Tom Cruise (original) (raw)

1962-present

Tom Cruise Now: Mission Impossible Star Performs Skydiving Stunt at Olympics Closing Ceremony

Tom Cruise wrapped up the 2024 Paris Olympics with a death-defying stunt. During the Olympics closing ceremony on August 11, the actor jumped off the roof of Stage de France and propelled down to the stadium’s floor on a cable, where he greeted athletes and snapped a few selfies as he walked toward the stage. Once on stage, Cruise shook hands with gymnast Simone Biles and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who handed him the Olympic flag. The Mission: Impossible star then secured the flag to the back of his motorcycle and took off.

The 62-year-old then appeared in a previously filmed video clip that showed Cruise driving through the streets of Paris and boarding a plane headed to Los Angeles, symbolizing the passing of the torch from the Paris Games to the Los Angeles Olympics in summer 2028. Cruise put on skydiving gear and jumped out of the plane, soaring through Los Angeles and past the Hollywood sign, which he redesigned to feature the Olympic rings in place of the two Os at the end of Hollywood.

Cruise is famous for doing many of his own stunts in his movies, including the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun franchises. Ahead of the release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One in July 2023, he told Entertainment Tonight that his most dangerous stunt took years of practice to perfect: “You have to be razor sharp when you do something like that.”

Jump to:

• Who Is Tom Cruise?
• Quick Facts
• Young Tom Cruise and Parents
• Movies
• Scientology
• Ex-Wives: Katie Holmes, Nicole Kidman, and Mimi Rogers

Who Is Tom Cruise?

Actor Tom Cruise has been one of the most prominent movie stars in Hollywood dating back to the 1980s. After developing an interest in acting during high school, he rocketed to fame with his turns in Risky Business and Top Gun. Cruise has since become an action movie veteran, counting the Mission: Impossible franchise, Edge of Tomorrow, and Top Gun: Maverick among his many successes. The four-time Oscar nominee has also earned acclaim for his performance in Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire, and Magnolia. Off the silver screen, Cruise is one of the most high-profile members of the Church of Scientology and has been married to fellow actors Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
BORN: July 3, 1962
BIRTHPLACE: Syracuse, New York
SPOUSES: Mimi Rogers (1987-1990), Nicole Kidman (1990-2001), and Katie Holmes (2005-2012)
CHILDREN: Isabella, Connor, and Suri
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Cancer

Young Tom Cruise and Parents

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York. The third of four children, Tom was the only son of Mary Lee South and Thomas Cruise Mapother III. Cruise’s mother was an amateur actor and schoolteacher, and his father was an electrical engineer. His family moved around a great deal when young Tom was a child to accommodate his father’s career.

Tom’s parents divorced when he was 11, and the children moved with their mother to Louisville, Kentucky, and then to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, after she remarried. Like his mother and three sisters, Cruise suffered from dyslexia, which made academic success difficult for him. He excelled in athletics, however, and considered pursuing a career in professional wrestling until a knee injury sidelined him during high school.

At age 14, Cruise enrolled in a Franciscan seminary with thoughts of becoming a priest, but he left after a year. When he was 16, a teacher encouraged him to participate in the school’s production of the musical Guys and Dolls. After Cruise won the lead of Nathan Detroit, he found himself surprisingly at home on the stage, and a career was born.

Movies

Early Roles in Taps and The Outsiders

Cruise set a 10-year deadline for himself in which to build an acting career. He left school and moved to New York City, where he struggled through audition after audition before landing an appearance in 1981’s Endless Love, starring Brooke Shields. Around this same time, he snagged a small role in the military school drama Taps (1981), co-starring Sean Penn. His role in Taps was upgraded after director Harold Becker saw Cruise’s potential, and his performance caught the attention of a number of critics and filmmakers.

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Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, and Emilio Estevez worked together on 1983’s The Outsiders and were all considered part of the Brat Pack.

In 1983, Cruise appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, which also starred Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, and Rob Lowe—all prominent members of a group of young actors the entertainment press dubbed the “Brat Pack.” The movie wasn’t well received, but it allowed Cruise to work with an acclaimed director on a high-profile project.

Breakout Role in Risky Business

His next movie, Risky Business (1983), grossed $65 million and become one of the most profitable movies at the box office that year. It also made Cruise a highly recognizable actor—thanks in no small part to a memorable scene of the young star dancing in his underwear.

Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick

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_Top Gun_’s stellar performance at the box office in 1986 cemented Tom Cruise’s status as an A-list movie star.

In 1986, after a two-year hiatus, the budding actor released the big-budget fantasy film Legend, which did poorly at the box office. That same year, however, Cruise’s A-list status was confirmed with the release of Top Gun, which co-starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, and Meg Ryan. The testosterone-fueled action-romance, set against the backdrop of an elite naval flight school, became the highest-grossing movie of 1986.

Decades later, Cruise returned to his role as fighter pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the action-packed sequel Top Gun: Maverick (2022), which picks up more than 30 years after the original. Critics heaped praise on the movie, and in addition to becoming the second highest-grossing film of the year, it earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Cruise is set to star in a third movie, Top Gun 3, which doesn’t yet have a release date.

The Color of Money, Rain Man, and Born on the Fourth of July

Cruise followed the tremendous success of the original Top Gun with a string of both critically acclaimed and commercially successful films. First up was The Color of Money (1986) with co-star Paul Newman, then Cruise worked with Dustin Hoffman on Rain Man (1988). Cruise’s next role, as Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in the biopic Born on the Fourth of July (1989), earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

A Few Good Men, The Firm, and Interview with a Vampire

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men. The movie grossed more than $15 million its first weekend and earned Cruise another Golden Globe nomination. He continued to demonstrate his success as a leading man with The Firm (1993) and Interview with the Vampire (1994), which co-starred Brad Pitt.

Mission: Impossible Franchise

Next, Cruise hit the big screen with another huge action hit: the $64 million blockbuster Mission: Impossible (1996). In addition to starring in the movie, Cruise also served as a producer. The movie’s popularity spawned another action franchise for Cruise.

The long-awaited smash hit Mission: Impossible 2 arrived in 2000 followed by the also popular Mission: Impossible 3 in 2006. However, Cruise was faced with a professional setback that August when Paramount Pictures ended its 14-year relationship with the actor. The company’s chairman cited Cruise’s erratic behavior and controversial views as the reason for the split, though industry experts noted that Paramount more likely ended the partnership over the actor’s high earnings from the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Ultimately, Cruise and Paramount patched up their relationship and have continued adding films to the franchise. That includes Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible —Fallout (2018), and most recently, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning (2023).

Jerry McGuire, Eyes Wide Shut, and Magnolia

The same year as the first Mission: Impossible movie, Cruise landed another hit with the highly acclaimed Jerry McGuire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe. The star secured a second Academy Award nomination and won his second Golden Globe for Best Actor.

Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman spent much of 1997 and 1998 in England shooting Eyes Wide Shut, an erotic thriller that was director Stanley Kubrick’s final film. The movie came out in the summer of 1999 to mixed reviews, but that same year, Cruise enjoyed greater success with the release of Magnolia. His performance as a self-confident sex guru in the ensemble film earned him another Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Vanilla Sky and The Last Samurai

In 2002, Cruise starred in Vanilla Sky, his second collaboration with director Cameron Crowe, as well as Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report. The following year, Cruise traveled to Australia to shoot the $100 million war epic The Last Samurai, which earned him another Golden Globe nomination.

War of the Worlds

Cruise proved he remained a top draw by starring in the Steven Spielberg–directed remake of the science-fiction classic War of the Worlds (2005), which grossed more than $230 million at the box office.

The third Mission: Impossible movie added to his list of credits in May 2006, but three months later, his partnership with Paramount Pictures, the franchise’s studio, ended. Cruise quickly rebounded with an announcement early that November: He had a new partnership with film executive Paula Wagner and the United Artists film studio. Their first production as a team, the political drama Lions for Lambs (2007), proved a commercial disappointment despite a strong cast that included Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.

Tropic Thunder

Taking a break from weighty material, Cruise delighted audiences with his performance in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Despite his relatively small role in a movie that featured Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller, Cruise stood out by obscuring his trademark good looks to play a balding, obese movie studio executive.

Valkyrie and Rock of Ages

In December 2008, Cruise released his second project through United Artists. The film, Valkyrie, was a World War II drama about a plot to assassinate German leader Adolf Hitler. Cruise starred as a German army officer who became involved in the conspiracy.

Breaking into new territory after another entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise in 2011, Cruise starred in the 2012 musical Rock of Ages. Although Cruise received some positive reviews for his performance as a rock star, the movie failed to attract much of an audience.

Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow, and The Mummy

Returning to his mainstream action roots, Cruise anchored the 2012 crime drama Jack Reacher, based on a book by Lee Child. He then headlined a pair of science-fiction adventures: Oblivion (2013) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Showing no signs of slowing down, the veteran actor in 2015 delivered his usual high-energy performance for the fifth installment of his blockbuster Mission: Impossible franchise.

In 2016, Cruise reprised the role of Jack Reacher for Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. He then headlined a reboot of The Mummy (2017), which performed respectably at the box office but was savaged by critics, before earning better reviews later that year for the crime thriller American Made.

Scientology

Cruise is one of the most prominent celebrity members of the Church of Scientology. He became a student of the religion, founded by writer L. Ron Hubbard, through his first wife, Mimi Rogers. Cruise credited the church with curing his dyslexia, and he soon became one of its leading proponents.

In 2005, Cruise made headlines as an outspoken Scientologist. He openly criticized his former Endless Love co-star Brooke Shields for using anti-depressants during her recovery from postpartum depression. He also denounced psychiatry and modern medicine, claiming Scientology held the key to true healing. Cruise’s statements led to a heated argument with news anchor Matt Lauer on The Today Show in June 2005, for which Cruise later apologized.

Ex-Wives: Katie Holmes, Nicole Kidman, and Mimi Rogers

Cruise has been married three times, all to fellow actors, and has three children.

He first wed Mimi Rogers in 1987 but their union ended three years later. Cruise wasn’t single for long.

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Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, seen here in March 1991, were married for 11 years.

Also in 1990, he connected with Nicole Kidman, his co-star in the racecar drama Days of Thunder. The movie was unpopular among critics and fans alike, but the two lead actors had real chemistry. On Christmas Eve 1990, after a brief courtship, Cruise and Kidman married in Telluride, Colorado.

For much of the 1990s, Cruise and Kidman found themselves fiercely defending the happiness and legitimacy of their marriage. They filed two different lawsuits against tabloid publications for stories they considered libelous. In each case, the couple received a published retraction and apology, along with a large monetary settlement which they donated to charity. During the first half of their marriage, the couple adopted two children, Isabella and Connor.

On February 5, 2001, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation after 11 years of marriage. The couple cited the difficulties involved with two acting careers and the amount of time spent apart while working.

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Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise were married in November 2006 and separated in June 2012.

Following the divorce, Cruise briefly dated his Vanilla Sky co-star Penelope Cruz followed by a much-publicized relationship with actor Katie Holmes. A month after his ties to Holmes became public, Cruise professed his love for Holmes in a now-famous appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which he jumped on Winfrey’s sofa, shouting “Yes!”

In June 2005, after a two-month courtship, Cruise proposed to Holmes in a restaurant at the top of the Eiffel tower. In October, they announced that they were expecting their first child together. The hasty proposal and surprise pregnancy quickly became tabloid gossip.

In 2006, Cruise and Holmes welcomed their daughter, Suri. That November, they were married in an Italian castle, with celebrities Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and Victoria and David Beckham among those in attendance. However, the storybook romance didn’t last, and in June 2012, Holmes filed for divorce.

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