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Tom Cruise, (b. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV July 3, 1962, Syracuse, New York) is a popular American actor and producer. He is one of the biggest names in Hollywood and one of the world's most famous and successful actors. Cruise is a guaranteed big box office draw who has had six consecutive films exceed the $100 million mark. He is one of the most powerful forces in Hollywood and has negotiated some of the industry's most profitable deals.
Early Life
Cruise was born to Mary Lee Pfeiffer and Thomas Cruise Mapother III. His father was an electrical engineer whose job with General Electric took the family all over the country. They lived in New Jersey, Ottawa, Missouri and Louisville. Cruise was the third of four children and the only boy. Cruise's parents divorced when he was eleven years old and his relationship with his father fell apart. In a 2006 Parade Magazine Interview, he referred to his father as a "Bully and a Coward".
Mary Lee and the children moved to Kentucky and his mother struggled to make ends meet. They lived with his Aunt until they could get a home of their own. Tom struggled in school. He had difficulty reading and a school psychiatrist diagnosed dyslexia. Later, Tom took a scholarship at the St. Francis Seminary in Cincinnati studying for Catholic priesthood.
By age 12, Cruise dropped the last name of Mapother. When he was fourteen, his mother remarried and the family moved yet again. They eventually settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey and Cruise attended Glen Ridge High School. He joined the wrestling team but a knee injury put him out of action. He auditioned for a role in the school production of Guys and Dolls. The experience led him to a career in acting.
Career
At 18, Cruise moved to New York to pursue acting. He worked as a bus boy and a porter while auditioning for roles in commercials. Casting directors criticized him as being too intense and obsessed with success.
Cruise signed with Creative Artists and in 1981, he won a small role in Endless Love which also starred Brooke Shields and a just starting out James Spader. The film was not a success but he got the opportunity to audition for the film Taps. He played Cadet Captain David Shawn. It was a bigger role and a modestly successful film. He appeared in The Outsiders alongside Patrick Swayze and Losin' It a comedy about four teens trying to lose their virginity in Tijuana.
Cruise's break out role came in 1983's Risky Business. He played a New Jersey teen who ends up running a prostitution den out of his home while his parents are away. The film had an iconic scene of Cruise singing in his underwear.
Cruise's career picked up speed. Following Risky Business, he appeared in All the Right Moves and Ridley Scott's fantasy film Legend with Tim Curry. In 1986 Cruise starred in Top Gun with Val Kilmer and Kelly McGillis. The film was a blockbuster hit and cemented Cruise as a star. He followed up with The Color of Money, and Cocktail. His costar in The Color of Money, Paul Newman won an Oscar for his role.
In 1988, Cruise starred in Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman. The film was a critical success and Hoffman won an Oscar playing Cruise's character's autistic brother. His follow up, Born on the Fourth of July earned Cruise an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe.
The early 90s brought roles in Days of Thunder opposite Nicole Kidman and the less successful Far and Away also with Kidman. 1992's A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore, earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. He followed up with another successful film, the legal thriller, The Firm.
Cruise returned to Scifi fantasy genre in 1994 with a film based on Anne Rice's novel, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. He played the vampire, Lestat opposite Brad Pitt. in 1996, he took on the big screen version of the TV series Mission: Impossible. The film was a huge success and has thus far spawned two sequels.
1996 brought Jerry Maguire, a romantic film in which Cruise took on the title role. Cruise was nominated for best actor but once again, his costar, this time Cuba Gooding Jr., took home the Academy Award. Cruise broke his blockbuster movie streak starring in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut with wife Nicole Kidman. He also took a small role in Magnolia earning yet another Oscar nomination.
In 2000, he starred in Mission: Impossible II and followed up with Vanilla Sky and the scifi thriller, Minority Report based on a novel by Phillip K. Dick. In 2003, Cruise starred in the The Last Samurai and followed up with 2004's Collateral. After playing a hero for several years Collateral marked Cruise's first role as a villain. He played a sociopathic assassin, Vincent, opposite Jamie Foxx. In 2005, Cruise starred in the remake of the War of the Worlds. He followed up with Mission: Impossible III. Many critics believe Cruise's highly publicized relationship with actress Katie Holmes affected the profits on his last two films. Despite this, War of the Worlds was a huge success while MI:III exceeded the 100 million mark but without surpassing the previous Mission Impossible films.
In 2007, Cruise took on the role of Senator Jasper Irving in the drama Lions for Lambs directed by Robert Redford. He will also appear as a Nazi officer, Sol Claus von Stauffenberg in the WWII thriller, Valkyrie directed by Bryan Singer and is slated to appear in Hardy Men in 2009.
Producing
In addition to his on screen roles, Cruise has served as producer on several films via his production company Cruise/Wagner Productions formed with producer Paula Wagner. Their first production was Mission Impossible. Other productions include The Others, Vanilla Sky, The Last Samurai, Suspect Zero, and both Mission Impossible sequels.
Upcoming productions include War Magician, The Eye, I Married a Witch and Deathrace and The Winter Hill Gang.
In 2006, Sumner Redstone, of Viacom — Paramount Pictures' parent company — announced the shocking end to their fourteen year business relationship with Cruise/Wagner Productions. Redstone cited Cruise's controversial public conduct for the decision. Redstone claimed Cruise's behavior was responsible for reduced profits from Mission Impossible III.
Some analysts of the situation believe the split was more likely related to financial matters. Cruise's lucrative deal with Paramount paid cruise up to $10 million a year for film development and the operation of his office on the Paramount lot. According to the Los Angeles Times, renegotiations of the deal had Paramount offering significantly less.
Wagner stated her disapproval of Redstone's decision to publicize their negotiations and said she and Cruise had previously considered independent financing for their company. On November 2, 2006 Cruise and Wagner announced they would be taking over United Artists studio. Wagner will serve as chief executive.
Personal Life
In 1987, Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers whom he met in Georgia at Paul Newman's Road Racing Classic Show. He had previously dated Cher, and Melissa Gilbert. The couple divorced in 1990 after three years together.
In 1990, Cruise met Nicole Kidman on the set of Days of Thunder. They married on December 24, 1990 and adopted two children, Isabella and Connor. In 2001, shortly before their tenth anniversary, Kidman and Cruise stunned the world with their separation. Kidman was three months pregnant; she later miscarried. Their divorce became final on August 8, 2001.
Cruise moved on and became involved with Spanish actress, Penelope Cruz with whom he starred in Vanilla Sky. Their relationship ended in March, 2005.
In April, 2005, Cruise stunned the world when he began dating the much younger Katie Holmes. He professed his love for her on a May 23 episode of the Oprah Winfrey show, jumping on the couch. It was the beginning of a series of public displays of affection for the couple and the beginning of significant controversy for Cruise.
Cruise announced that he asked Katie to marry him at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and not long after, announced they were expecting their first child together, Cruise's first biological child. Katie gave birth to their daughter, Suri, on April 18, 2006 in silent birth as dictated by the couple's religion of Scientology to which Katie had recently converted.
In recent years, Cruise has become the most outspoken and well known member of Scientology. His devotion to the religion some call a cult went unremarked for several years but when Cruise publicly criticized actress Brooke Shield's use of antidepressants to overcome postpartum depression, his opinions and religious beliefs drew enormous attention. In an interview with Matt Lauer, Cruise claimed psychiatry was pseudoscience and called Shields irresponsible for recommending the use of antidepressants.
Cruise later apologized to Shields but his vocal defense of Scientology, combined with multiple and highly unusually affectionate displays with Katie Holmes altered his image and public opinion. "Jumping the couch" as he did on Oprah, became synonymous with being crazed and publicly losing one's mind.
Cruise and Holmes, known in the gossip columns as TomKat, set a wedding date in late 2006. They wed on November 18, 2006 in Italy.
External Links
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