Michael Conner Humphreys is an American actor best known for playing young Forrest Gump in the 1994 film of the same name, a performance for which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award. Humphreys was born in the small town of Independence, Mississippi. In 1993, when he was eight years old, he attended an open casting call in Memphis, Tennessee for "a young Tom Hanks with light eyes and a quirky disposition." The casting team, particularly taken by his thick Southern accent, selected Humphreys to play the role of young Forrest Gump in the movie adaptation of Winston Groom's 1986 novel. As part of his preparation to play the character as an adult, Tom Hanks worked to emulate Humphreys's speech and mannerisms.