74 Facts About Tom Cruise

Thomas Cruise was born on July 3,1962 and is an American actor and producer.

Tom Cruise's films have grossed over in North America and over worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing box-office stars of all time.

Tom Cruise began acting in the early 1980s and made his breakthrough with leading roles in the comedy film Risky Business and action film Top Gun.

Since then, Tom Cruise has largely starred in science fiction and action films, establishing himself as an action star, often performing his own risky stunts.

Tom Cruise has played Ethan Hunt in all six of the Mission: Impossible films from 1996 to 2018.

Tom Cruise has been married to actresses Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes.

Tom Cruise 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.

Tom Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology, which he credits with helping him overcome dyslexia.

Tom Cruise has been a close friend of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige since the 1980s.

Tom Cruise was born on July 3,1962, in Syracuse, New York, to electrical engineer Thomas Tom Cruise Mapother III and special education teacher Mary Lee.

Tom Cruise's parents were both from Louisville, Kentucky, and had English, German, and Irish ancestry.

Tom Cruise has three sisters named Lee Anne, Marian, and Cass.

Tom Cruise grew up in near poverty and had a Catholic upbringing.

Tom Cruise spent part of his childhood in Canada; when his father took a job as a defense consultant with the Canadian Armed Forces, his family moved in late 1971 to Beacon Hill, Ottawa.

Tom Cruise attended the new Robert Hopkins Public School for his fourth and fifth grade education.

Tom Cruise first became involved in drama in fourth grade, under drama teacher George Steinburg.

Tom Cruise briefly took a Catholic Church scholarship and attended the St Francis Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio; he aspired to become a Franciscan priest before leaving after a year.

Priests at the seminary have said Tom Cruise chose to leave the school when his family relocated again; however, a former classmate said that they both asked to leave after getting caught taking liquor.

Tom Cruise went on to star in the school's production of Guys and Dolls.

At age 18, with the blessing of his mother and stepfather, Tom Cruise moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.

Tom Cruise signed with CAA and began acting in films.

Tom Cruise first appeared in a bit part in the 1981 film Endless Love, followed by a major supporting role as a crazed military academy student in Taps later that year.

In 1983, Tom Cruise was part of the ensemble cast of The Outsiders.

Tom Cruise followed up Top Gun with Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money, which came out the same year, and which paired him with Paul Newman.

In 1988, Tom Cruise starred in Cocktail, a film that was a box office success but failed with critics.

Tom Cruise's performance earned him a nomination for the Razzie Award for Worst Actor.

In 1989, Tom Cruise portrayed real-life paralyzed Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic in Oliver Stone's war epic Born on the Fourth of July.

Tom Cruise's performance is so good that the movie lives through it.

Tom Cruise's next films were Days of Thunder and Far and Away, both of which co-starred then-wife Nicole Kidman as his love interest, followed by the legal thriller The Firm, which was a critical and commercial success.

The film was well-received, although Rice was initially quite outspoken in her criticism of Tom Cruise having been cast in the film, as Julian Sands was her first choice.

In 1996, Tom Cruise appeared as superspy Ethan Hunt in the reboot of Mission: Impossible, which he produced.

In 1999, Tom Cruise costarred with Kidman in Stanley Kubrick's erotic and psychological drama film Eyes Wide Shut.

In 2000, Tom Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in the second installment of the Mission Impossible films, Mission: Impossible 2.

Tom Cruise received an MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance for the film.

In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopian science fiction action film Minority Report, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the science fiction short story by Philip K Dick.

In 2004, Tom Cruise received critical acclaim for his performance as Vincent in Collateral.

Tom Cruise was nominated for seven Saturn Awards between 2002 and 2009, winning once.

In 2007, Tom Cruise took a rare supporting role for the second time in Lions for Lambs, which was a commercial disappointment.

Tom Cruise played the central role in the historical thriller Valkyrie released on December 25,2008, to box office success.

In March 2010, Tom Cruise completed filming the action-comedy Knight and Day, in which he re-teamed with former costar Cameron Diaz; the film was released on June 23,2010.

On May 6,2011, Tom Cruise was awarded a humanitarian award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance for his work as a dedicated philanthropist.

In mid-2011, Tom Cruise started shooting the movie Rock of Ages, in which he played the fictional character Stacee Jaxx.

Tom Cruise starred as Jack Reacher in the film adaptation of British author Lee Child's 2005 novel One Shot.

In 2014, Cruise starred in the science fiction-action film Edge of Tomorrow, which received positive reviews and grossed over $370 million.

Tom Cruise starred in the 2017 reboot of Boris Karloff's 1932 horror movie The Mummy.

In May 2020, it was reported that Tom Cruise would be starring in and producing a movie shot in outer space.

In May 2021, Tom Cruise protested against the Hollywood Foreign Press Association by returning all three of his Golden Globe Awards in light of controversy surrounding the HFPA, particularly its lack of diversity, specifically no black members, and ethical questions related to financial benefits to some of its members.

In 2022, Tom Cruise reprised his role as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick, a film which he executive produced.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where Tom Cruise earned an Honorary Palme d'Or.

Tom Cruise earned $100 million for the film, when combining ticket sales, his salary, and his cut of home entertainment rentals and streaming revenues.

Tom Cruise produced Mission: Impossible, Without Limits, Mission: Impossible 2, The Others, Vanilla Sky and many others.

On March 21,2007, Tom Cruise signed to play Claus von Stauffenberg, the protagonist.

Rogers had grown up in Scientology and was one of its 'auditors'; they met when Tom Cruise became one of her clients.

Tom Cruise met his second wife, actress Nicole Kidman, on the set of their film Days of Thunder.

In February 2001, Tom Cruise filed for divorce from Kidman while she was unknowingly pregnant.

Tom Cruise was next romantically linked with Penelope Cruz, his co-star in Vanilla Sky.

Scientology and Tom Cruise's lawyers issued strongly worded denials and threatened to sue, accusing Vanity Fair of "shoddy journalism" and "religious bigotry".

Tom Cruise stated that ex-wife Katie Holmes divorced him in part to protect the couple's daughter Suri from Scientology and that Suri is no longer a practicing member of the organization.

Tom Cruise was converted to Scientology by his first wife Mimi Rogers in 1986, becoming an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology in the 2000s.

Tom Cruise removed himself from the Church and worked on the film Eyes Wide Shut until 1999 when David Miscavige sent Marty Rathbun to successfully "retrieve" Cruise and convince him to continue training.

Tom Cruise had become a full-on zealot after a couple of years.

Tom Cruise is friends with the Scientology organization's chairman David Miscavige.

In 2005, the Council of Paris revealed that Tom Cruise had lobbied French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Senate President Jean-Claude Gaudin.

Tom Cruise lobbied British Prime Minister Tony Blair to recognize the Scientology organization as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization in the United Kingdom.

Former Scientologist Paul Haggis claimed that Tom Cruise attempted to convert celebrities such as James Packer, Victoria and David Beckham, Jada Pinkett and Will Smith, and Steven Spielberg to Scientology.

Since 2008, Tom Cruise has restricted interviewers from asking him about Scientology.

Tom Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience.

On January 15,2008, a video produced by the Church of Scientology featuring an interview with Tom Cruise was posted on YouTube by the Anonymous-linked group Project Chanology, showing Tom Cruise discussing what being a Scientologist means to him.

In Top Gun, Tom Cruise plays Mitchell who is a 'hot shot' military underachiever who makes mistakes because he is trying to outperform his late father.

Tom Cruise is an aerobatic pilot, and was inducted as part of the Living Legends of Aviation in 2010, receiving the Aviation Inspiration and Patriotism Award from the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy.

In 1998, Tom Cruise successfully sued the Daily Express, a British tabloid which alleged that his marriage to Kidman was a sham designed to cover up his homosexuality.

In May 2001, Tom Cruise filed a lawsuit against gay porn actor Chad Slater.

Tom Cruise requested a default judgment and, in January 2003, a Los Angeles judge decided against Slater after the porn actor said that his story was false.

In 2006, Cruise sued cybersquatter Jeff Burgar to obtain control of the TomCruise.