101 Facts About Tom Cruise: The Actor Who Does His Own Stunts

Tom Cruise is a legendary American actor and producer who works in the Hollywood movie industry.

Since making his film debut back in 1981 in 'Endless Love', Tom Cruise has remained one of the leading men in Hollywood. Tom Cruise's films have grossed over a billion dollars in the box office.

A report released in 2012 stated that Tom Cruise was the highest-paid actor in America in that year. His personal fortune is worth around 550 million dollars.

From poverty to absolute superstardom, Tom Cruise is a true example of rags to riches story. He has been an inspiration to millions the world over. His life teaches us that even with disabilities and disadvantages, it is possible to succeed in life and carve out a unique niche for oneself.

So grab a copy of your favourite Tom Cruise movie right now and get entertained!

Facts About Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise has been stealing the show for almost 40 years now. He is well-known for going against the advice of his team and doing the action stunts of his movies himself.

In several instances, he has been injured while attempting life-threatening stunts. Interestingly, even in his late 50s, the veteran actor has remained quite fit and can run reasonably faster than most people of his age!

• When he is not jumping from rooftops to rooftops, Tom Cruise pilots his Pitts Special S-2B stunt plane.
• His other hobbies include scuba diving and skydiving.
• While filming for the movie 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' (2011), Cruise shot a scene that was too dangerous even by his standards. It involved the climbing of a portion of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
• He surpassed his limits during the shoot of 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' when he shot a scene where he is seen trying to hold on to the edge of a plane while it is accelerating!
• Cruise has always had a penchant for fast machines. To shoot for his 1992 film, 'Days of Thunder', he had to learn how to drive racing cars.
• His top speed while test driving a Hendricks Motorsports R&D car at Daytona International Speedway is an incredible 205 mph (330 km/hr).
• In an incident dating back to 1996, Cruise stopped his car to help a hit-and-run victim lying on the road. He went on to pay for the entire cost of treatment for the woman named Heloisa Vinhas, who was working towards becoming an actress.
• Cruise has the unlikely distinction of being the first actor ever to have won featured in the best and worst picture of a single year. This happened in 1988, when the movie Rain Man won the Best Picture award at the Oscars, while another of his films, 'Cocktail', got the Worst Picture award at the Razzies.
• Cruise identifies the late Paul Newman as his on-screen idol. He considers himself really fortunate and lucky to have been able to work with Newman in the film 'The Color of Money'.
• Tom Cruise tried his hand in wrestling as a student and still enjoys professional wrestling.
• Despite being approached by video game companies, Cruise has made it clear that he would never permit them to use his image in a video game.
• Tom Cruise is an immensely dedicated film actor. He learned Japanese to get ready for his role in 'The Last Samurai'.

Tom Cruise's Career

Tom Cruise was in high school when he thought about becoming an actor. Cruise's teachers told him that he had natural acting capabilities.

• Cruise had become involved in the theatre scene of his high school and was encouraged by his school teachers to chase his dream of becoming a Hollywood star.
• Tom Cruise left his school at the age of 18 and went to New York to try and find auditions for film roles.
• At the young age of 19, he got his play his first acting part in a film named 'Endless Love'.
• From 1981 to 1983, Cruise starred in a total of six films- 'Endless Love' (1981), 'Taps' (1981), 'The Outsiders' (1983), 'Losin' It' (1983), 'Risky Business' (1983), and 'All The Right Moves' (1983).
• He found a small role in Godfather-fame legendary director Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Outsiders', which had other upcoming actors such as Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane.
• Cruise found fame after starring Joel Goodson in the film 'Risky Business'. This film catapulted Cruise from a minor actor portraying supporting roles to a major star.
• 'Risky Business' gave Tom Cruise's acting career the first real boost.
• Cruise earned his the first Golden Globe nomination of his career for 'Risky Business'.
• It was the movie 'Top Gun' that cemented Cruise's star status and turned him overnight into a Hollywood superstar.
• 'Top Gun' was actually the biggest movie of 1986 based on revenue collection and broke box office records in the U.S. after its release.
• It is worth noting that after the film's mind-blowing success, Cruise was asked whether he would reprise the role of Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell in a possible sequel in the future. Tom Cruise had reportedly said yes to the idea, and as we stand today in 2022, 'Top Gun 2' is scheduled for a release later this year.
• Following Top Gun's release, Tom Cruise's star status continued to head sky-high with him playing a variety of interesting roles in films such as 'The Color of Money' (1986), 'Cocktail' (1988), 'Rain Man' (1988).
• By the end of the 1980s, Cruise had already worked with some of the best directors and actors in Hollywood.
• In 'The Color of Money', Cruise was directed by one of the best directors of all time, Martin Scorsese.
• He shared the screen with legendary actor Paul Newman in the same film.
• The film 'Rain Man' had Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman play the role of estranged brothers. This film had garnered heaps of praise for both the leading actors.
• Dustin Hoffman went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading role for putting a memorable performance as Cruise's elder autistic brother.
• Cruise proved in films like 'Rain Man' and 'A Few Good Men' that he could hold his own ground while sharing the screen with iconic actors.
• In 'A Few Good Men' (1992), Cruise had a lot of screen time to share with Jack Nicholson and was superb in his role.
• In 'Far and Away' (1992), Cruise had to face a lot of flak for his failed Irish accent.
• Cruise worked with director Sydney Pollack in the film 'The Firm' (1993), an adaptation of John Grisham's book of the same name.
• A year later, Cruise joined an ensemble cast including the likes of Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst, and Christian Slater in a Gothic drama titled, 'Interview with the Vampire'.
• The early years of the '90s did not bring much success to Cruise. It was, however, with the release of 'Mission: Impossible' in 1996, that Tom Cruise became a global phenomenon.
• The 'Mission: Impossible' films have set the bar very high for all action movies.
• So far, six MI films have been released under the banner of Paramount Pictures.
• Paramount Pictures is a film production house in Los Angeles, California. The company has collaborated with Tom Cruise's own production house, named Cruise-Wagner Productions, in producing the 'Mission: Impossible' films.
• The seventh 'Mission: Impossible' film is about to be released in theaters.
• The filming of the eighth installment of 'Mission: Impossible' is already underway.
• Following the incredible success of the first 'Mission: Impossible' back in 1996, Cruise decided to take advantage of his newfound status as an action superstar to sign for many more action and science-fiction films throughout the late 1990s and 2000s.
• Some of the standout action performances of this time would include 'Mission: Impossible II' (2000), 'Minority Report' (2001), directed by Jurassic Park fame Steven Spielberg, 'Collateral' (2004), 'War of the Wolds' (2004).
• Although known primarily as an action star, Cruise has never stopped making movies in the drama or comedy genres.
• In 2003, he acted in the historical drama 'The Last Samurai', for which he got another Best Actor Golden Globe nomination.
• Cruise played his most bizarre character ever in the 2008 film 'Tropic Thunder'. In the Ben Stiller-directed comedy, Cruise appeared as a foul mouth movie producer.
• To play the part of the character named Les Grossman in 'Tropic Thunder', Cruise had to put prosthetic makeup on.
• He continued experimenting with the choice of his roles after signing for 'Rock of Ages'.
• 'Rock of Ages', a 2012 period drama, saw Cruise portraying the part of an aging rock star named Stacee Jaxx. It went a long way in proving Cruise's versatility as an actor.
• Cruise returned to play action roles in the Jack Reacher franchise in 2012.
• This was followed by the box office mega-hit 'Edge of Tomorrow' in 2014. The latter was one of the biggest movies of 2014 and reminded the audience that Tom Cruise still had what it takes to be an action hero.

Tom Cruise's Accomplishments

Tom Cruise is still going strong at the age of 59. In a career spanning over five decades, Tom Cruise has already starred in over 60 movies. He has received countless awards and nominations for his acting roles over the years. Let us take a look at the major accomplishments of this Hollywood legend.

• Tom Cruise joined a host of luminaries in 1986 when he was presented with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This is located at 6912 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.
• Tom Cruise has won three acting Golden Globe Awards in his career.
• He was nominated three times in acting categories for the Academy Awards as well.
• His role as a Vietnam War veteran in Oliver Stone directed 'Born on The Fourth of July' (1989) got him his first Golden Globe award and Oscar/Academy Award nomination in 1990.
• For the movie 'Jerry Maguire' (1996), Tom Cruise won his second Golden Globe award for an actor in a leading role.
• This performance also got him his second Oscar nomination.
• In the 1999 movie 'Magnolia', Cruise gave, what most believe, the best performance of his film career.
• Cruise's character in 'Magnolia', that of a maniacal motivational speaker, received widespread acclaim from both film lovers and critics alike.
• For the film 'Magnolia', Cruise accepted his third Golden Globe award. This time, however, he won the award in the supporting actor category.
• Cruise received his third and last Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for 'Magnolia'. He lost out to another screen legend, Michael Caine.
• Tom Cruise has also won two MTV Movie Awards in his career. He won the award the first time for Best Male Performance in a film in 1997 for 'Jerry Maguire'.
• Cruise got his hands on another MTV Movie Award in 2001 in the same category for 'Mission: Impossible II'.
• For the film 'Rain Man' (1988), Tom Cruise won the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award. He won this in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role category.
• Cruise grew up facing learning impairments and was later found to be dyslexic. So, to help people like him, Cruise founded and became a board member of the Hollywood Education and Literacy Project. This organization actively supports children and adults who face troubles in learning how to read and write.
• Tom Cruise has been active in philanthropic projects for most of his life. Cruise has been a donor to charitable foundations such as Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, H.E.L.P., Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Friars Foundation.
• When one of his acting colleagues, Jackie Chan, founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, Cruise stepped forward and donated wholeheartedly.
• Tom Cruise was awarded the Excellence in Mentoring Award in 2003 by the National Mentoring Partnership after years of collaborative work with the organization.
• In 2005, Cruise was honored with the Special David award at the David Di Donatello award show.
• Recognizing his tireless engagement with charitable works, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance presented Tom Cruise with their Humanitarian Award in the year 2011.

Tom Cruise's Family

Tom Cruise saw the light of the day on July 3, 1962, when he was born, in the city of Syracuse, New York State. His childhood days were spent in a number of different towns and cities.

• The name on his birth certificate is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV.
• Tom Cruise's father's name was Thomas Cruise Mapother III, who was an electrical engineer by profession.
• Tom Cruise's mother, Mary Lee Pfeiffer, was a special education instructor.
• Both Tom Cruise's parents hailed from Louisville, Kentucky State.
• Tom Cruise comes from a family of mixed heritage. He has Irish, German, and English roots.
• Tom Cruise has a fascinating Irish heritage. His Irish ancestry can be traced back to over 840 years when Cruise's ancestors held titles like barons and knights.
• Modern research has unearthed the family crest of the Mapothers of Ireland.
• Tom Cruise grew up along with three siblings, all sisters. They are Lee Anne, Marian, and Cass.
• Since the Cruise family was always moving from place to place in the U.S. and Canada, young Tom Cruise and his sisters had to change schools in quick intervals. So much so that he had been admitted to 15 schools by the age of 14!
• Tom Cruise was raised in a family that was deeply religious.
• His Catholic upbringing influenced him to join a Franciscan Seminary as a teenager.
• Tom Cruise received a scholarship from the Church he and his family members attended.
• With the scholarship, young Tom Cruise went to pursue religious studies for a short while in a Franciscan Seminary in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio State.
• However, he relinquished his interest in becoming a priest sometime in his late teens and took the call to try his hand at an acting career instead.
• Tom Cruise had a troubled relationship with his father while growing up.
• Thomas Cruise Mapother III was violent by nature and would often physically abuse a young Tom Cruise.
• Tom Cruise's parents did not earn much, and they spent their days in relative poverty.
• Due to his small physique, young Tom Cruise was routinely bullied in his school days. During these tough early years, Tom Cruise's mother stood by him like a rock.
• Tom Cruise battled learning difficulties throughout his childhood and teenage years. He was later diagnosed with dyslexia.
• Tom Cruise was still in his early teens when his father got a job offer from the Canadian Armed Forces. When his Cruise's father accepted the job offer, the whole family had to move to Canada.
• Soon after the Cruise family moved to Canada, Tom Cruise's parents ended their marriage. It was then that Tom Cruise, his mother, and his three sisters moved back to America.
• After making up his mind that he really wanted to pursue acting, Tom Cruise dropped out of his high school after he turned 18 and headed to New York City to try his luck in the movie business.
• Tom Cruise has been wed three times in his life.
• His first wife was Mimi Rogers, who was also an actress. Cruise and Rogers married in secret in 1987 and separated in 1990.
• After working together in the film 'Days of Thunder' (1990), Tom Cruise and his co-star Nicole Kidman began a romantic relationship that culminated in marriage. They married in December 1990 and remained so until 2001.
• Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had been paired opposite each other during their time together. 'Days of Thunder' (1990), 'Far and Away' (1992), and 'Eyes Wide Shut' (1999) are the films they have paired together.
• Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are parents to two adopted children. They first adopted a boy named Connor Cruise and then a girl, Isabella Jane Cruise.
• Since separating from his wife of over 10 years, Nicole Kidman, Cruise got into relationships with other actresses, most notably Spanish star Penelope Cruz. The duo reportedly was a couple from 2002 to 2004.
• Cruise's third and last marriage took place in the year 2006 to American actress Katie Holmes.
• Katie Holmes is the mother of Cruise's sole biological child, a daughter named Suri Cruise.
• Unfortunately, this marriage, too, did not last for more than six years. In June 2012, Katie Holmes filed for a divorce, and the marriage was concluded soon.
• Since 2012, Tom Cruise has remained unmarried. But he has, however, been with a host of beautiful women. An example would be British Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi.