LOS ANGELES – Greece’s new honorary citizen, the acclaimed Hollywood actor Tom Hanks – who, with his wife of Greek heritage Rita Wilson spends much of their summers on the the island of Antiparos – has traveled the globe but said no place beats Greece.

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“I’ve been around the world, to beautiful places … none of them tops Greece. The land, the sky, the water, it’s good for the soul; it’s a healing place. Particularly if you get into that fabulous, fabulous Greek schedule of sleeping until noon, staying up until 3 o’clock in the morning, and arguing in a taverna until 3 a.m. It’s just the best life one can have,” Hanks said in comments to the press after being presented the Cecil B. DeMille by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”

Greece is a “haven” and a “healing place,” he said, having converted to Orthodoxy with his marriage to Wilson, whose mother Dorothea was Greek. Proud to be a Greek citizen, he said he had long felt that way anyway. “I’ve been Hellenic for the better part of 32 years,” he said, noting his marriage.

Hanks, 63, and his wife have a home on Antiparos and has been seen around the country at other sites as well, including the ancient Epidaurus theater and a number of interviews have been punctuated with his love for the country.

Hanks was made an honorary citizen by Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Dec. 27, 2019 and immediately tweeted how proud he was of that.