Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and producer. He started his career at age 19 in the film Endless Love (1981), before making his breakthrough in the comedy Risky Business (1983) and receiving widespread attention for starring in the action drama Top Gun (1986) as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. After starring in The Color of Money (1986) and Cocktail (1988), Cruise starred opposite Dustin Hoffman in the Academy Award for Best Picture-winning drama Rain Man. For his role as anti-war activist Ron Kovic in the drama Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Cruise received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and his first Academy Award for Best Actor nomination.
In the 1990s, Cruise starred with Jack Nicholson in the legal drama A Few Good Men (1992) and starred in a number of box office hits including The Firm (1993) and Interview with the Vampire (1994), before starring as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in the action spy thriller Mission: Impossible (1996), the first of a commercially successful six-film series. In 1996, Cruise also starred as the title character in the romantic comedy-drama Jerry Maguire, earning him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and his second Academy Award nomination. In 1999, Cruise starred in the erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut opposite his then wife Nicole Kidman and also appeared in the ensemble drama Magnolia, for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
After receiving a Saturn Award for Best Actor for his performance in the psychological thriller Vanilla Sky (2001), Cruise collaborated with director Steven Spielberg on the science fiction thrillers Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005). In 2008, he gave a supporting performance in the action comedy Tropic Thunder and starred in the historical thriller Valkyrie as Claus von Stauffenberg. In 2012, Cruise played the eponymous role in the thriller Jack Reacher. Cruise's films have grossed more than $3.7 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices and more than $9.0 billion worldwide,[1] making him the eighth highest-grossing actor in North America and one of the top-grossing actors worldwide.[2]
Cruise has been married three times, to actresses Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, Katie Holmes, and has three children, two of which were adopted during his marriage to Kidman and the other a biological daughter with Holmes. Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology and its associated social programs, and credits it with helping him overcome dyslexia. In the 2000s, his Church-affiliated criticisms of psychiatry and anti-depressant drugs, particularly for 9/11 rescue workers, and his efforts to promote Scientology as a religion in Europe sparked controversies, as did a leaked video interview of him promoting Scientology.
