of one of Hollywood’s greatest careers.
Finally, her story opens an honest conversation about mental health, addiction and family healing. Through her daughter’s writing, Samantha Lewes has become a figure of empathy and reflection rather than just a footnote in a famous man’s biography.
Conclusion
Samantha Lewes lived a short, complicated and deeply human life. She chased her acting dreams, married Tom Hanks before he became a star, raised two talented children and faced serious personal battles until cancer claimed her at 49. Today her memory lives on through Colin and E.A. Hanks, who continue to shape her legacy with honesty and love.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who was Samantha Lewes?
Samantha Lewes was an American actress and producer, born Susan Jane Dillingham in San Diego on 29 November 1952. She was Tom Hanks’s first wife, married to him from 1978 to 1987, and the mother of actor Colin Hanks and author E.A. Hanks. She died in 2002 aged 49.
2. What was Samantha Lewes’s real name?
Her real name was Susan Jane Dillingham. She adopted Samantha Lewes as her stage name while pursuing acting. The name meant so much to her that she gave her son, Colin, the middle name Lewes, and the name still appears on her official memorial records today.
3. How did Tom Hanks meet Samantha Lewes?
Tom Hanks met Samantha Lewes in the theatre department at California State University, Sacramento, in the mid-1970s. Both students loved the stage and worked on campus productions together. Their relationship moved quickly, and their son Colin was born in November 1977, shortly before their wedding.
4. When did Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks get married?
Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks married in January 1978, with most records citing 24 January. Hanks was just 21 at the time. The couple separated around 1985, and their divorce was finalised in March 1987, ending a marriage that lasted roughly nine years.
5. How many children did Samantha Lewes have?
Samantha Lewes had two children with Tom Hanks. Her son, Colin Hanks, was born on 24 November 1977 in Sacramento and works as an actor and director. Her daughter, Elizabeth Ann “E.A.” Hanks, was born on 17 May 1982 in Burbank and works as a journalist and author.
6. What movies and TV shows was Samantha Lewes in?
Samantha Lewes appeared in the sitcom Bosom Buddies in 1981, playing a waitress in the episode “Cahoots” alongside Tom Hanks. She also played a customer in the 1984 television film Mr. Success. She additionally worked as a producer, though her screen career stayed small.
7. How did Samantha Lewes die?
Samantha Lewes died of cancer on 12 March 2002 at her home in Carmichael, California. Doctors diagnosed her illness in December 2000. Most reports describe bone cancer that spread to other organs, while some accounts describe lung cancer with secondary bone cancer. She was 49.
8. Where is Samantha Lewes buried?
Samantha Lewes is buried at East Lawn Memorial Park in Sacramento, California. The city held deep meaning for her, as she studied theatre there, met Tom Hanks there and raised her two children there after the divorce. Her memorial lists her under her birth name, Susan Jane Dillingham.
9. Why did Tom Hanks and Samantha Lewes divorce?
Tom Hanks and Samantha Lewes divorced after years of pressure from marrying young, financial struggle and the sudden arrival of fame. Their daughter later described them as “two hurt kids” trying to cope together. They separated around 1985, and the divorce became final in March 1987.
10. What did E.A. Hanks write about her mother, Samantha Lewes?
In her 2025 memoir The 10, E.A. Hanks described a childhood with her mother marked by “confusion, violence, deprivation, and love.” She wrote about abuse, instability and untreated mental illness, yet she portrayed Samantha Lewes with compassion as a woman struggling with deep personal pain.
