Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is a famous American actor. He started his career in Hollywood in the early 80’s, appearing first in the movie Risky Business in 1983 and Top Gun in 1986. Fast forward to today, and Tom Cruise is one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood and has received many awards.
As of 2020 Tom Cruise net worth is estimated around $570 million. Cruise is considered a synonym of movie success as his movies often reach total earnings in billions at the Box office. See below his career journey and how he built on his success.
Walk Through the Article
Early Life And Education
Tom Cruise was born on 3 July 1962 in Syracuse, New York, USA. His mother was a special education teacher and his father an electrical engineer. Cruise has three sisters. The family moved to Ottawa, Canada in 1971 due to his father’s work in the Canadian Armed Forces. Few years later his mother left his father and moved back to USA.
Cruise changed many schools in Canada and USA and eventually graduated in 1980 from Glen Ridge High school in New Jersey. He was part of the drama team during his educational years, but he also took a church scholarship, wanting to be a priest.
Tom Cruise Career
Tom Cruise took the decision to go into acting at the age of 18 when he moved to New York City. He made his debut in Endless Love in 1981 followed by other supporting roles in a number of movies. His breakthrough however came with a leading role in the teen sex comedy, Risky Business in 1983, then in the action drama Top Gun in 1986. These two movies shot him to limelight and accelerated his success as he got more lead roles in more movies.
Cruise featured in The color of money alongside Paul Newman, then in Rain Man in 1988 which won the Oscar for Best Film. He received many awards and his first nomination for Best Actor at the Oscars was for the movie Born on the Fourth of July. Cruise has also co-starred with Nicole Kidman, who he married and is now his ex-wife, in a few movies such as Days of Thunder, Far and Away, and Eyes Wide Shut.
In 1996, Cruise played in Jerry Maguire and earned his second Oscar Nomination including a Golden Globe Award. His third nomination for the award was in 1999 for his role in Magnolia for which he received another Golden Globe Award.
In the 2001 romantic thriller Vanilla Sky, Cruise played alongside Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz. Cruise and Diaz co-starred once again in the comedy action movie Knight and Day in 2010. Few years later he starred in two movie adaptations of novels: Jack Reacher (books avilable on Amazon) adaptated from One Shot, and Oblivion adapted from the novel by the same title. Both met positive reviews.
Although many of Cruise’s movies were a success, the horror movie, The Mummy (2017) received negative reviews and was a total failure at the Box office. This seems to contradict somehow with the market research, CinemaScore CEO’s opinion that Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio are the two key actors for a movie success however bad the movie could be.
Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick
This is an action movie in which Tom Cruise reprises his breakthrough role as Maverick in Top Gun (1986). Lt. Pete “Maverick” is now back on the big screen as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. He is a flight instructor and a test pilot in the movie.
Cruise and Val Kilmer are major characters from the original cast in 1986. They play alongside Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris and others. The movie is directed by Joseph Kosinski and is expected to be released at the end of 2020 by Paramount Pictures.
The story has Tom Cruise back as Maverick facing some of the demons of his past as he trains a new group of fighter pilots for a mission that no higher pilot has ever faced before. Maverick although has not changed over the years while the world has moved on, he has to confront some of the realities of his life and his decisions over the years.
Tom Cruise’s Production Company
Tom Cruise and the talent agent, Paula Wagner formed a production company in 1993. Besides the movies from the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, it has produced Without Limits (1998), The Others, Vanila Sky (2001), etc.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible
The movie was released in 1996 as an action spy movie with Tom Cruise in the main role, directed by Brian De Palma and produced by Cruise himself. Mission: Impossible 2 followed in 2000, directed by John Woo and produced by Cruise. Six years later, he reprised the role in the third part of the franchise directed by J. J. Abrams and Cruise is signed as producer once again.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was released in 2011 directed by Brad Bird. The actor produced the fifth installment of the movie Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), directed by Christopher McQuarrie. He directed also the last one Mission: Impossible – Fallout in 2018. There is no doubt that all the movies from the franchise were a major successes, not only at the Box office but also received positive reviews by critics. The firm announces the seventh installment to arrive by 2021.
Personal Life
Tom Cruise has married and divorced three times. He has three children. Before then, his relationships were with older women. He dated Cher, Patti Scialfa, and Rebecca De Mornay.
In 1987, Cruise married the actress Mimi Rogers, but the marriage lasted only three years. It is believed that she introduced him to Scientology. He met his second wife, actress Nicole Kidman, while filming the movie Days of Thunder in 1990. The couple adopted two children. After 11 years, they decided to separate and Cruise filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences.
He then started to date actress Katie Holmes in 2005. One year later, their daughter, Suri was born and the couple married. In 2012 Holmes filed for divorce.
Since Cruise is a strong member of Scientology there are beliefs that his relationships were arranged by the church. In addition to that, the head of Scientology, David Miscavige was Cruise’s best man at the last wedding ceremony with Holmes. No official relationship has been confirmed after his last divorce. Cruise keeps his romantic life private for now.
There were rumors that Cruise is gay, but he strongly denied them, even filed a suit on a few occasions. Cruise is a strong member of the Scientology Church, which helped him to overcome dyslexia. However there were speculation that the organization determined his relationships with women and his children.
Tom Cruise Height and Weight
Tom Cruise Height is 170 cm or 5′ 7”. His weight which changes depending on what role he’s taking on, is approx 68 kg or 150 lbs
Awards
Although Tom Cruise earned a Razzie Award as Worst Actor for the movie The Mummy, he nonetheless is a successful actor who has been decorated with numerous awards. So far, he has received three Golden Globe Awards, three MTV awards, three Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, critics choice movie awards, and many others. He has yet to win an Oscar though.
Charity
Cruise is a dedicated philanthropist for which he received a humanitarian award in 2011 from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Museum of Tolerance. Two years ago, he received “Pioneer of the year” Award at an event in Las Vegas which raised $1.5 million for the Pioneers Assistance Fund. He was the first actor honored to receive this award ever because of his service, commitment to philanthropy, and professional leadership.
In 2016, Cruise raised money for the Children’s Charity of Eastern Tennessee. He was also a Board Member for the Hollywood Education and Literacy Project that helped children with dyslexia on how to read. Tom Cruise is the biggest donor to the Church of Scientology for which he received an award also.
Tom Cruise and Scientology
As a devoted member of the Church of Scientology, Cruise donates money to this organization. There are always speculations that his relationships with his children, as well as his failed marriages were under the scientology influence. The two adopted children with Nicole Kidman were raised as scientologists, so after the divorce, as she never became their member, there were rumors that the church worked to estrange them from the mother.
As for Cruise’s third marriage, there were also speculations that the Scientology arranged it, but as Holmes wasn’t dedicated to the organization, she filed for divorce to protect her daughter, Suri from the influence. Rumour also has it that the scientology’s leaders more likely estranged him from his daughter as she was no longer a practicing member of the church.
