It’s one of the most iconic movies of all time. It kind of has everything really – a hero that overcomes their own battles to find a happy ending, a complicated love story, friendship, loss and a box of chocolates. Now our brothers over at JOE.ie have tracked down the child star who played a young Forrest… and we had to take a look. Michael Humphreys stole the hearts as the innocent boy with the steel braces in Robert Zemeckis' Oscar winning film, and it’s a case of life imitating art with the now adult actor having joined the army.

Michael Conner Humphreys, AKA young #ForestGump @kencen Thurs in "If all the sky were paper" @LetsTalkLiveDC 11am pic.twitter.com/IjuwHwC09r

— Melanie Hastings (@MelanieNews8) May 19, 2015

Speaking about the iconic role, Michael told AL.com: "In a way, ever since then, I've been motivated to do something that matters." The now 29 year old served four years in the U.S. Army infantry, which included an 18 month tour of duty in Iraq. He said it wasn't surprising that his nickname in the military was "Gump." Although he said he doesn’t speak with Tom Hanks or Robert Zemeckis on a regular basis, he did add that they met up when Hanks and Zemeckis were filming portions of "Castaway" in Memphis.