Tom Hanks has been nominated for a Tony Award for his role as late tabloid reporter Mike McAlary in Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy. The play, written by Ephron before she died last June, follows McAlary's life and career as he goes from ambitious reporter to Pulitzer Prize winning columnist. The play took six nominations in the announcement this week, including the big one - Best Play.

"She [Ephron] was nominated for a few other things throughout her career, but I think that because she was at heart perhaps the most quintessential of all New Yorkers," Hanks told the Wall Street Journal after the announcement "...to have this happen in the town that she viewed as her celestial home, that she would have probably been cowed into silence. Which would have been rare for Nora."

Hanks is one of the most decorated actors in the world, having won two Oscars for Best Actor for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump and Emmy Awards for his television series' Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Though the latter awards were for producing credits, Hanks still holds the statuettes and a Tony Award win would see him complete the 'grand slam' of awards. One man to have already achieved the same feat is Al Pacino, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1992 for Scent of a Woman. He went on to win Tonys for Does A Tiger Wear A Necklace? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, later winning an Emmy for his role in the HBO movie You Don't Know Jack. Jeremy Irons, Liza Minnelli, Christopher Plummer, Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith and Geoffrey Rush are others to have won an Oscar, Emmy and Tony award. Whoopi Goldberg has all three awards, PLUS a Grammy award.

Hanks says he still "can't believe" his nomination, saying, "There is some combination of multiple physical and mental states that have landed. Here's the first thought I had: Hey, I have a show to do tonight! [laughs] Wait a minute, I've got to make sure that I'm relaxed enough and ready to go tonight."

The actor certainly has tough competition in the category of Best Actor in a Leading Role, with Nathan Lane nominated for The Nance. Tracy Letts gets the nod for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and David Hyde Pierce is recognized for his stunning work in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. However, it is the young British actor Tom Sturridge who could upset the odds come Tony Awards night. Sturridge steals the show in Oprhans, despite acting opposite theatre heavyweight Alec Baldwin.

Tom Hanks Lucky GuyTom Hanks Performing In Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy At The Brosdhurst Theatre