Colin Hanks looked worlds away from his Roswell days during an appearance at the Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man! premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The 48-year-old kept things casual on the red carpet in dark wash jeans, a gray shirt and a black jacket over the top, and added brown dress shoes and black-rimmed glasses to complete the look.
Colin sported a bushy beard during his appearance at the event, and was virtually unrecognizable from his days as a fresh-faced actor on the '00s TV show Roswell. The series, which was based on novels by Melinda Metz, starred Katherine Heigl and aired between 1999 and 2002.
He portrayed Alex Whitman on the hit show, before leaving to further his acting career. After he was offered the lead in the 2002 film Orange County opposite Jack Black, which became his breakout role, Colin tried to stay on at Roswell, as he told the Herald Standard.
© Getty Images for HBO"I said [to Roswell creator and executive producer Jason Katims], 'Look, man, if this means that I've gotta work seven days a week on both things, so be it. I'll do it,'" he told the publication.
"[I] never said, 'Can you please write me off the show?' He said, 'Let me think about it. Give me two weeks, and I'll get back to you.'" Colin explained that he then received a call from a producer on the show with the news that his character would be killed off.
"I was shocked…But I got to have a cool sequence there. That was all fun being able to do," he continued. "It was sad because it was like, 'Okay, wow, moving on now.' That was kind of my life for two years."
© Getty Images for HBOColin credited Jason with helping him launch his career, "not only because he gave me the opportunity to be on his show, but he also gave me the opportunity to be in this movie." The Golden Globe-nominated star went on to enjoy years of success in the industry, and starred in projects like The House Bunny, Dexter, Fargo, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Nuremberg.
Colin was practically born into the entertainment industry, thanks to his famous father, Tom Hanks. The veteran actor welcomed Colin in 1977 with his first wife, Samantha Lewes, as well as his daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in 1982.
© Getty ImagesHe also shares sons Chet, 35, and Truman, 30, with his second wife, Rita Wilson. Amid the rising discourse surrounding Hollywood's "nepo babies", which refers to the children of famous people who leverage their family connections to launch their careers, Tom has spoken out against the idea of his family being labeled as such.
© WireImage"This is what we've been doing forever," he told Reuters, as per The Sun. "It's what all of our kids grew up in. We have four kids – they're all very creative, they're all involved in some brand of storytelling."
"Doesn't matter what our last names are," Tom continued. "We have to do the work in order to make that a true and authentic experience for the audience, and that's a much bigger task than worrying about whether anyone's going to try and scathe us or not."
