Birth Name: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
Nickname/Stage Name: Tom Cruise
Birth Date: July 3, 1962
Genres: Action, Drama
Occupation(s): Actor, Producer
Years Active: 1981 till Present
Net Worth: $600 million
Latest Film: Mission Impossible — Fallout
Personal life
Tom Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York, to Thomas Cruise Mapother III (1934–1984) and Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer; 1936–2017), a special education teacher.
Cruise had a Catholic upbringing and grew up in a near-poverty setting. His father was later described as a “merchant of chaos,” a “bully,” and a “coward” who abused his children.
Born in Canada, he spent most of his childhood there. His family moved to Beacon Hill, Ottawa, in late 1971 when his father took a position as a security contractor with the Canadian Armed Forces.
In the early to mid-1980s, he had many relationships with women, including Rebecca De Mornay, Patti Scialfa, and Cher.
On May 9, 1987, Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers. On February 4, 1990, they divorced. The actor was introduced to Scientology by Rogers.
Cruise met his second wife, actress Nicole Kidman in 1990, and on December 24, 1990, the pair tied the knot. Isabella Jane (born 1992) and Connor Antony (born 1995) are their adopted children (born 1995).
He filed for divorce from Kidman in February 2001, when she was unknowingly pregnant. She had a miscarriage. Cruise started dating actress Katie Holmes in April 2005.
Cruise and Holmes (nicknamed TomKat by the press) made their first public appearance together in Rome on April 27 of that year. A month later, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Cruise openly proclaimed his love for Holmes, famously jumping up and down on Winfrey’s sofa.
The couple revealed they were expecting a boy on October 6, 2005. Holmes filed for divorce from Cruise on June 29, 2012. and they signed a divorce settlement negotiated by their attorneys on July 9.
Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell are said to have found love during the pandemic. Cruise, 58, and Atwell, 38, met on the set of Mission: Impossible 7, and “hit it off from day one,”.
Education
Cruise briefly went to a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, on a church scholarship. He attended 15 schools in 14 years. For his fourth and fifth grades, he went to the new Robert Hopkins Public School.
He also attended Glen Ridge High School in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and graduated in 1980.
Career
The actor moved to New York City when he was 18 to pursue an acting career with the blessing of his mother and stepfather. He made the trip to Los Angeles to audition for TV roles after working as a busboy in New York.
He made his Hollywood debut in a small role in Endless Love in 1981, followed by a big supporting role in Taps later that year as a crazed military academy grad.
Cruise starred in The Outsiders (1983) as part of the ensemble cast. In the same year, he was seen in All the Right Moves and Risky Business, which has been dubbed a “Generation X classic” and a career-making film for him.
He also played the male lead in Ridley Scott’s 1985 film Legend. His reputation as a celebrity had been cemented by the release of Top Gun in 1986.
After Top Gun, Cruise starred alongside Paul Newman in The Color of Money, which was released the same year. Cocktail, which he starred in in 1988, won him a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actor.
Days of Thunder (1990) and Far and Away (1992), both starring then-wife Nicole Kidman as his love interest, were Cruise’s next two films, followed by the legal thriller The Firm, which was a critical and commercial success.
He starred as superspy Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible remake, which he also made, in 1996. It was a box office success. He reprised the role in the subsequent sequels.
He earned a Golden Globe nomination for best actor for his role in Edward Zwick’s period action drama The Last Samurai in 2003.
In 2004, the movie star received critical acclaim for his role as Vincent in Michael Mann’s film Collateral. He finished filming the action-comedy Knight and Day in March 2010, alongside Cameron Diaz.
Cruise is set to star in and produce the first-ever film shot in space, according to reports in May 2020. Doug Liman will direct, write, and co-produce the film.
The actor and the director will travel to the International Space Station in a SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft as part of a potential Axiom Space flight.
Awards
ShoWest Convention Award (1987)
Golden Globe Award (1990, 1997, 2000)
People’s Choice Award (1990, 1994)
American Cinema Award (1991)
Hasty Pudding Theatrical Award (1994)
Yoga Award (1994)
Golden Raspberry Award (1995, 2006, 2018)
MTV Movie Award (1997, 2001, 2004, 2005)
Producers Guild of America Award (1997)
Satellite Award (1997)
Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award (2001)
Saturn Award (2002)
Empire Award (2003, 2014)
MTV TRL Award (2003)
Britannia Award (2005)
Critics’ Choice Movie Award (2005)
David di Donatello Award (2005)
National Movie Award (2010)
Quotes
“The thing about filmmaking is I give it everything, that’s why I work so hard. I always tell young actors to take charge. It’s not that hard. Sign your own checks, be responsible.”
“I don’t drink but I had a beer that night and they only did one setup like that. I’m a cheap date. What can I say?”
“I have cooked turkeys in my day but when Mom’s around I let her do it”
“Awards are wonderful. I’ve been nominated many times and I’ve won many awards. But my journey is not towards that. If it happens it will be a blast. If it doesn’t, it’s still been a blast.”
Trivia
Older cousin of actors William Mapother, Katherine Mapother, and Amy Mapother.
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history in 1995.
Ranked #3 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list. [October 1997]
Voted Best Dressed Male Movie Star in 1997.
Stopped to help a hit and run victim and paid her hospital bills in 1996. The victim was aspiring Brazilian actress Heloisa Vinhas.
Caused a stir in the medical community when he claimed, in an interview, that Scientology cured him of his dyslexia in1992.
Movies
Endless Love (1981)
The Outsiders (1983)
Legend (1985)
Top Gun (1986)
Days of Thunder (1990)
A Few Good Men (1992)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Minority Report (2002)
Collateral (2004)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Valkyrie (2008)
Jack Reacher (2012)
Edge of Tomorrow (2018)
The Mummy (2017)
Mission Impossible — Fallout (2018)