People are only just realising that Tom Hanks played 6 roles in The Polar Express

It's no secret that Tom Hanks is a talented actor, but he's apparently so talented that he successfully fooled people into thinking his numerous Polar Express characters were all played by different people.

A few years after being introduced to Hanks through his role as Woody in Toy Story, kids came across the actor's voice once again with the 2004 Christmas film all about the train to the North Pole.

Whether you fell into the 'I love this film!' party or were more of a 'what is this terrifying story?' viewer, chances are you recognised Hanks to be the voice of the train conductor.

It's quite a hard one to miss, given that the animated character also physically resembles Hanks, so there's one we can tick off the list. But did you catch the other characters he brought to life?

Throughout the course of the movie, the Forrest Gump actor took on the roles of not just one, but five more characters. If you want to take a quick one hour, 40 minute break to give it a watch and try to spot them all, then I'll catch you back here shortly.

If you just want me to tell you the characters, then stay with me.

Warner Bros.

As well as the conductor, we also hear Hanks speaking as the homeless man who ventures about on the top of the carriages, and bringing to life a role vital for a Christmas film: Santa Claus himself.

His work didn't stop there, as he also voiced the older version of the main character, dubbed 'Hero Boy', as well as Hero Boy’s father, and the Scrooge puppet.

After making this realisation this month, 18 years after the film was released, one fan wrote: "Also discovering Tom Hanks wasn’t just the conductor but hearing his voice in several different parts of this movie and googling it to find he did SIX CHARACTERS IN THIS MOVIE??? This is and has always been a Tom Hanks stan account. Polar express slander will not be tolerated."

@lynn_nnatty/Twitter

Another surprised viewer wrote: "The Polar Express? Oh, you mean “it took me 21 years to realize Tom Hanks voices almost all of the male characters in this movie”?"

Hanks has previously opened up about director Robert Zemeckis' decision to have him play numerous roles, telling IGN that there was a moment in time where Zemeckis suggested he take on every single character in the film.

He explained: "Bob at one point said 'I think you should play every role in this movie because then we could do it. You could play every role!' Forgive me, Bob. But I said, 'Well, wait a minute. There's girls in this movie. I'm going to play every elf?' He said, 'Yeah, it'll be great.'"

Cheese Scientist / Alamy Stock Photo

Though I'm sure Hanks would have done a great job at voicing each and every character, he admitted there was 'only so much that [he] can internally grasp as an actor'.

He continued: "On the day of tests that we did I played five or six or seven roles in the course of that day, and I said, 'Bob, I'm exhausted here.'"

Though the film is wild enough as it is, I have to admit it would have been interesting to hear Hanks take on the dozens of characters involved.