‘Chet has joined your meeting,’ reads an e-mail that hits my inbox. It’s several minutes before I’m set to interview Chet Hanks, son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, half-brother of Colin Hanks, and a mythologised internet presence all his own.
He’s calling in from Nashville, where he’s been working on music as part of a new country duo called Something Out West, to talk about the new Netflix series Running Point. The latest comedy from co-creator Mindy Kaling stars Kate Hudson as the daughter of a family sports dynasty who suddenly inherits leadership of their basketball franchise, the Los Angeles Waves. (While the team is fictional, the story borrows from the real life of Lakers president Jeanie Buss, who also serves as one of the show’s executive producers.) Hanks plays Travis Bugg, the team’s point guard and resident problem child.
On the surface, Travis’s character seems to be ripped directly from Hanks’s own public persona. As the team’s black sheep, Travis regularly makes headlines (not nearly all good) for his unfiltered social media presence. He struggles to launch a rap career that people will take seriously. By season’s end, he begins to grapple with addiction. Hanks himself has long been perceived as the black sheep of the Hanks family – a label partly hoisted upon him because he doesn’t fit the expectation of what a son of America’s dad Tom Hanks looks and acts like. He would first come to the internet’s attention for his remix of Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Black and Yellow’ entitled ‘White and Purple’, back when he was attending Northwestern University and going by the rap moniker Chet Haze. Hanks’s Instagram became a place to hear his Patois-laden stream of consciousness about the world. He had some legal troubles, but by the summer of 2021, he’d declared it ‘White Boy Summer’. Throughout this, Hanks was struggling with addiction issues. He’s now over three years sober.
As he became a fascination amongst the very online, many wondered whether or not Hanks himself was in on the joke of the persona he had created. Running Point seems to prove he was. (He ad-libbed many of Travis’s lines on set.) And when he appears on my computer screen, not only punctual but early, he’s more serious than I expected. He talks about this new chapter of his life thoughtfully; he’s measured and declarative, defying my own expectations of him.
Hanks has long dabbled in Hollywood with small roles in films while he was growing up, and on shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm after college. He’s now diving into bigger roles in earnest, while also decamping his hometown of LA for Nashville to reboot his music career in the mold of artists like Jelly Roll and Post Malone. His duo just released their first single, aptly titled ‘Leaving Hollywood‘.
Hanks spoke with Men’s Health about how his sobriety affected his career, how he related to his Running Point character, and what the Hanks family imparted on him ahead of the next phase of his career.
MEN’S HEALTH: You play a professional basketball player on Running Point, but you’ve said that you’re bad at basketball. Are you any better at it after a season of playing a point guard?
CHET HANKS: Better than before, but I’m still very bad. [Laughs]
MH: How did you prepare for the part?
CH: I hired a private basketball coach and added that on top of my training regimen. He just ran me through all the basic stuff, like drills that any athlete who plays basketball would be familiar with.
MH: What’s your regular workout routine?
CH: Just lifting weights. I’m a gym freak – I usually go five days a week. It’s a big part of my lifestyle.
MH: There are a lot of similarities between you and your character, Travis – from the social media hijinks to more serious issues like sobriety. How did it feel to mine some of your own experience for the role?
CH: The role was freakishly similar to me. That always helps [with a performance], but this one was so spot on that I just had to be myself.
MH: The role definitely seems to poke fun at your own public persona. But how do you think your public persona differs from who you actually are?
CH: Everything is just a little bit more exaggerated. At the end of the day, we’re all human beings; we’re not caricatures. The following I grew online understands that there’s a wink and a nod. It’s like an inside joke, and then they’re in on it.
MH: What’s your relationship with social media like?
CH: I don’t have any expectations with social media. I built my following by just being myself and entertaining people by being myself. I don’t look at social media as my reality, you know? Real life is my reality.
MH: You’ve been open about your sobriety journey. Was it a difficult choice to start talking about it publicly?
CH: It’s not hard to talk about, because a lot of people struggle with addiction. They might not want to admit that to themselves. Maybe they’re just kind of stuck. If telling my story can encourage them to get out of their own way, that’s important to me.
MH: How do you manage you mental health and your sobriety?
CH: I mean, being sober is the ultimate thing you can do to better your mental health. If you’re prone to addiction, I feel like it’s the only way you can start to manage your mental health. It’s when you’re not sober that the problems with your mental health get worse.
MH: You’re also working on new music, and just had the single ‘Leaving Hollywood’ come out. This feels like a new chapter for your career.
CH: I’ve always been passionate about music, and it’s always been something I’ve pursued. I’ve gone in a different direction with country music – we’re dropping another single and another video next month, along with an EP. So I’m splitting my time between LA and Nashville and pursuing both acting and music simultaneously. I just filmed a movie in New Mexico with Lily Gladstone and Brian Cranston. It’s a drama, and it’s a pretty heavy movie. So, I’ve got that on the horizon as well.
MH: What was behind the thought process of going to rap to country?
CH: I found it when I got sober. I just opened up my vision, and decided I didn’t need to be confined to only rap. I’ve always listened to a wide variety of music, and it just so happened that, creatively, the stuff I was working on with the other dude [Drew Arthur] in my group, Something Out West, developed into a country style. Country is a medium that allows for really rich storytelling. So, I’m able to tell more aspects of my story and able to go a little deeper.
MH: Your mom, Rita Wilson, is also a musician. Would you ever release something together?
CH: Yeah, we really should. [Laughs]
MH: What have you learned from your family along the way in your career?
CH: I’ve learned to really focus on the work and to trust your ability. They’ve also taught stuff about the actual craft of acting itself, you know, little tips and creative notes here and there. But, you know, it’s been a lifetime of that!
MH: Not only do you come from a family of actors, but your dad is particularly beloved in the industry. Is it intimating to go down the same career path?
CH: It used to be intimidating when I didn’t have that much experience, but I’ve had many years of this now. Every role has its own challenges, but, ultimately, the work itself is what prepares you for more work.
This interview has been edited for content and clarity.
Kerensa Cadenas is a freelance writer and editor based in New York. She covers culture, entertainment, travel, beauty, and fashion. You can find her work at publications like GQ, Elle, Bazaar, The Cut, Rolling Stone, Daily Beast, Vogue and others. She’s hero positions at Thrillist, The Cut, Entertainment Weekly, and Complex. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram. And you can find samples of her work at her website or subscribe to her Substack.
