Tom Hanks: The Voices Behind Six Characters in The Polar Express, including Santa Claus

Tom Hanks (left); Tom Hanks as the conductor in ‘The Polar Express’ (right).
Credit :

Bruce Glikas/WireImage; Castle Rock/Shangri-La/Kobal/Shutterstock

NEED TO KNOW

• In 2004’s The Polar Express, Tom Hanks played a total of six characters.
• Director Robert Zemeckis employed performance capture technology to closely align with Chris Van Allsburg’s original book.
• Van Allsburg remarked to PEOPLE, “The film brought the book to life.”

Since its release in 2004, The Polar Express has entranced audiences every holiday season. The film, adapted from Van Allsburg’s 1985 bestseller, portrays a young boy’s journey to the North Pole, which convinces him of Santa Claus’ existence.

However, Van Allsburg initially doubted the story’s film potential. “It doesn’t have characters who are toys coming to life, and I didn’t think animation was capable of creating believable human characters,” he stated in 2004. He further expressed concern over the prevalence of pop culture references and inappropriate humor in many children’s films.

In 2001, Tom Hanks approached Van Allsburg about acquiring the rights to the book. Van Allsburg noted, “It was clear that he wanted to make a different kind of story.”

Santa Claus and the Hero Boy in ‘The Polar Express’.

Castle Rock/Shangri-La/Kobal/Shutterstock

Van Allsburg appreciated the film’s fidelity to his unique artistic style, commenting, “It’s not simply a film that looks like the book. The film brought the book to life.”

Director Robert Zemeckis and Hanks utilized performance capture technology, which, at that time, was less recognized than traditional motion capture. Hanks wore up to 150 reflectors to capture his movements, including facial expressions, which were then transferred to the film’s characters.

“I didn’t want the movie to look like animated cartoons,” Zemeckis told Wired in 2004. “But live action would look awful, and it would be impossible—it would cost $1 billion instead of $160 million. We never wanted it to be photo-realistic or CG-animated. We wanted it to be somewhere in between.”

Hanks not only used this advanced technology but also portrayed six characters. He voiced the conductor, the “hobo” living atop the train, and Santa Claus. Notably, Hanks also provided the performance capture for the film’s main character, credited as the Hero Boy. Although Daryl Sabara voiced the Hero Boy, it was Hanks’ expressions and movements that defined the character.

In addition to the Hero Boy, Hanks took on the roles of the Hero Boy’s father and the narrator, totaling six characters. “We just played,” Hanks told Wired, recalling the fun atmosphere on set. “I passed gas the first day on set and that put everyone in the mood.”

In a 2004 interview with IGN, Hanks mentioned that Zemeckis had initially envisioned him playing every role.

Tom Hanks as the conductor in ‘The Polar Express’.

Castle Rock/Shangri-La/Kobal/Shutterstock

Hanks humorously recalled, “I said, ‘Well, wait a minute. There’s girls in this movie. I’m going to play every elf?’ He said, ‘Yeah, it’ll be great.’” However, due to the demands of the roles, other actors were engaged for additional characters.

For the roles he did perform, Hanks found ways to distinguish between them. He said, “They all were extremely different,” and he adjusted his costume details, even changing shoes to better embody each character.

Hanks expressed excitement about the technology’s potential for the future of acting: “What this can do from an actor’s point of view is, quite frankly, free us up to a huge degree.” However, he acknowledged that the technology was still “pretty prohibitively expensive” at that time.

The Polar Express grossed over $300 million at the box office, and its seasonal viewings have drawn new audiences through cable and streaming platforms over the years.

Zemeckis later applied performance capture technology in his 2007 film Beowulf and his 2009 adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Additionally, James Cameron has prominently utilized this technology throughout his Avatar series. Hanks and Zemeckis, who collaborated on 1994’s Forrest Gump, also employed the technology to de-age Hanks and Robin Wright in the 2024 drama Here.