Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise

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Birth name: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
Date of birth: 3 July 1962
Place of birth: Syracuse, New York, USA
Nickname: Tom
Height: 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
Spouse: Katie Holmes (18 November 2006 – present) 1 child, Nicole Kidman (24 December 1990 – 8 August 2001) (divorced) 2 (adopted) children, Mimi Rogers (9 May 1987 – 4 February 1990) (divorced)

Famous Quote: “Even the scenes where you don’t have the action, I’ve got to pace myself. At the end of the day, you know, you might be doing a close-up and working on this scene and you got to be prepared, you got to have it available. So I think of that when I’m preparing for a film, so I prepare very hard.”

Contact Address and Autograph: Addresses and fan mail information

Tom Cruise
Rogers & Cowan, Pacific Design Center
8687 Melrose Avenue, 7th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90069, USA 

Biography: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), more commonly known as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and film producer. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world’s most powerful celebrity in 2006. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards. 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 he has made more trips to Japan than any other Hollywood star.

His first leading role was 1983′s Risky Business. After that, he starred in many top films and became a Hollywood celebrity, perhaps the most notable of these being the hugely successful 1986 film Top Gun. He is also one of only three actors in the history of film to have seven consecutive US$100 million blockbusters, the two other being Tom Hanks and Will Smith. Cruise is also known for his support of Scientology, and his criticism of psychiatry and anti-depressive drugs, which have attracted controversy and media interest.

The actor’s flair for dramatic intensity – paired with his on-screen charisma and boyishly handsome smile – were the stuff of bona fide movie stars, harkening back to the matinee idols of the 1940s and ‘50s. He had come a long way since 1983’s “Risky Business,” when his exuberant fit of dancing in his boxer shorts made film history. That underwear-clad breakout ignited a career which rapidly bypassed the teen arena and his fellow actors of the time – especially after the release of a certain testosterone-injected film called “Top Gun” (1986). Not only did Cruise become the sex symbol du jour with his shirtless portrayal of Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, he inspired a whole generation of young boys to want to become elite Navy fighter pilots. Despite a few missteps such as “Cocktail” (1988) and “Days of Thunder” (1990), Cruise proved the critical naysayers wrong when be began nailing performances of real depth in films like “The Color of Money”(1986), “Rain Main” (1988), and “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989). Audiences of both genders flocked to see him play the hotshot-on-the-brink-of-transformation in “The Firm” (1993) and “Jerry Maguire” (1996), as well as the polished hero of the “Mission Impossible” franchise and “War of the Worlds” (2005). Cruise’s appeal survived even critically reviled films, with mainstream moviegoers flocking to artful outings like Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” (1997) and Cameron Crowe’s surreal “Vanilla Sky” (2001) simply because the name above the title was Tom Cruise.

Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. Cruise has German and Colonial English ancestry from his paternal great-grandparents, William Reibert and Charlotte Louise Voelker; and purportedly Welsh ancestry from his paternal great-great-grandfather, Dylan Henry Mapother, who emigrated from Flint, Wales to Louisville, Kentucky in 1850.

When Cruise was twelve, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sister Lee Anne with her. Cities in which Tom lived included Ottawa, Ontario (where he attended Colonel By Secondary School), Louisville, Kentucky, Winnetka, Illinois and Wayne, New Jersey. In all, Cruise attended eight elementary schools and three high schools. He briefly attended a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati and aspired to become a Catholic priest. He eventually graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey in 1980.

Cruise has said that he suffered from abuse as a child. This was partially due to him suffering from dyslexia. He stated that when something went wrong, his father came down hard on him. He told Parade Magazine that his father was “a bully” and “a merchant of chaos.” Cruise said he learned early on that his father was – and, by extension, some people were – not to be trusted: “I knew from being around my father that not everyone means me well.” Having gone through fifteen schools in twelve years, Cruise, who dropped his father’s name at age twelve, was also a victim of bullying at school.

Cruise started acting after being sidelined from his high school’s wrestling team due to a knee injury. While injured, he successfully auditioned for a lead role in his high school’s production of Guys and Dolls and decided to become an actor after his success in the role. His cousin William Mapother is also an actor most known for playing Ethan Rom on Lost.

Cruise’s first film role came in 1981, when he had a small role in Endless Love, a drama/romance film starring Brooke Shields. Later that same year he had a more substantial role in the film Taps, appearing alongside George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn. The film about military cadets was moderately successful. In 1983, he was one of many teenaged stars to appear in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders. The cast for this film included Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Ralph Macchio, some of which were part of the Brat Pack. 

That same year Cruise appeared in the teen comedy Losin’ It with Shelley Long. Also in 1983, Risky Business was released, widely thought to be the film that propelled Cruise to stardom. One sequence in the film, featuring Cruise lip-syncing Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” in his underwear, has become an iconic moment in film history. The film has been described as “A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise”. A fourth film that was released in 1983 was the high-school football drama, All the Right Moves. Cruise’s next film was the 1985 fantasy film Legend directed by Ridley Scott.

Cruise was then selected as the first choice by producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson for an upcoming American fighter pilot film. Cruise at first apparently turned down the project, but helped to alter the script he was given and developed the film. After being taken for a flight with the Blue Angels, Cruise changed his mind and signed on with the project. The project was titled Top Gun and opened in May 1986, becoming the highest grossing film of the year, taking in US$353,816,701 in worldwide figures.

He also starred in Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money along with Paul Newman that same year, which earned Paul a Best Actor academy award.

In 1988, he starred in the light hearted drama Cocktail. The film received mixed reviews and Cruise was subsequently nominated for a Razzie award in 1989. Later that year, Rain Man was released, which also starred Dustin Hoffman and was directed by Barry Levinson. The film was praised by critics and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won four, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

Following a brutal divorce from Kidman and a head-scratching hook-up with Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, his Scientology-backed attack on actress Brooke Shields’ pharmaceutical treatment of post-partum depression was followed by uncharacteristically showy pronouncements of love for another unlikely girlfriend, Katie Holmes. In one unfortunate moment – jumping on Oprah Winfrey’s couch to proclaim his sudden love for Holmes – Cruise became a late night talk show punchline literally overnight. The media circus culminated with a “South Park” (Comedy Central, 1997- ) episode skewering his supposed sexual orientation and the severing of ties by longtime studio partner Paramount who unceremoniously and very publicly dumped him, citing his eccentric behavior in the press of late. Ever focused and diligent, Cruise rebounded to become head of MGM’s UA Films, though it remained to be seen whether his stint in PR hell would have a long-lasting effect on his status as the biggest film star of his generation.

Cruise was welcomed with similar success the following year when he received Academy Award nominations for Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July, which was based on the best selling autobiography of Anti-Vietnam War hero Ron Kovic. In 1990, Cruise starred as hot-shot race car driver “Cole Trickle” in Tony Scott’s Days of Thunder. While filming Days of Thunder Cruise first met Australian actress Nicole Kidman, who was his co-star. They married in December 1990, but divorced after 11 years of marriage.

Cruise’s next film was Ron Howard’s Far and Away where he again was starring with Nicole Kidman. After Days of Thunder he starred in the military thriller A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore. This film was very well received and earned Cruise a Golden Globe and MTV nominations. The following year he starred in Sydney Pollack’s The Firm along with Gene Hackman and Ed Harris. It was based on the best selling novel by John Grisham, and won Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture at the People’s Choice Awards.

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice’s best selling novel which was also very well received, although Rice was outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film. In 1996, Cruise starred in (as well as produced) Brian de Palma’s Mission: Impossible. The film, a remake of the 1960s TV series, grossed US$456,494,803 worldwide, making it the third highest grossing film that year. That same year he played the title role in the comedy-drama Jerry Maguire. 

The film earned him an Academy Award Best Actor nomination as well as winning co-star Cuba Gooding, Jr. an Academy Award; the film was nominated for five Academy Awards in total. The film also included the line “Show Me the Money!” which became part of popular culture. In 1999 he starred in the erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut which took two years to complete and was director Stanley Kubrick’s last film. It was also the last film in which he starred alongside then spouse Nicole Kidman. But the film, which had a straightforward description of sex and a recondite story-telling style, raised great controversies. Cruise also played a misogynistic male guru in Magnolia (1999), which netted him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He was originally intended to play as Jericho Cane in the action horror film End of Days before Arnold Schwarzenegger assumed the lead role.

Cruise raised eyebrows – and more than a few hackles – by accepting the central role of the vampire Lestat in Neil Jordan’s “Interview with the Vampire” (1994). Many balked at the idea of the All-American go-getter playing the decadent, ambisexual European predator of Anne Rice’s novel. Rice herself was the harshest critic, as she traveled about the country trashing the casting decision while on a book tour. Sporting blond locks and blue contact lenses over his green eyes, Cruise eventually won Rice’s approval, and the film earned mixed reviews while doing brisk business. In 1996, Cruise/Wagner Productions rolled out their first feature, the post-Cold War espionage “Mission: Impossible” (1996). Based on the nostalgic 1960s TV show, the project had languished in various development hells before Cruise got involved, and rumors abounded of his clashing with director Brian De Palma over budgetary and story matters. Nonetheless, despite international location shooting, high-tech stunts, computer-generated visual effects and last-minute re-writes by an assortment of writers (including Towne again), “Mission: Impossible” came in on time and under budget at approximately $67 million, with Cruise deferring his $20 million actor’s salary. Though many critics deemed it an extravagant but cold vanity production with a confusing storyline, most admired the cinematic technique, and the mixed reviews did not inhibit ticket buyers, proving the actor could attract crowds to a movie that did not even have to entirely make sense. The man could essentially do not wrong.

The sweetly offbeat romantic comedy “Jerry Maguire” (1996), in which he played the shallow, back-stabbing sports agent, provided a sort of mid-career breakthrough for Cruise. For years he had portrayed irresistible smoothies, turning the world on with his smile while piloting fighter jets and driving race cars. Though it was a classic Cruise performance, bursting with the usual cocky charm and charisma, there was an added dimension of desperation and a new maturity to his screen persona. He had played characters who were up against the ropes before, but perhaps never so convincingly. Here was a slickster whose powers had failed him, exposing a seldom seen vulnerability which made his character’s eventual comeback that much sweeter. This time, the critics and moviegoers reached consensus, and Cruise garnered a Golden Globe win and his second Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Three years would pass before he returned to the screen – though in 1998, he and Wagner produced “Without Limits,” screenwriter Towne’s biopic about fabled long distance runner Steve Prefontaine (Billy Crudup).

In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in the second installment of the Mission Impossible films, releasing Mission: Impossible II. The film was directed by Hong Kong director John Woo and branded with his Gun fu Style, but it continued the series’ blockbuster success at the box office, taking in almost US$546 M in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third highest grossing film of the year. The following year Cruise starred in the remake of the 1997 film Abre Los Ojos, Vanilla Sky. In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopian science fiction thriller, Minority Report which was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick; as well as The Last Samurai.

In the 2004 Michael Mann’s crime-thriller film Collateral, Cruise took a turn against his generic “good guy” role by playing the role of a sociopathic hitman. In 2005, Cruise starred in Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. The film earned US$234 M and ultimately earned US$591.4 M worldwide . The film also earned three Razzie nominations including one for Cruise.

In 2006, he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in the third installment of the Mission Impossible film series, Mission: Impossible III, which was also a box office success and was more positively received by critics than its predecessor. He appeared in the 2007 drama Lions for Lambs and will star in the 2008 thriller Valkyrie.

Nearly lost in all of Cruise’s public appearances was the release of “War of the Worlds” (2005), the fourth film adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells story. A mostly masterful exercise in cinematic suspense and terror, the film was buoyed by a strong performance by Cruise as Ray Ferrier, a working class deadbeat dad who must protect his two children during a horrific alien invasion. In spite of the media brouhaha (or perhaps because of it) “War of the Worlds” was Cruise’s top grossing film to date at over $590 million dollars worldwide.

The media saturation lasted beyond the run of the summer blockbuster, especially when it was announced in October that Holmes was pregnant with his child. In November, Paul Bloch replaced DeVette as Cruise’s publicist, and though the move was reportedly made to enable his sister to focus on managing her brother’s philanthropic affairs, it was perceived as damage control in light of the hit Cruise’s image had taken since her installment. For a spell, Cruise’s outlandishness seemed quelled until an episode of the animated series “South Park” (Comedy Central, 1997-), which satirized Scientology and made not-so-veiled jokes questioning Cruise’s sexuality – a persistent rumor that had dogged the actor since he sued several parties in 1998 and 2001 for publishing allegations of his homosexuality. Under pressure from its parent company Paramount – also Cruise/Wagner Productions parent company – Comedy Central yanked the episode after only one airing, lead some to speculate that Cruise exerted his star power behind the scenes—an assertion that was publicly denied. Matt Stone and Trey Parker – the show’s fearless creators – were not afraid to call out Cruise on his power play – being dubbed “Closetgate” by The L.A. Times – even taking out ads, proclaiming tongue-in-cheek that they themselves were “servants of Xenu” and that the “million-year war for Earth” had only just begun, presumably now that their show had been screwed with backdoor deals.

After months of fawning and speculation, Cruise and Holmes — dubbed “TomKat” by a smug media – had a baby girl named Suri on April 18, 2006. The high profile pregnancy was followed by the virtual disappearance of Holmes from public and an absence of baby photos, inspiring conspiracy theories that perhaps there had never been a baby at all. Meanwhile, Cruise began making the media rounds for his next film, “Mission: Impossible 3” (2006). The third installment in the franchise depicted a retired Ethan Hunt (Cruise) living a slower-paced life while training new IMF agents until he is called back to action to do battle with Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international weapons dealer who may turn out to be Hunt’s toughest adversary yet. The film’s opening weekend box office receipts fell short of expectations, and a USA Today/Gallup poll showed that only 35 percent of those surveyed held a “favorable opinion” of the actor, the vast majority voicing disapproval over his Scientology proselytizing and the incident with Brooke Shields.

Citing an apparent wane in Cruise’s popularity, Paramount Pictures announced an end to its 14-year relationship with Cruise/Wagner Productions on Aug. 22, 2006. In a bombshell heard round the world, Sumner Redstone, Chairman of Viacom, (Paramount’s parent company), declared Cruise’s “recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.” Hollywood insiders surmised that Paramount’s decision was purely financial, as the Cruise/Wagner cut of box office and DVD sales was well above the norm and affecting the studio’s profit. Meanwhile Cruise/Wagner Productions claimed that they had recently landed financing from a private investor and had been planning to split from Paramount anyway. In September, another bit of coincidentally-timed publicity took attention away from Cruise’s business woes when Vanity Fair gave the public their first view of Suri in a 22-page Cruise family photo spread, shot by famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. In November, the couple were finally wed in a ceremony in Italy, and news of the wedding was paired with another happy ending — Cruise/Wagner productions had struck a deal with MGM to run the ailing United Artists Films.

Back at work and with his nuclear family firmly in place, Cruise seemed poised to put the previous 18 months of turmoil behind him and resume his status as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. The first release from CEO Wagner and producer Cruise was Robert Redford’s November, 2007, release “Lions for Lambs.” Cruise took a co-starring role as an ambitious senator in the highly-anticipated film, which sought to explore tough issues about the war in Afghanistan and war in general through three interconnected storylines. 

Cruise partnered with producer Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions which has co-produced several of Cruise’s films, the first being Mission: Impossible in 1996 which was also Cruise’s first project as a producer. He won a Nova Award (shared with Paula Wagner) for Most Promising Producer in Theatrical Motion Pictures at the PGA Golden Laurel Awards in 1997 for his work as a producer for the film Mission: Impossible.

His next project as a producer was the 1998 film Without Limits about famous American runner Steve Prefontaine. Cruise returned to work as a producer in 2000, continuing work on the Mission Impossible sequel. He then served as an executive producer for The Others which starred Nicole Kidman, also that year, he again worked as actor/producer in Vanilla Sky. He subsequently worked on (but did not star in) Narc, Hitting It Hard and Shattered Glass. His next project, which he also starred in, was The Last Samurai, he was jointly nominated for the Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award at the 2004 PGA Golden Laurel Awards. He then worked on Suspect Zero, Elizabethtown and Ask the Dust.

Tom Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative movie deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as “one of the most powerful – and richest – forces in Hollywood”. Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are regarded as able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise. Epstein also contends that the public obsession with Cruise’s tabloid controversies obscures full appreciation of Cruise’s exceptional commercial prowess in the industry.

Cruise/Wagner Productions, Tom Cruise’s film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson’s New York Times bestseller, The Devil in the White City about a real life serial killer at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition. Kathryn Bigelow is attached to the project to produce and helm. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World’s Fair, in which DiCaprio will star.

On August 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures announced it was ending its 14-year relationship with Tom Cruise. In the Wall Street Journal, chairman of Viacom (Paramount’s parent company) Sumner Redstone cited the economic damage to Tom Cruise’s value as an actor and producer from his controversial public behavior and views. Cruise/Wagner Productions responded that Paramount’s announcement was a face-saving move after the production company had successfully sought alternative financing from private equity firms. Industry analysts such as Edward Jay Epstein commented that the real reason for the split was most likely Paramount’s discontent over Cruise/Wagner’s exceptionally large share of DVD sales from the Mission: Impossible franchise. 

However, Radar has claimed that the “personal conduct” complained of by Redstone was an allegedly Cruise-inspired attempt to intimidate Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount. According to Radar, when Grey was walking to his car one night after tense negotiations with Cruise over Mission: Impossible 3, he was “surrounded by more than a dozen Scientologists, who pressured him to ease up on the actor … Following a terse exchange, the visitors allowed Grey to get into his car and leave, but the message was clear.” Grey reportedly stood his ground and convinced Cruise to accept a lower fee than the actor had initially demanded.

According to an Associated Press report on November 2, 2006, Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner announced that they will be in charge of the United Artists film studio. Cruise will produce and star in films for United Artists, while Wagner will serve as UA’s chief executive.

Production began in 2007 of Valkyrie, a thriller based on the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. The film was acquired in March 2007 by United Artists. On March 21, 2007 Cruise signed on to play Claus von Stauffenberg, the protagonist. This project marks the second production to be greenlighted since Cruise and Wagner took control of United Artists. The first was its inaugural film, Lions for Lambs, directed by Robert Redford and starring Redford, Meryl Streep and Cruise. Lambs was released on November 9, 2007, opening to unimpressive box office revenue and critical reception.

In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 movie stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.

In 2006, Premiere magazine established Cruise as Hollywood’s most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazines 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor. On 16 June 2006, Forbes magazine published ‘The Celebrity 100′, a list of the most powerful celebrities, which Cruise topped. The list was generated using a combination of income (between June 2005 and June 2006), web references by Google, press clips compiled by LexisNexis, television and radio mentions (by Factiva), and the number of times a celebrity appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.

As of August 2006, “a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an “unfavorable” opinion of the actor” was cited as a reason in addition to “unacceptable behavior” for Paramount’s non-renewal of their production contract with Cruise. In addition, Marketing Evaluations reports that Tom Cruise’s Q score (which is a measure of the popularity of celebrities), had fallen 40%. It was also revealed that Cruise is the celebrity people would least like as their best friend. Tom Cruise came bottom with just 3 percent, while the winner was ‘School of Rock’ star Jack Black.

Cruise was married to Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987; they divorced on February 4, 1990. Rogers is generally believed to have introduced Cruise to Scientology. Cruise met Nicole Kidman on the set of their film Days of Thunder. The couple married on December 24, 1990 and divorced on August 8, 2001. He and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella Jane (b. December 22, 1992) and Connor Antony (b. January 17, 1995). They separated when Kidman was three months pregnant, just before their tenth wedding anniversary; she later miscarried. Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz, the lead actress in his film Vanilla Sky. In March 2004, he announced that their relationship had ended in January.

In April 2005, Cruise began dating Katie Holmes, before announcing on 17 June 2005 that he had proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. She accepted his proposal, and the couple married in Bracciano, Italy on November 18, 2006.

On April 18, 2006 Katie gave birth to a baby girl named Suri at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Cruise stated that the name derives from the Hebrew word for “princess” or the Persian word meaning red rose. She is the first child for Holmes and third for Cruise, who (as previously mentioned) has two adopted children with Nicole Kidman.