--- title: Tom Hanks, Bill Murray Photo From Reasons My Son Is Crying description: This photo has officially started an internet bate about whether this guy is Bill Murray or Tom Hanks. canonical: https://time.com/4542434/bill-murray-or-tom-hanks-photo/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-24T15:01:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:54.965Z og:title: The Internet Can't Tell if This Is Tom Hanks or Bill Murray og:description: People have strong views on whether this is Hanks or Murray og:url: https://time.com/4542434/bill-murray-or-tom-hanks-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36e7dbadc64500ee/6988ab3d656a3f0b0abcd91c/diptych.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: diptych og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Can't Tell if This Is Tom Hanks or Bill Murray twitter:description: People have strong views on whether this is Hanks or Murray twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36e7dbadc64500ee/6988ab3d656a3f0b0abcd91c/diptych.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Can’t Decide If This Photo Is of Tom Hanks or Bill Murray by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 24, 2016 3:01 PM UTC  Paul Morigi and Venturelli—Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 24, 2016 3:01 PM UTC The internet is officially divided, thanks to the question of whether the man in this picture is [Tom Hanks](http://time.com/4528931/tom-hanks-on-donald-trump-women-comments/) or [Bill Murray](http://time.com/4541417/bill-murray-crashes-white-house/). It all began when this photo, which was submitted to the parenting blog [“Reasons My Son Is Crying”](http://www.reasonsmysoniscrying.com/) in May 2013, recently popped up again and got people debating a seemingly easy question, according to the [_Longview News-Journal_](http://longview news journal kkk). Is the person featured in this picture America’s dad, Tom Hanks, who often portrays heroes and is an [ordinary hero in real life](http://time.com/4530835/tom-hanks-meeting-fans/)? Or is it the legendary indie comedian and alleged [french fry thief, Bill Murray](http://time.com/4461233/bill-murray-french-fries-photo/)? The original photo caption suggests it was submitted by Laura R. of Scotland and that it’s officially Bill Murray, but evidently, it could go either way. Some guess that Hanks is the man straining his face in the picture, others are certain they see Murray, and the internet has promptly lit up with different takes. What do you think? \[[News-Journal](https://www.news-journal.com/blogs/staff/entries/2016/oct/20/tom-hanks-or-bill-murray-new-dress-debate-has-hit-interwebs/)\] Tom Hanks, Bill Murray Photo From Reasons My Son Is Crying ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4542434/bill-murray-or-tom-hanks-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4542434/bill-murray-or-tom-hanks-photo/"},"headline":"The Internet Can’t Decide If This Photo Is of Tom Hanks or Bill Murray","datePublished":"2016-10-24T15:01:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:54.965Z","description":"No one seems to know the truth","url":"https://time.com/4542434/bill-murray-or-tom-hanks-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Bill Murray","Tom Hanks"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36e7dbadc64500ee/6988ab3d656a3f0b0abcd91c/diptych.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36e7dbadc64500ee/6988ab3d656a3f0b0abcd91c/diptych.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"diptych","caption":"","creditText":"Paul Morigi and Venturelli—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4542434/bill-murray-or-tom-hanks-photo/","name":"The Internet Can’t Decide If This Photo Is of Tom Hanks or Bill Murray"}}]}] ```