Tom Cruise

Cruise was married to Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990, Nicole Kidman from 1990 to 2001, and Katie Holmes from 2006 to 2012. He and Kidman adopted Isabella and Connor, while his marriage to Holmes produced his daughter Suri.

Cruise became a prominent member of the Church of Scientology after being introduced to it by Rogers. He credited Scientology with helping his dyslexia and became an outspoken critic of psychiatry and modern medicine. In 2005, his public criticism of Brooke Shields's use of antidepressants led to a heated exchange with news anchor Matt Lauer, followed by an apology from Cruise.

Born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, Cruise is the only son of Mary Lee South, a special education teacher and amateur actor, and electrical engineer Thomas Cruise Mapother III. His family moved frequently during his childhood, and by age 14 he had attended 15 schools in the United States and Canada. His parents divorced when he was 11, after which he moved with his mother and sisters to Louisville, Kentucky, and later Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

Cruise enrolled in a Franciscan seminary at 14 with the intention of becoming a priest, but left after a year. At 16, a teacher encouraged him to join a production of Guys and Dolls. After winning the role of Nathan Detroit, he developed an interest in acting, left school, and moved to New York at 18 to pursue a film career. He made his debut in Endless Love in 1981 and also appeared in Taps and The Outsiders.

Cruise’s breakthrough came with Risky Business in 1983, in which he played a teenager who turns his parents’ home into a brothel. The film brought him widespread recognition, while his performance in Taps had been expanded after director Harold Becker recognized his potential.

Top Gun cemented Cruise’s status as an A-list star in 1986. He played U.S. Navy pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in the film, which became the highest-grossing movie of that year. He followed it with acclaimed performances in The Color of Money, opposite Paul Newman, Rain Man, opposite Dustin Hoffman, and Born on the Fourth of July, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination and won a Golden Globe for Best Actor. Newman later became a friend and introduced Cruise to racing through Newman’s team.

Cruise first played Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible in 1996 and also served as a producer. He went on to star in eight films in the franchise: Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible II, Mission: Impossible III, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation, Mission: Impossible: Fallout, Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, and Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning. He is known for performing many of his own dangerous stunts, including climbing the Burj Khalifa in Ghost Protocol and hanging from a flying biplane in The Final Reckoning.

Cruise also earned recognition for dramatic and comic roles. His performance as sports agent Jerry Maguire earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actor, while his supporting role in Magnolia brought another Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe. Other notable films include A Few Good Men, Eyes Wide Shut, Minority Report, Collateral, The Last Samurai, War of the Worlds, Tropic Thunder, Edge of Tomorrow, and American Made.

He reunited with his former wife Nicole Kidman for Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, released in 1999. Cruise returned to the role of Maverick in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, a sequel that became a major box-office success and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He also appeared in the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony, where he descended into the stadium by cable and carried the Olympic flag away on a motorcycle.