Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, born on July 3, 1962 is an American actor and producer. One of the world’s highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades throughout his career, including three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for a British Academy Film Award and three Academy Awards.
His films have grossed over $4 billion in North America and over $10.1 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing box office stars of all time.
Cruise began acting in the early 1980s and made his breakthrough with leading roles in the comedy film ‘Risky Business’ (1983) and action drama film ‘Top Gun’ (1986). Critical acclaim came with his roles in the drama films ‘The Color of Money’ (1986), ‘Rain Man’ (1988), and ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ (1989). For his portrayal of Ron Kovic in the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. As a leading Hollywood star in the 1990s, he starred in several commercially successful films, including the drama ‘A Few Good Men’ (1992), the thriller ‘The Firm’ (1993), the horror film ‘Interview with the Vampire’ (1994), and the romance ‘Jerry Maguire’ (1996). For his role in the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and received his second Academy Award nomination.
Cruise’s performance as a motivational speaker in the drama film ‘Magnolia’ (1999) earned him another Golden Globe Award and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. As an action star, he has played Ethan Hunt in all six of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ films from 1996 to 2018. He also starred in science fiction and action films, including ‘Vanilla Sky’ (2001), ‘Minority Report’ (2002), ‘The Last Samurai’ (2003), ‘Collatera’l (2004), ‘War of the Worlds’ (2005), ‘Knight and Day’ (2010), ‘Jack Reacher’ (2012), ‘Oblivion’ (2013), ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (2014), and ‘The Mummy’ (2017).
Cruise has been married to actresses Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes. He has three children, two of whom were adopted during his marriage to Kidman and the other of whom is a biological daughter he had with Holmes.
Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology and its associated social programs, which he credits with helping him overcome dyslexia. In the 2000s, he sparked controversy with his Church-affiliated criticisms of psychiatry and anti-depressant drugs, his efforts to promote Scientology as a religion in Europe, and a leaked video interview of him promoting Scientology.
Legacy
Cruise’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
In 2006, ‘Premier’e ranked Cruise as Hollywood’s most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazine’s 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor. The same year, ‘Forbes’ magazine ranked him as the world’s most powerful celebrity. The founder of ‘CinemaScore’ in 2016 cited Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio as the “two stars, it doesn’t matter how bad the film is, they can pull the box office up”.
October 10, 2006, was declared “Tom Cruise Day” in Japan; the Japan Memorial Day Association said that he was awarded with a special day because of “his love for and close association with Japan.”
While reviewing ‘Days of Thunder’, film critic Roger Ebert noted the similarities between several of Cruise’s 1980s films and nicknamed the formula the Tom Cruise Picture. Ebert listed nine key ingredients that make up the Tom Cruise Picture: the Cruise character, the mentor, the superior woman, the craft he must hone, the arena it takes place in, the arcana or knowledge he must learn, the trail or journey, the proto enemy, and the eventual enemy of the character. Some of Cruise’s later films such as ‘A Few Good Men’ and ‘The Last Samurai’ can also be considered to be part of this formula.
‘Widescreening’s compares two of these Cruise characters in an article on the film ‘A Few Good Men’.
Aaron Sorkin interestingly takes the opposite approach of ‘Top Gun’, where Cruise also starred as the protagonist. In ‘Top Gun’, Cruise plays Mitchell who is a ‘hot shot’ military underachiever who makes mistakes because he is trying to outperform his late father.
Where Maverick Mitchell needs to rein in the discipline, Daniel Kaffee needs to let it go, finally see what he can do.