Tom Cruise is a global cultural icon who has made immeasurable impact on cinema by creating some of the most thrilling and memorable characters of all time. Having gained extraordinary success as an actor, producer, and philanthropist in a career spanning over five decades, Cruise is a three-time Oscar nominee whose films have garnered close to $13 billion in worldwide box office- an incomparable achievement.
Since his debut in the 1981 romantic drama Endless Love, Cruise has appeared in over 40 feature films. Of these, more than 20 movies have grossed over $200 million worldwide, showcasing Cruise’s credentials as one of the biggest movie stars in the history of modern cinema.
He also has three Golden Globe Awards under his belt in the course of his illustrious career, for performances in the movies Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Jerry Maguire (1996), and Magnolia (1999).
Interestingly, most movie lovers are best familiar with the actor’s iconic portrayal of IMF agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise (1996-present), which has so far produced six movies that have earned over $3 billion in total.
Early Life
Born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse, New York, Cruise is the son of Mary Lee, a special education teachers, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. Cruise together with his three sisters, Lee Anne, Marian, and Cass, was raised in a typical Catholic family.
Up until the fifth grade, Cruise studied at the Robert Hopkins Public School, which was where he was first exposed to acting and performing arts. Cruise excelled at sports in his youth, and he considered pursuing a career in professional wrestling- until a devastating surgery sidelined him during high school. He then spent a year in a Franciscan seminary to become a Catholic priest.
Personal Life
Tom Cruise’s first publicized relationship was in the mid-1980s with Rebecca De Mornay. His next significant relationship was with Patti Scialfa, the widely popular singer-songwriter. Cruise married his first wife Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987 and divorced three years later, on February 4, 1990.
He adopted two children, Isabella and Connor Antony, with his second wife Nicole Kidman, whom he married in December 1990. After living together for more than a decade, the couple filed for divorce in 2001.
Tom Cruise proceeded on to dating actress Katie Holmes, whom he married on November 18th 2006. They had their first daughter (Suri) in April 2006. In June 2012, Holmes filed for divorce. Eventually, the couple signed the divorce settlement in July, ending their five-and-a-half-year-old marriage.
Movie Career
Upon graduation, Tom Cruise moved to New York City and set an ambitious goals, giving himself 10 years to build a successful acting career. He landed small parts in two 1981 films: Endless Love and Taps (1981). In 1983, he continued his rise with a supporting turn in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, joining a cast of fellow up-and-comers like Partick Swayze and Rob Lowe.
It was his next film that turned out to be a real breakthrough, Risky Business (1983) grossed $65 million and became one of the most profitable movies of the year. Just a few years later, Top Gun was the highest-grossing film of 1986, and Cruise was firmly on Hollywood’s A-list.
Other movies he starred in include; Jack Reacher (2012), Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016), The Mummy (2017), and Top Gun (Maverick).Now in his 60s and currently starring in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, Cruise shows no signs of slowing down.
When it comes down to numbers, Tom Cruise clearly takes the lead with his whopping fortune of $600 million. With a combination of daring stunts, smart business plays, and relentless work ethic, Cruise has built a fortune that’s hard to beat.
