Tom Hanks comes through for Toronto woman seeking selfie
Renowned actor cites Toronto's condo boom in letter: 'Toronto, huh? Damn fine town'
A Toronto woman received some unexpected mail from world-famous actor Tom Hanks after sending him a letter asking for a selfie with him.
It all started with a wager.
"I just made a really dumb bet with some friends over some drinks," to see who could get a headshot from a celebrity the fastest, Zena Gopal said in an interview Tuesday.
Gopal and her friends agreed that Tom Hanks would be the right star for their competition, as her roommate — an avid Hanks fan — knew of his reputation for being responsive to fan mail.
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About three weeks after sending Hanks a photo of herself, along with a letter asking him to "take a selfie" with the snapshot, Gopal got her response.
"Sorry for the beard, but I have some shooting coming up and I must have whiskers," wrote Hanks in the letter that accompanied a Polaroid photo of himself posing with Gopal's picture.
Hanks on Hogtown
Then Hanks went on to share his opinion of T.O.
"Toronto, huh? Damn fine town," he wrote.
"Growing fast, all those condo towers down on the lake. Nice views, I guess. I have not been there since one of the Film Festival dates sometime back."
Gopal, who won the bet with her friends, said she was "totally floored" by the movie star's response.
"It made me laugh, it really made my day," she said. "It was just really cool to see that he reads his fan mail. And I've got to agree with him about the condos."
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