Tom Cruise

Tom is the only son (of four children) of nomadic parents, Mary Lee (Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. His parents were from Louisville, Kentucky, and he has German, Irish and English ancestry. Young Tom spent his childhood always on the move, and by the time he was 14 years old he had attended 15 different schools in the United States and Canada. He eventually settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, Tom wanted to become a priest, but he soon developed an interest in acting, abandoned his plans for the priesthood, dropped out of school and, at the age of 18, headed to New York for a possible career as an actor. The next 15 years of his life are the stuff of legend. He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the start showed an undeniable box office appeal for both male and female audiences.

With a classic movie-star look and a charismatic smile, over a span of 5 years, Tom Cruise starred in some of the biggest box office hits of the 1980s, including Top Gun (1986), The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). In the 1990s, he was one of the highest-paid actors in the world, earning an average of $15 million per film with blockbusters such as Interview with the Vampire (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. The biggest franchise of Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible, has also grossed a total of $3 billion worldwide. Tom Cruise has also shown strong interest in producing, with his biggest credit as a producer being the Mission: Impossible franchise.

In 1990, he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced the Church of Scientology, claiming its teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had tormented him all his life. A kind and thoughtful man, well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the most beloved members of the film community. He was married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has come a long way from the lonely journey of his youth to become one of the greatest movie stars in history.