Tom Cruise

In the Beginning

Tom Cruise was born ‘Thomas Cruise Mapother IV’ on July 3, 1962. He was the son of Mary Lee and Thomas Cruise, and he was the brother to three sisters. To say that Cruise’s childhood was turbulent would be a gross understatement as his family was ruled by an abusive father, and Cruise was beaten constantly by the man who he would later define as a bully and a coward. The Cruise family spent a considerable amount of time in Canada, moving to the Ottawa suburb Beacon Hill in 1971. The very first time Cruise delved into the acting world he was in the fourth grade and participated in an improvised play called ‘IT’ at the Carleton Elementary School drama festival. In addition to his love of theater, Cruise would also enjoy several sports including floor hockey, though he was notably aggressive on the field. Grade six saw a change of schools, and Cruise would go on to attend Henry Munroe Middle School. During this time, however, Cruise’s mother left their father and moved to the United States, meanwhile, his father died of cancer.

Career Accomplishments

Aside from the stage stint, Tom Cruise’s career really started at age 19 in the 1981 film titled ‘Endless Love’. In addition to that, he would portray supporting roles in ‘Taps’, a military drama, and ‘The Outsiders’, a book adaptation. His next movie and his first leading role ever in the film was a romantic comedy called ‘Risky Business’ which would see release in August of 1983. Though this was a great movie, it couldn’t hold a candle to his role as Pete Mitchell in ‘Top Gun’, which is regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time. Today, Cruise is better known for his role as Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible franchise, and that franchise has spawned a total of four movies so far. The fifth Mission Impossible film is slated for release sometime in 2015. Cruise has gone on to be regarded as one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood and has taken leading roles in a number of different films which include:

• The Color of Money
• Cocktail
• Rain Man
• Born on the Fourth of July
• Far and Away
• A Few Good Men
• The Firm
• Interview with the Vampire
• Jerry Maguire
• Eyes Wide Shut
• Magnolia

The 200’s saw Cruise in many successful films including the futuristic techno-thriller, Minority Report, and the war film, The Last Samurai. In 2012, Cruise was Hollywood’s highest-paid actor, with fifteen of his films grossing more than $100 million domestically, with over $200 million worldwide. Cruise has won a number of awards including several Golden Globes and the Saturn Award for Best Actor in Vanilla Sky. He also won an AFI Movie of the Year Award for The Last Samurai and an Empire Award for Best Actor for Minority Report.

Most Known For

Cruise is most known for his appearances in Top Gun and the current Mission Impossible series, though this is not the only thing that he is known for. He is currently an advocate for the Church of Scientology and the various programs associated with it. He credits the church for helping him to overcome dyslexia, but he seems to hold great concerns over anything related to psychiatry and and-depressant drugs. He is incredibly outspoken and his views have sparked a considerable amount of controversy. Still, he has plenty of fans and plenty of followers.

Where Is He Now?

Tom Cruise is seen on the fifth installment of the Mission Impossible series.