Tom Hanks to get lifetime achievement award at Golden Globes

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Image captionHanks has won four Golden Globes and has been nominated for nine

Tom Hanks is to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at next year's Golden Globe awards.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) said it was "proud" to give the actor the 2020 Cecil B DeMille award at the event on 5 January.

Hanks won back-to-back Oscars, and Golden Globes, for his lead roles in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump in 1994 and 1995 respectively.

The HFPA said they had "grown to love and admire" the 63-year-old.

"For more than three decades, he's captivated audiences with rich and playful characters," said Lorenzo Soria, the organisation's president.

"As compelling as he is on the silver screen, he's equally so behind the camera as a writer, producer and director."

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Image captionTom Hanks playing the title role in Forrest Gump, posing with his best actor Oscar in 1995 and as Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia

The actor made his movie breakthrough playing a teenager trapped in an adult's body in 1988 movie Big.

Other career highlights include Sleepless in Seattle, Saving Private Ryan and voicing cowboy doll Woody in the Toy Story film series.

He will next be seen on the big screen in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood playing US children's television host Fred Rogers.

Political platform

The Cecil B DeMille award is given annually to an actor, director or producer who has made a lasting impact on the film industry.

Recent recipients have included Jeff Bridges, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey. 

In 2017 a rather hoarse Streep used the platform to lambast President Trump's immigration policies,

"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick them all out you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts," she said to rapturous applause.

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Image captionMeryl Streep at the 2017 Golden Globes

Last year Winfrey elected to address race relations and female empowerment as she became the first black woman to receive the award.

She noted how for "too many years" there had existed "a culture broken by brutally powerful men".

"For too long women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men," she continued. "But their time is up."

Hanks has been vocal on Twitter this week, stressing to his followers the importance of registering to vote.

He could potentially take the opportunity to address political issues at the Globes, to be held in Beverly Hills on 5 January.