Tom Hanks says we’ve been dealt a ‘great reboot’ because of coronavirus in moving graduation message

‘The word ‘before’ is going to carry great weight with you,' actor told graduates

Tom Hanks delivered a moving graduation speech to US students in which he described post-coronavirus life as “the great reboot”.

The actor, who was one of the first celebrities to test positive for the illness, sent the video message to those who were graduating from Wright State University in Ohio, whom he called "the chosen ones".

“You are the chosen ones because of a fate unimagined when you began your Wright State adventures,” he said.

“You started in the olden times, in a world back before the Great Pandemic of 2020. You will talk of those earlier years in your lives in just that way.”

He continued: “Part of your lives will forever be identified as ‘before'. In the same way other generations tell time like ‘that was before the war,’ or ‘that was before the internet,’ or ‘that was before Beyoncé.’ The word ‘before’ is going to carry great weight with you.”

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Hanks said that the pandemic has made young people become “good Americans” who have made “sacrifices that saved lives”.

The actor tested positive for coronavirus alongside his wife Rita Wilson in March.

Hanks was in Australia to film Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis Presley biopic, in which he will star opposite Austin Butler as the singer’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker.