Tom Hanks Creates 'Toy Story' Video For Conjoined Twins

Actor Tom Hanks, who lent his voice to Woody in the Toy Story film franchise, has created a heartfelt video for twins who were born conjoined.

After hearing that the twin brothers touchingly kept their Woody and Buzz Lightyear toys with them throughout all 52 of their operations, Tom decided to create an adorable video for Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf.

The twins, now nine-years-old and from Cork, Ireland, were born conjoined in December 2009, and were successfully separated by surgeons in April 2010 in a 14 hour operation at Great Ormond Street hospital.

In the two minute, 30 second-long video posted to Youtube on 19th April, Tom picks up a Woody toy, which has Andy's name written on the bottom.

He then takes a black marker pen, and writes Hassan on the sole of one of Woody's boots.

Youtube/Miceal O'Hurley

Hanks then does the same for Hussein, signing the boy's name on the underside of the toy cowboy's shoe.

For each boys, he pulls the string on the back of Woody to make him utter famous phrases from the Disney Pixar films.

The actor then picks up both of the Woody toys, and dances them in front of the camera to 'You've Got A Friend In Me', which soundtracks the entire video.

Ice cream parlour owner Miceal O'Hurley, who knows the boys and their parents Angie and Azzedine, got in touch with Hanks through contacts he made while working in Hollywood himself.

PA Images

He told the actor about the twins and their incredible story, who then created the video for them.

"We got the video at 3am and my wife Oksana and I sat up in bed in tears. The thoughtfulness. The kindness. The generosity of spirit of his act was extraordinary," Miceal told the Irish Times.

"I think what I love about Tom Hanks is that if he wasn't a mega star, and he was the local guy in the hardware store, he would still go out of his way to be a decent person.

PA

"Tom wanted the boys to know that he admires them and wants to be their friend."

Along with the video, Hanks wrote a personal letter for the boys on one of his typewriters, signing it by hand.

Hassan and Hussein were born sharing a number of organs but their hearts were not joined. They each have a prosthetic leg following surgery.

Topics: Celebrity News, Tom Hanks, Toy Story

Rachel Andrews

Rachel Andrews is an NCTJ trained Journalist at PRETTY52. She specialises in Fashion and Beauty Journalism, and has experience at a range of online and print publications and joined the team in 2017. Contact her - [email protected]

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