In addition to “Risky Business,” “A Few Good Men,” “The Firm,” “Jerry Maguire,” and the “Mission: Impossible” series, actor Tom Cruise has starred in a number of other box office successes.

Who Is Tom Cruise?

American actor Tom Cruise is well-known for his parts in classic movies from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s as well as his high-profile unions with Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes. He became interested in acting while still in high school, and his breakout performances in Risky Business and Top Gun catapulted him to stardom. Later, Cruise received praise for his performance in the critically acclaimed movie Jerry Maguire and the Mission: Impossible series.

Early Life

Tom Cruise, real name Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, was born to Mary and Thomas Mapother in Syracuse, New York, on July 3, 1962. His father was an electrical engineer, while his mother was a part-time teacher and amateur actor. In order to accommodate his father’s career, Cruise’s family relocated frequently when he was a child.

When Cruise’s parents separated when he was 11 years old, his mother took the kids to Louisville, Kentucky, and later, following her second marriage, to Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Like his mother and his three sisters, Cruise struggled academically as a result of his dyslexia. His physical prowess, though, led him to pursue a future in professional wrestling before a knee injury during high school halted him.

With the intention of becoming a priest, Cruise enrolled in a Franciscan seminary at the age of 14, but he dropped out after a year. A teacher pushed him to take part in the school’s performance of the musical Guys and Dolls when he was sixteen. After landing the role of Nathan Detroit, Cruise surprised everyone by feeling right at home on stage, and a career was launched.

Movies

‘Taps,’ ‘The Outsiders’

Cruise gave himself a 10-year window to establish a successful acting career. He dropped out of school and relocated to New York City, where he struggled through numerous auditions until obtaining a role in Brooke Shields’ 1981 film Endless Love. He landed a small part in the military school drama Taps (1981), which also starred Sean Penn, at this period.

Director Harold Becker increased Cruise’s part in Taps after realising his potential, and his performance attracted the attention of many critics and directors. In the 1983 film The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Cruise co-starred with Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, and Rob Lowe, all well-known members of the “Brat Pack” of young actors. Despite the film’s poor reviews, Cruise was able to collaborate with an accomplished filmmaker on a well-known production thanks to it.

‘Risky Business’

Risky Business, his following movie, brought in $65 million in 1983. Due in large part to a memorable scene in which the young star danced in his underwear, it also helped to establish Cruise as a highly recognisable actor.

‘Top Gun’

After a two-year break, the aspiring actor returned in 1986 with the expensive fantasy picture Legend, which bombed at the box office. However, with the publication of Top Gun, which also starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, and Meg Ryan, Cruise’s A-list standing was assured. The testosterone-fueled action-romance, which had an exclusive military aviation school as its setting, ended up becoming the most successful movie of 1986.

‘The Color of Money,’ ‘Rain Man’ and ‘Born on the Fourth of July’

After Top Gun’s enormous success, Cruise went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful movies. He worked with Paul Newman in the 1986 film The Color of Money before collaborating with Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988). In his subsequent performance as Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in the biopic Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Cruise received a Golden Globe award for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination.

‘A Few Good Men,’ ‘The Firm’ and ‘Interview with a Vampire’

While he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military trial drama A Few Good Men in 1992, Cruise demonstrated once more that he could hold his own when acting opposite a legendary member of the film industry. Cruise received a Golden Globe nomination for the movie, which had a first-weekend box office of almost $15 million. With the films The Firm (1993) and Interview with a Vampire (1994), which also starred Brad Pitt, he kept showcasing his success as a leading actor.

‘Mission: Impossible,’ ‘Jerry McGuire’

Then, in 1996, Tom Cruise made his big-screen debut with two blockbuster films: the $64 million blockbuster Mission: Impossible, which the star also produced, and the critically praised Jerry McGuire, which was helmed by Cameron Crowe. Cruise received a second Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for best actor for the latter.

‘War of the Worlds’

By starring in the Steven Spielberg-directed adaptation of the science fiction classic War of the Worlds (2005), which brought in more than $230 million at the box office, Cruise demonstrated that he was still a major draw.

Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), his following film, was likewise warmly received by audiences. However, Cruise experienced a setback in his career when Paramount Pictures dissolved their 14-year partnership with the actor in August. Although industry experts pointed out that Paramount most likely severed the relationship over Cruise’s huge earnings from the Mission: Impossible franchise, the company’s chairman pointed to Cruise’s unpredictable conduct and controversial opinions as the reason for the breakup.

After immediately bouncing back, Cruise revealed on November 2, 2006, his new collaboration with United Artists and film executive Paula Wagner. Despite having a superb ensemble that included Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, their first joint film, the political drama Lions for Lambs (2007), was a commercial failure.

Scientology and Personal Life

In 1987, Cruise wed Mimi Rogers, an actress. The actor first learned about the L. Ron Hubbard-founded religion Scientology through Rogers. Cruise became one of the church’s most vocal supporters after attributing the church with correcting his dyslexia. But even though his spiritual life was thriving, he and Rogers’ marriage broke up in 1990. Alongside Kidman, Tom Cruise starred in the auto racing drama Days of Thunder the same year. Despite the fact that both critics and viewers found the movie to be unappealing, the primary actors had great chemistry. After a brief courtship, Cruise and Kidman tied the knot on Christmas Eve 1990 in Telluride, Colorado.

Divorce

For the majority of the 1990s, Cruise and Kidman had to vehemently defend the success and legality of their union. They brought two separate legal actions against tabloid publishers for articles they deemed to be defamatory. Each time, the couple obtained a public apology and retraction as well as a sizeable financial settlement that they gave to charity. Isabella and Connor, the couple’s two children, were born.

After 11 years of marriage, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation on February 5, 2001. The pair mentioned the challenges of having two acting jobs as well as the length of time spent apart while working. After their divorce, Cruise briefly dated Penelope Cruz, his co-star in the movie Vanilla Sky, and then engaged in a highly-publicized romance with Katie Holmes. In a now-famous visit on The Oprah Winfrey Show a month after his connections to Holmes were made public, Cruise declared his love for the actress while jumping on Winfrey’s couch and yelling, “Yes!”

Following a two-month courtship, Cruise proposed to Holmes in a restaurant atop the Eiffel tower in June 2005. They made their first child’s impending arrival public in October. The hurried proposal and unexpected pregnancy swiftly turned into tabloid rumours. But Cruise garnered more media attention that year as a vocal supporter of Scientology. He vehemently chastised Brooke Shields, a former co-star, for taking antidepressants while she battled postpartum depression. He also criticised psychiatry and contemporary medicine, asserting that Scientology was the path to genuine cure. In June 2005, Cruise’s remarks caused a contentious exchange with news anchor Matt Lauer on The Today Show; Cruise later offered an apology.

Suri Cruise and Katie Holmes were blessed with a daughter in 2006. Celebrities Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Victoria and David Beckham, and others attended their Italian castle wedding that year. The couple announced their separation in June 2012, but the fairytale romance wouldn’t last.

Net Worth

Tom Cruise is today recognised as one of Hollywood’s top performers after appearing in a number of high-profile movies over the previous three decades. He is also one of the richest and highest-paid celebrities in the world. As of this writing, Tom Cruise movies have brought in $9.5 billion from only the global box office. It’s interesting to note that over the most of Tom’s career, no one of his films failed to gross over $1 billion.

Tom Cruise has achieved success as a producer and an actor. He earns $50 million a year as a performer, and the Cruise/Wagner production raked in more than $2.9 billion at the box office. Despite this, his projected net worth for 2022 is $600 million, making him one of the wealthiest people.