The “Running Point” actor “discovered” that he was a pirate after he recently climbed aboard a megayacht in Puerto Rico.

Chet Hanks is a pirate now: ‘Nobody can take that from me’

The "Running Point" actor "discovered" that he was a pirate after he recently climbed aboard a megayacht in Puerto Rico.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

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April 29, 2026 3:50 p.m. ET

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Chet Hanks. Credit:

TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle/YouTube

- Hey, so... Chet Hanks is a pirate now.

- The *Running Point *actor revealed that he recently "discovered" that he was a pirate after he swam 200 feet and climbed aboard a megayacht to party with its occupants in Puerto Rico.

- "These are the facts: I commandeered a vessel, so, technically, I am a pirate and nobody can take that from me," he said.

Avast, ye scallywags! Chet Hanks has declared himself a proper pirate.

The 35-year-old *Running Point *actor revealed that he recently discovered that he is no ordinary landlubber after climbing aboard a megayacht and partying it up with its patrons.

“I was on vacation in Puerto Rico, like, about a month ago, and me and my friends went out on a boat, but it was a very small boat,” Hanks explained on Tuesday’s episode of *Today With Jenna & Sheinelle*. “And when we parked the boat, there was this huge party going on a megayacht.”

Chet Hanks; the pirate Jack Sparrow from 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; Disney

He continued, “There was probably like four dudes on the boat and like probably like 200 women. And we were like, ‘We have to get on that boat.’”

This was, naturally, when Hanks’ innate pirate prowess was activated. “I disembarked our small boat and I swam probably about 200 yards to the big boat and I boarded it,” he explained to the laughing hosts. “I said, ‘Can I come have fun with you guys?'”

“I have a feeling they said yes,” Sheinelle Jones commented. To which Hanks simply replied, “Yeah, they did.”

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When Jenna Bush Hager asked the actor if he brought a pirate flag with him to conquer the megayacht, Hanks admitted that he “wasn’t that prepared because, keep in mind, this is when I actually first discovered I was a pirate,” adding, “I didn’t even know I was before this.”

He continued, “But these are the facts: I commandeered a vessel. So, technically, I am a pirate and nobody can take that from me.”

And, as it turns out, his penchant for piracy has only grown stronger since his megayacht moment. Hanks revealed that he recently purchased a gold coin from an antique dealer that he plans to turn into a really cool necklace.

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“No, because after I commandeered that vessel and I realized that I truly am a pirate, the logical next thing was I need some pirate gold,” he said. “So I started researching it and I came across my boy JR Bissell. He’s an antiquities dealer.”

A laughing Jones exclaimed, “Oh my — you're not kidding!”

It's a pirate life for Hanks. “I bought a gold coin from 1703 under the reign of King Philip the Fifth of Spain that was actually minted during the golden age of piracy,” he said. “It could have very well, very likely could have exchanged hands and been taken as plunder.”

And he has some ideas of how he'll use the doubloon. “I’m turning it into a chain,” Hanks said. “Next time I'm here, I'll have it around my neck. I’ll show you.”

Hanks also revealed that he’s been “thinking about” getting a pirate tattoo on the back of his head before admitting, “I’m just kidding.”

It might not be his skull, but Hanks revealed in an Instagram video earlier this month that he was interested in getting a large pirate flag tattooed across his stomach. “That is what I’m all about, being a pirate,” he said, before quoting a line from his dad Tom Hanks’ 2013 film *Captain Phillips*. “‘I’m the captain now.’ You know what I’m saying?”

Learn more about Captain Hanks, mateys, in the clip above.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Talk”