Tom Hanks recently told Gold Derby while promoting “Toy Story 5” that he is not interested in seeing a new Oscar category created for voice actors. Instead, voice actors should be strongly considered for the main acting categories.

“I think they have enough categories,” Hanks said about the Oscars. “The truth is, truly, a voice actor can win Best Actor. The judgment is ‘any performance that moved you.’ We’ve talked about, for example, Andy Serkis. Even though he does not appear as Andy Serkis, he gives all the raw material to it. There’s been people who have been close to being nominated that do not appear on camera. That could happen to a pure-vocal actor.”

“If they are moved, that means they are moved by a human being’s performance. That’s all the requirement,” Hanks added.

Hanks has won the Oscar for best actor twice: 1993’s “Philadelphia” and 1994’s “Forrest Gump.” He was nominated for an Annie Award in 1995 for voicing Woody in “Toy Story.” So far, the Oscars have never nominated a voice-only performance in one of the four acting categories. The biggest contender in recent years was probably Scarlett Johansson, who earned Oscar buzz for her voice role in Spike Jonze’s “Her.” The movie won the Oscar for best original screenplay.

The Oscars have also not yet recognized a motion capture performance in the acting categories, much to the frustration of top talents such as James Cameron and Andy Serkis. Zoe Saldaña, who uses motion capture to star in the “Avatar” movies, spoke to The Independent in 2024 and called out the Oscars for continuing to snub these performances.

“Old habits die hard, and when you have old establishments, it’s really hard to bring forward change,” Saldaña said on the topic. “And I understand that, so I’m not bitter about it, but it is quite deflating when you give 120% of yourself into something. I mean, not winning is ok, not being nominated is ok, but when you’re overlooked and then minimized and completely disregarded…”

Cameron told Variety the same year that the Oscars are overdue to recognize her work as Neytiri in the “Avatar” franchise, explaining: “I’ve worked with Academy Award-winning actors, and there’s nothing that Zoe’s doing that’s of a caliber less than that. But because in my film she’s playing a ‘CG character,’ it kind of doesn’t count in some way, which makes no sense to me whatsoever.”

Watch Hanks’ full interview with Gold Derby in the post below. “Toy Story 5” opens in theaters June 19.