Forrest Gump (character) childhood friend Jennifer Curran, who eventually becomes his wife. Tom Hanks portrayed the character in the film and earned an Academy Award for his performance, while Michael Conner Humphreys portrayed Forrest as a child. In 2008, Forrest Gump was named the 20th greatest movie character of all time by "Empire" magazine. Forrest was born near the small town of Greenbow, Alabama, on June 6, 1944. His father was absent during his life, and his mother said he was "on vacation". His mother named Forrest after their ancestor Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Scotch-Irish American and a noted Confederate general in the
Forrest Gump Forrest in 1974, they initially have little success. After their boat becomes the only one to survive Hurricane Carmen they pull in huge amounts of shrimp. They use their income to purchase a fleet of shrimp boats. Dan invests the money in Apple Computer (which Forrest naïvely thinks is "some kind of fruit company") and Forrest is financially secure for the rest of his life but gives half of his earnings to Bubba's family. He then returns home to see his mother's last days. In late 1978, Jenny returns to visit Forrest, and he soon proposes to her. She declines