Tom Hanks swears on live TV

Tom Hanks turned the airwaves blue on American breakfast TV on Friday by accidentally cursing during an interview.

The Hollywood actor was being interviewed by Elizabeth Vargas on Good Morning America to promote his latest movie Cloud Atlas, in which he plays multiple characters.

Vargas encouraged Hanks to show off the British accent he adopted for one of the roles, and Hanks admitted the character's lines are "mostly swear words".

He gave it a go anyway and got carried away, accidentally blurting out the word "f**king" as he mumbled into his hand-held microphone.

Hanks immediately realised his mistake and clasped his hand over his mouth in shock, before launching into an apology, saying, "Man oh man! I'm sorry! I slipped into a brand of (method) acting, I have never done that before. I want to apologise to the kids in America that are watching this right now... and let me say that next time I'm on the show there will be a seven-second delay... never give me a hand-held mic... Man oh man."