Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise (born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on July 3, 1962) is an A-list, Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and film producer. He has starred in a number of top-grossing movies and remains one of the most successful movie stars in Hollywood. His first leading role in a blockbuster movie was in 1983's Risky Business. In recent years, he has received additional, overwhelmingly negative media coverage regarding his support of Scientology (and his related criticism of psychiatry), and his relationship with Katie Holmes.

Early life

Cruise was born to Thomas Mapother III and Mary Lee Pfeiffer in Syracuse, New York.WENN, "Cruise's Family Tree Treat"Cruise has German ancestry from his paternal great-grandparents, William Reibert and Charlotta Louise Voelker; and Welsh ancestry from his paternal great-great-grandfather, Dylan Henry Mapother, who emigrated from Flint, Wales to Louisville, Kentucky in 1850.Ancestry of Tom Cruise: Fourth Generation [1] His maternal ancestry is half Irish and half German (including Alsatian). Dreyfous-Kahrs-Thomas-Hamilton Family

Cruise had a transient existence as a child with his family residing in near-poverty throughout various locations in the United States and Canada because Cruise's father refused to pay child support after his estrangement from the family when his son was eleven. Cities where he lived included Ottawa, Ontario, Louisville, Kentucky, Winnetka, Illinois and Wayne, New Jersey. In all, Cruise attended eight elementary schools and three high schools. He briefly attended a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati and aspired to become a Catholic priest. He eventually graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey.

It was recently discovered that Cruise had suffered from child abuse when he was younger. He stated that when something went wrong, his father came down hard on him. He told Parade Magazine that his father was "a bully and a coward" and "a merchant of chaos". Cruise said he learned early on that his father was - and, by extension, some people were - not to be trusted: "I knew from being around my father that not everyone means me well"CNN report about Parade Magazine article. Having gone through fifteen schools in twelve years, Cruise, who dropped his father's name at age twelve, was also subject to bullying at school.

Cruise started acting after being sidelined from his high school's wrestling team due to a knee injury. While injured, he successfully auditioned for a lead role in his high school's production of Guys and Dolls and decided to become an actor after his success in the role. Cruise graduated from high school in 1980.

Hollywood

Acting career

Cruise's first acting role came in 1981, when he had a small role in Endless Love, a drama/romance film starring Brooke Shields. He had a much larger role in a substantially bigger film, Taps, starring alongside George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn. The film about military cadets was moderately successful. In 1983, he was one of many young teenage stars to appear in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders. The cast for this film included Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Ralph Macchio. That same year Cruise appeared in the teen comedy Losin' It with Shelley Long. Also in 1983, Risky Business was released, widely thought to be the film that propelled Cruise to stardom. One sequence in the film, featuring Cruise lip-syncing Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" in his underwear, has become an iconic moment in film history. The film has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise".[2] A fourth film that was released in 1983 was the high-school football drama, All the Right Moves.

Cruise as Maverick in the 1986 blockbuster, Top Gun.

Cruise's next film was Ridley Scott's Legend. Cruise was picked as the first choice by big producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson for an upcoming American fighter pilot film. Cruise at first apparently turned down the project, but helped to alter the script he was given and developed the film. After being taken for a flight with the Blue Angels, Cruise changed his mind and signed on with the project. Top Gun opened in May of 1986 and became the highest grossing film of the year, taking in $353,816,701 in worldwide figures. He also starred in Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money that same year. In 1988 he starred in the light hearted drama, Cocktail. The film received mixed reviews and Cruise was subsequently nominated for a Razzie award in 1989. Later that year, Rain Man was released, which also starred Dustin Hoffman. The film was praised by critics and was nominated for four Academy Awards, and won all four.

Cruise was welcomed with similar success the following year when he received Academy Award nominations for Born on the Fourth of July. In 1990, Cruise starred as hot-shot Cole Trickle as a race car driver in Days of Thunder. Days of Thunder is where Cruise first met American born and Australian raised actress Nicole Kidman, who was his co-star. Cruises' next film was Far and Away where he again was starring with Nicole Kidman. Cruise starred in A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore, the well received military thriller earned Cruise Golden Globe and MTV nominations. The following year he starred in The Firm which won Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards.

In 1994, Cruise starred in Interview with the Vampire, a drama/horror film that was also very well received. In 1996, Cruise starred in (as well as produced) Mission: Impossible. The film grossed $456,494,803 worldwide, and was the third highest grossing film that year. In 1996 he starred in Jerry Maguire. The film earned him an Academy Award Best Actor nomination as well as winning co-star Cuba Gooding Jr. an Academy Award; the film was in total, nominated for five Academy Awards. The film also included the line "Show me the Money!" which became part of popular culture. Jerry Maguire saw Tom Cruise become the first actor in history to star in five consecutive films that grossed at least $100 million in domestic release. Eyes Wide Shut (1999) which took two years to finish as director Stanley Kubrick's last film, alongside then spouse Nicole Kidman. Cruise also performed as a misogynistic male guru in Magnolia (1999), which netted him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.

In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible films, releasing Mission: Impossible II, the film continued the series' blockbuster success at the box office, taking in $545,902,562 Dollars or 3,958,876,456 Yen in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third highest grossing film of the year. The following year Cruise starred in the erotic thriller remake of 1997's Abre Los Ojos, Vanilla Sky. In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopian thriller, Minority Report as well as The Last Samurai, which saw Cruise perform some of his own stunts, as he did in M:I-III.

In the 2004 action thriller film Collateral, Cruise combatted a good-guy stereotype which had been attributed to him. A number of Cruise's more well-known and popular movies have cast him in a similar role, one which has been half-jokingly referred to by movie fans (and some critics) as the "Generic Tom Cruise Character." In this role, Cruise portrays a character who, as the film begins, is seen as a cocky, stuck-up, self-centered egoist who cares for little other than himself. As the events of the movie unfold, his character learns to become more open-minded and altruistic, until by the time the climax has been reached, he has undergone a radical change and been transformed into a better human being. Collateral saw a surprising turn as a sociopathic gray-haired hitman with a killer smile, Vincent, who hijacks the cab to be transported to five hits in one night. His trademark smile and handling of guns took a 180-degree turn for an unlikable character who is very organized and thoroughly nasty, as opposed to his popular good-guy characters.

Cruise in War of the Worlds.

In 2005, Cruise starred in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. The events leading up to the release of the film, notably, Cruise's very public advocation of Scientology and anti-psychiatry statements, coupled with the criticism of his relationship with actress Katie Holmes, many expected the film to be a bomb at the box office. However, the film earned $234,280,354 becoming his most successful film in domestic figures (not taking deflation into account), and ultimately earning $591,416,316 in worldwide figures. He was however, the loser of three Razzie nominations at the end of the year.

Producing career

Cruise teamed with producer Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions, which has co-produced several of Cruise's films, the first being Mission: Impossible in 1996, Cruises' first work as a producer. He won a Nova Award (shared with Paula Wagner, Cruise's producing partner at Cruise/Wagner Productions) for Most Promising Producer in Theatrical Motion Pictures at the PGA Golden Laurel Awards in 1997 for his work as a producer on Mission Impossible.

His next project as a producer was the 1998 film, Without Limits, a film about famous runner Steve Prefontaine. Cruise returned to work as a producer in 2000, continuing work on the Mission Impossible sequel. He then served as an executive producer for The Others which starred Nicole Kidman, also that year, he again worked as actor/producer in Vanilla Sky. He subsequently worked on (but did not star in) Narc, Hitting It Hard and Shattered Glass, with Shattered Glass being particularly successful. His next project, which he also starred in, was The Last Samurai, he was jointly nominated for the Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award at the 2004 PGA Golden Laurel Awards. He then worked on Suspect Zero, Elizabethtown and Ask the Dust. he reprised his role as actor/producer in the third 'Mission Impossible'' film.

Tom Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative movie deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as "one of the most powerful - and richest - forces in Hollywood". Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are regarded as able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise. Epstein also contends that the public obsession with Cruise's tabloid controversies obscures full appreciation of Cruise's exceptional commercial prowess in the industry [3].

Cruise-Wagner Productions, Tom Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson's New York Times bestseller, "The Devil in the White City" about a real life serial killer at the Chicago World's Fair. Kathryn Bigelow is attached to the project to produce and helm. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair, in which DiCaprio will star. [4]

Popularity

In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 movie stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.

In 2006, Premiere magazine established Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazines 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor.

On 16 June, 2006, Forbes magazine published 'The Celebrity 100', a list of the most powerful celebrities, in which Cruise came top. The list was generated using a combination of income (between June 2005 and June 2006), web references by Google, press clips compiled by LexisNexis, television and radio mentions (by Factiva), and the number of times a celebrity appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.

Relationships

Mimi Rogers

Cruise was married to Mimi Rogers (married on May 9, 1987, divorced February 4, 1990). Rogers is generally believed to be the one who introduced Cruise to Scientology. as excerpted by Radar at [5]

Nicole Kidman

Cruise met Nicole Kidman on the set of their film Days of Thunder. The couple married on December 24, 1990 and divorced on August 8, 2001. He and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella (born 1993) and Connor (born 1995). They separated when Kidman was three months pregnant, just shy of their 10 year wedding anniversary; she later miscarried.[6] Kidman was a Scientologist although she no longer practices it.

PenÃ©lope Cruz

Cruise was next romantically linked with PenÃ©lope Cruz, the lead actress in his film Vanilla Sky. In March 2004, he announced that his relationship with PenÃ©lope Cruz had ended in January. It was suggested that Scientology played a role in the relationship failing. [7]

Katie Holmes

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes at a Yahoo! press conference in March 2006.

In April 2005, Cruise began dating Katie Holmes, before announcing on 17 June 2005 that he had proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. [8] She accepted his proposal, and the couple were expected to be married in the summer or autumn of 2006. On April 18, 2006 Katie gave birth to a baby girl named Suri, whose name was chosen with its relation to Scientology, the Persian Rose, the birthplace and the "Hebrew word" (which Cruise had erroneously believed to mean princess). [9] She is the first child for Holmes and third for Cruise, who (as previously mentioned) has two adopted children with Nicole Kidman. Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise Have a Girl! People.com. April 18, 2006.

Controversy

Scientology

Cruise is arguably Hollywood's most outspoken member of the Church of Scientology. He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers. Cruise lobbies over Scientology BBC News It has been claimed that Cruise belongs to one of the highest echelons of the "Church of Scientology", known as "Operating Thetan Seven" or OT-VII Tom Cruise - Involvement in Scientology Scientology Lies, and it has been suggested that Cruise's increasing willingness to talk openly about Scientology may be a reflection of this. Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology Spiegel

A controversy erupted in 2005 after he openly criticized actress Brooke Shields for using the drug Paxil, an anti-depressant, of which Shields attributes her recovery from postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter in 2003. Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience. This led to a heated argument with Matt Lauer on The Today Show on June 24, 2005."In tense moment, Cruise calls Lauer 'glib'" MSNBC.COM. (June 28, 2005)Brooke Shields responded to Cruise's comments as "irresponsible and dangerous"Brooke & Tom's War of the Words E online.

Cruise has publicly said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Scientology Study Tech, helped him overcome his dyslexia.Cruise credits Scientology for his success MSNBC

Cruise with Dr. Szasz shown at a CCHR annual dinner.

Cruise also claimed in an Entertainment Weekly interview that psychiatry "is a Nazi science" and that methadone was actually originally called Adolophine after Adolf Hitler, a myth well-known as an urban legend. CRUISE TRIPPED UP BY MAGAZINE OVER SCIENTOLOGY CLAIMS contactmusic.com In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Cruise claimed that "In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon... It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period". While Narconon claims to have a success rate over 70% NARCONON: A NEW LIFE FOR DRUG ADDICTS Scientology web site, the accuracy of this figure has been widely disputed. Narconon's success rates Operation Clambake It has been reported that Cruise adopted his anti-psychiatry philosophies from Dr. Thomas Szasz, a leading critic of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry. American University Mental Health Expert Can Discuss Tom Cruise and "War of the Words" American University News

As of 2005, Tom Cruise has begun campaigning on behalf of the Church of Scientology before politicians and government officials around the world. Such advocacy does not go well in several European countries where this organization is considered to be a cult. As an example, on July 13th, 2005, after it was learned that he lobbied Nicolas Sarkozy and Jean-Claude Gaudin (the mayor of Marseille), the city council of Paris vowed "never to receive [before the council or the mayor] the actor Tom Cruise, spokesman for Scientology and self-declared militant for this organisation" Paris snubs Scientology 'militant' Cruise Irish ExaminerTom Cruise ne sera pas citoyen d'honneur de Paris (In French)

He has also campaigned and raised donations for Downtown Medical, which he co-founded, to offer New York 9/11 rescue workers detoxification therapy based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. This has drawn criticism from the medical professionScientologist's Treatments Lure Firefighters, Michelle O'Donnell, NY Times, 4 October, 2003, as well as firefighters.Cruise Blasted by 9/11 Firefighters, World Entertainment News Network, 14 December, 2005

In 2006, controversy emerged about the television show South Park because of a controversial episode that satirized Scientology. Dubbed "Closetgate" by the Los Angeles Times, the controversy continued as Comedy Central, the channel that broadcasts South Park in the U.S., pulled the "Trapped in the Closet" episode at the last minute from a scheduled repeat on March 15 2006. It was alleged that Cruise threatened Paramount with withdrawal from promotion of his latest film Mission Impossible 3 if the episode was broadcast. Viacom owns both Paramount and Comedy Central. Paramount and Cruise's representatives denied any threats. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, in a typically satirical response, claimed to be "servants of Xenu" and declared that the "million-year war for Earth" had only just begun. The LA Times reported that, "For Stone and Parker, Closetgate will be the gift that keeps on giving." South Park declares war on Tom Cruise The Independent. Recently "Trapped in the Closet" has been nominated for an Emmy, and was re-aired July 19, 2006.

Concern has also been voiced about Holmes and her relationship to Scientology. Roger Friedman of the Fox News Channel claimed that Katie Holmes disappeared for sixteen days in April 2005 when even her own family did not know her whereabouts. [10] Allegedly, the last time she had been seen, Holmes had flown to meet with Tom Cruise for a possible role in Mission Impossible 3. When she re-appeared, Holmes stated she was in love with Tom Cruise and studying Scientology. The actress then fired her long-time manager and agent and acquired Jessica Rodriguez, a prominent member of the Church of Scientology. [11]

Jumping the couch

Tom Cruise jumps ecstatically on Oprah's couch

Cruise has indulged in over-the-top media-friendly expressions of his deep love for Holmes, most notably the "couch incident" which took place on the popular talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show of May 23, 2005. Cruise — in the words of The New York Times — "jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell rapturously to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend." This scene has been parodied in numerous venues in film (Scary Movie 4), on TV (Family Guy). The "couch incident" was voted #1 of 2005's "Most Surprising Television Moments" on a countdown on E!.[12]

The term "Jumping the Couch", fashioned after "jumping the shark", was coined by Urban Dictionary to describe someone "going off the deep end" in public. The term is usually synonymous with a nervous breakdown accompanied by often bizarre or unintentionally humorous behavior in public. It enjoyed a short-lived popularity, being chosen by the editors of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang as the "slang term of the year" in 2005 and by the nonprofit group Global Language Monitor as one of its top phrases for the year.

Parodies

As noted, the scene has been parodied numerous times, including
* The Internet Comedian Dane Cook a week later on Jimmy Kimmel, professing his love for Katie Holmes with a home-made tattoo on his back (a photograph affixed with tape) and going all the way to the female restroom to get her.
* A YTMND reworking of the scene to make it look like Cruise kills Oprah with Sith lightning emanating from his hands.Tom Cruise kills Oprah with Sith lightning
* A mashup of James Frey's infamous 2006 appearance on Oprah and Cruise's appearance was released by Best Week Ever, in which Oprah appears to call Cruise a liar.Best Week Ever: Tom Cruise On Oprah, The Way It Should Have Been

Litigation

*The Daily Express newspaper â€" During his marriage to actress Nicole Kidman, the couple endured public speculation about their sex life and rumors that Cruise was gay. In 1998, he sued a British tabloid that alleged that the marriage was a sham designed to cover up his homosexuality.Cruise and Kidman win libel case - BBC News
* David Ehrenstein - Tom Cruise's lawyers threaten to sue Ehrenstein for his book titled "Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-1998", that discussed Cruise's appeal to both men and women [13].
*Chad Slater â€" In May 2001 he filed a lawsuit against gay porn actor Chad Slater (aka Kyle Bradford). Slater had allegedly told the celebrity magazine Actustar that he had engaged in an affair with Cruise. Both Slater and Cruise denied this, and in August 2001 Slater was ordered to pay $10 million to Cruise in damages.Cruise wins 'gay' claims legal battle - BBC News
*Michael Davis â€" He also sued Michael Davis, a magazine publisher, who alleged that he had photographs that would prove Tom Cruise was homosexual; this suit was dropped in exchange for a public statement by Davis that Tom Cruise was heterosexual.Cruise gay claims dropped - BBS News
*Buffalo Beast newspaper - After The Beast's publication of their 50 Most Loathsome People of 2004 (which included Cruise in the list), Cruise's lawyer Bertram Fields threatened to sue the small independent publication. The Beast, seeing the opportunity for nationwide exposure (particularly after the story broke on the entertainment program Celebrity Justice and later in mainstream newspapers) actively encouraged the lawsuit, effectively calling Fields' bluff. No lawsuit was ever filed and Cruise was included more prominently in the 2005 list. Hollywood Egomaniac Threatens Beast Over Alleged "Need for Speed"
*TomCruise.com - In 2006, Cruise sued infamous cybersquatter Jeff Burgar to obtain control of the TomCruise.com domain name. When owned by Burgar, the domain redirected to information about Cruise on Celebrity1000.com. The decision to turn TomCruise.com over to Cruise was handed down by WIPO on July 5, 2006. "WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2006-0560" The decision was criticized by The Register suggesting that the WIPO conflict resolution system is flawed and "that if you were provided with the names of the panellists in any given case, you could predict with almost complete certainly what the outcome was." "Tom Cruise wins TomCruise.com"

Publicist

Cruise's more open attitude to Scientology has been attributed to the departure of his publicist of 14 years, Pat Kingsley, in March 2004. He replaced her with his sister, fellow Scientologist Lee Anne DeVette, who served in that role until November 2005 [14]. He then demoted his sister and replaced her with veteran publicist Paul Bloch, from the publicity firm Rogers and Cowan. Such restructuring is seen as a move to curtail publicity about his Scientology views, as well as the hard-sell of the Tom/Kat relationship backfiring with the public [15],[16].DeVette explained that it was her decision to work on philanthropic projects rather than publicity[17].

Miscellaneous

In April 2005, Cruise began dating Katie Holmes. This very public love affair took a dramatic turn when Cruise and Holmes got engaged in Paris [18] while on a world publicity tour for their two most recent movies (War of the Worlds for Cruise, and Batman Begins for Holmes). War of the Worlds director Steven Spielberg indicated that he was frustrated by media coverage of Cruise's relationship during promotion of the film, though he believed it to be genuine. [19] On October 5, 2005, it was reported by People magazine that Holmes was pregnant. Cruise came under fire from various medical professionals after he bought a sonogram machine to monitor his baby. The American College of Radiology claims that overuse or misuse of the medical equipment is unnecessary and could be harmful to the baby's health, and that it may be illegal to own. [20] On May 4, 2006 the California Assembly passed a bill to ban distribution of ultrasound machines to non-licensed practitioners, though the law must still go through the Senate.Law concerning ultrasound machines Chigago Tribune On April 18, 2006 Holmes gave birth to a baby girl named Suri, the first child for Holmes and the third child for Cruise who had adopted two children with Nicole Kidman : Connor Antony (born January 17 1995) and Isabella Jane (born December 22 1992).

Cruise's behavior in recent interviews and his very public romance with Katie Holmes led him to become the butt of numerous jokes on late night television shows such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien. [21] The jokes commonly referred to Cruise being insane or parody the Lauer interview. However, recent talk has centered on the legitimacy of Cruise's child's birth, with some (such as Michael Musto) suggesting that the baby was actually a pillow underneath Holmes' dress. (This has become a running gag on Keith Olbermann's show Countdown.) Doubts about this have not been helped by the fact that the baby has apparently yet to appear in public.

In February 2006 an article in Life & Style magazine reported that Cruise and Holmes were splitting up, but keeping up a public pretense until the Spring (when the birth of their child will roughly coincide with the release of Mission Impossible 3, Cruise's next film). Arnold Robinson, a publicist for the couple, denied the story. A representative for Life & Style magazine responded, "We stand 100 percent behind our story", and claimed it had been verified by two anonymous friends of Cruise. [22]

In an April 2006 interview with GQ magazine taken while Holmes was pregnant, Cruise jokingly suggested that he might eat her placenta after birth - a health practice known as placentophagy. He was quoted as saying "I'm gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there." But when the interviewer said it would be a big meal, Cruise replied: "OK, maybe I won't." In a later interview with Diane Sawyer, Cruise joked about the comments and said he wasn't really going to eat it. [23][24][25]

During the London premiere of War of the Worlds, Cruise was on one of his familiar walkabouts when much to his surprise he was squirted with a water pistol (disguised as a microphone) by a performer working on Channel 4's comedyram Balls Of Steel,[26] in which various famous people were targeted for practical jokes. While nearly losing his composure, the actor called the perpetrator a "jerk" and said he was "incredibly rude". Police later made arrests after the incident, but no charges were later brought.

Tom Cruise's height has also been a subject of much speculation. IMDB.com previously listed it at 5'11', but has revised it to 5'7". The Web site bigheadedpygmies.com [27] suggests that figure is also inflated by wearing boots and potentially shoe lifts, which are common among many celebrities. While making Mission Impossible II it was noted by some that he had to wear shoe lifts while making scenes with co star Thandie Newton because she was in fact taller than him.

Selected filmography

: >All salaries are reported by IMDb source.: ''All gross reported by boxofficemojo.com. Figures are subject to minor adjustments (usually upwards) when studios release revised official figures, which sometimes occurs years after first release.: These figures do not account for inflation.

Year	Title	Role	Gross	Salaries	Other notes
1981	Endless Love	Billy
1981	Taps	Cadet Captain David Shawn
1983	The Outsiders	Steve Randle
1983	Losin' It	Woody
1983	Risky Business	Joel Goodson		$75,000
1983	All the Right Moves	Stef
1985	Legend	Jack O' The Green
1986	Top Gun	Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell	$353,816,701	$2,000,000
1986	The Color of Money	Vincent Lauria
1988	Cocktail	Brian Flanagan
1988	Young Guns	Cowboy			uncredited cameo
1988	Rain Man	Charlie Babbitt	$354,825,435	$3,000,000 + % of gross
1989	Born on the Fourth of July	Ron Kovic			Academy Award Nomination - Best Actor
1990	Days of Thunder	Cole Trickle
1992	Far and Away	Joseph Donnelly		$13,000,000
1992	A Few Good Men	Lt. Daniel Kaffee	$243,240,178
1993	The Firm	Mitch McDeere	$270,248,367
1994	Interview with the Vampire	Lestat de Lioncourt		$15,000,000
1996	Mission: Impossible	Ethan Hunt		$70,000,000 (gross participation)
1996	Jerry Maguire	Jerry Maguire	$273,552,592	$20,000,000 against 15%	Academy Award Nomination - Best Actor
1999	Eyes Wide Shut	Bill Harford		$20,000,000
1999	Magnolia	Frank T.J. Mackey			Academy Award Nomination - Best Supporting Actor
2000	Mission: Impossible II	Ethan Hunt		$75,000,000 (gross participation)
2001	Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures			Narrator
2001	Vanilla Sky	David Aames		$20,000,000 + 30% of profits	also producer
2002	Space Station 3D	Narrator
2002	Minority Report	John Anderton		$25,000,000+
2002	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Himself			cameo
2003	The Last Samurai	Nathan Algren		$25,000,000 + % of profits	also producer
2004	Collateral	Vincent
2005	War of the Worlds	Ray Ferrier		20% profit participation	Razzie Nomination - Worst Actor
2006	Mission: Impossible III	Ethan Hunt		$75,000,000	-	2008	The Few	Billy Fiske	-	2009/2010	Mission: Impossible IV	Ethan Hunt	will be release in either 2009 or 2010

Trivia

* At an early age, Cruise joined a seminary in order to become a priest. He left before completing that task.
* Earned his pilot's license in 1994 and owns a WWII P-51 Mustang and Pitts Special S-2B stunt plane.
* Has never allowed his image to be used in video games or action figures.
* Among the movies that Tom Cruise has reportedly turned down are Alexander, Footloose, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Enemy of the State and Cold Mountain.
* Despite famously wearing braces to correct the alignment of his teeth in the early 2000s, Tom Cruise's upper teeth are not centered; one of his two front teeth is positioned right in the middle of his face, a fact verifiable from many photographs.
* Curiously enough, the years of birth of his wives are 11 years apart: Mimi Rogers - 1956, Nicole Kidman - 1967, Katie Holmes - 1978.

Other work

Tom Cruise co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway with Oprah Winfrey in 2004.

Cruise is active with charity. Working with his industry, they raised over $150 million for 9/11, and works with an AIDS nonprofit organization.[28]