Tom Hanks overcome with emotion during Golden Globes speech

Tom Hanks was overcome with emotion talking about his family while accepting this year's Cecil B. deMille Award at the Golden Globes.

Hanks was choked up at first as he pointed to his wife, Rita Wilson, who he said "taught me what love is."

Wilson also appeared to tear up.

He then acknowledged his children, who he said are "braver and stronger and wiser than their old man."

"I can't tell you how much your love means to me," he said.

Hanks -- known as the nicest man in Hollywood -- also used his acceptance speech to shine a light on a fellow actor.

When Charlize Theron presented Hanks with the award, she told a story of how kind he was to her when she auditioned for a part as a young actress.

Theron said she was on the verge of a panic attack and Hanks apologized and said he had to leave the room for a few minutes. She told the crowd he acted like he needed the time, but she knew it was to give her the chance to collect herself.

When Hanks took the stage, he said that back during that audition with a young Theron, "the reason I had to leave the room for five minutes was to go and tell the other producers that 'this woman that I'm auditioning right now is gonna be in this movie somehow, so we gotta figure out how its gonna work' -- and she was."

Hanks also told a story of "the greatest lesson" he said he received as a young actor in 1977 -- at his first professional job with the Great Lake Shakespeare Festival.

"We all got yelled at by Dan Sullivan, the director. We had partied a little bit too much the night before, we were showing up for rehearsals, and he screamed at us," Hanks said. "He said, 'Hey look, you guys, you guys, you actors, you know what your job is? You know what your job is? You have got to show up on time and you have to know the text and you have to have a head full of ideas.'"

"That was the greatest lesson a young actor could possibly ever get," Hanks said. "The head full of ideas -- bring anything. Try anything. They might not use it."

"Knowing the text -- and it's not just your lines, it's the whole thing," Hanks said. "It's the theme of the movie. You've got to know it. It might not be right, the opinion you bring to it, but you've gotta come at it with some direction."