Tom Cruise

1. Date of Birth 3 July 1962, Syracuse, New York, USA,Birth Name Thomas Cruise Mapother IV,Height 5 7 (1.7 m) If you had told fourteen year old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be considered one of the top hundred movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to become a priest. None the less, this sensitive, deeply religious youngst .....

Synopsis

2. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, was born on July 3, 1962 in Syracuse, New York. Cruise became interested in acting when he won the lead in a high school production of Guys and Dolls. His role in 1981s Taps, his second film, caught critics attention, and he eventually went on to star in many box office hits. Cruise married his third wife, Katie Holmes, in 2006. That same year, the couple also had a daughter, Suri. In June 20 .....

Early Life

3. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, was born on July 3, 1962 in Syracuse, New York, to Mary and Thomas Mapother. Cruises mother was an amateur actress and schoolteacher, and his father was an electrical engineer. His family moved around a great deal when Cruise was a child in order to accommodate his fathers career.Cruises parents divorced when he was 11, and the children moved with their mother to Louisville, Kentucky, and the .....

Breaking into Acting

4. Cruise set a 10 year deadline for himself in which to build an acting career. He left school and moved to New York, struggling through audition after audition before landing an appearance in 1981s Endless Love, starring Brooke Shields. Around this same time, he snagged a small role in the military school drama Taps (1981), co starring Sean Penn.His role in Taps was upgraded after director Harold Becker saw Cruises potential. His performance caugh .....

A list Star

5. His next film, Risky Business (1983), grossed $65 million. It also made Cruise a highly recognizable actor thanks in no small part to a memorable scene of the young star dancing in his underwear.In 1986, after a two year hiatus, the budding actor released the big budget fantasy film Legend, which did poorly at the box office. That same year, however, Cruises A list status was confirmed with the release of Top Gun, which co starred Kelly McGillis, .....

Personal Life

6. Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers in 1987. It was through Rogers that the actor became a student of Scientology, the religion founded by writer L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise later credited the church with curing his dyslexia. But while Cruises spiritual life flourished, his marriage was quickly dissolving. Rogers and Cruise divorced in 1990.That same year, Cruise made the racecar drama Days of Thunder with Australian actress Nicole Kidman. Though the m .....

Hollywoods Leading Man

7. In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama, A Few Good Men. The film grossed more than $15 million its first weekend, and earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. Over the next several years, Cruise made several more well received movies, including The Firm (1993) and Interview with a Vampire (1994) co starring Brad Pitt.Next, Cruise h .....

Jumping the Couch

8. Over the next several years, Cruise and Kidman found themselves fiercely defending the happiness and legitimacy of their marriage. They filed two different lawsuits against tabloid publications for stories they considered libelous. In each case the couple received a published retraction and apology, along with a large monetary settlement which they donated to charity.On February 5th, 2001, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation after 11 yea .....

Recent Projects

9. Despite his professional setbacks, Cruise appeared in the Steven Spielberg directed remake of the science fiction classic, War of the Worlds (2005), later that year. The film grossed more than $230 million at the box office.His next effort, Mission Impossible 3 (2006), also scored well with audiences. However, Cruise was faced with a professional setback in August when Paramount Pictures ended its 14 year relationship with the actor. The company .....

Acting

10. Cruise first appeared in a small bit part in the 1981 film Endless Love, followed by a major supporting role as a crazed military school student in Taps later that year. In 1983, Cruise was part of the ensemble cast of The Outsiders. That same year he appeared in All the Right Moves and Risky Business, which has been described as A Generation X classic, and a career maker for Tom Cruise, and which, along with 1986s Top Gun, cemented his status as .....

Producing

11. Cruise partnered with his former talent agent Paula Wagner to form Cruise Wagner Productions in 1993,and the company has since co produced several of Cruises films, the first being Mission Impossible in 1996 which was also Cruises first project as a producer.Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative film deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as one of the most powerful and .....

Breakup with Paramount

12. On August 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures announced it was ending its 14 year relationship with Cruise. In the Wall Street Journal, chairman of Viacom (Paramounts parent company) Sumner Redstone cited the economic damage to Cruises value as an actor and producer from his controversial public behavior and views.Cruise Wagner Productions responded that Paramounts announcement was a face saving move after the production company had successfully sought .....

Management of United Artists

13. In November 2006, Cruise and Paula Wagner announced that they had taken over United Artists film studio.Cruise acts as a producer and star in films for United Artists, while Wagner serves as UAs chief executive. Production began in 2007 of Valkyrie, a thriller based on the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. The film was acquired in March 2007 by United Artists. On March 21, 2007 Cruise signed on to play Claus von Stauffenbe .....

Relationships and personal life

14. Cruise has been married three times and has three children (two adopted and one biological).Cruise had a relationship with Risky Business co star Rebecca De Mornay from 1983 to 1985.Singer and actress Cher says that she dated Cruise in 1985.Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987. The marriage lasted two years, and their divorce was finalized on February 4, 1990. Rogers introduced Cruise to Scientology.Cruise met his second wife, actres .....

Popularity

15. In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 film stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.In 2006, Premiere ranked Cruise as Hollywoods most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magaz .....

Litigation

16. During Cruises marriage to Nicole Kidman, the couple endured public speculation about their sex life and rumors that Cruise was gay. In 1998, he successfully sued the Daily Express, a British tabloid which alleged that his marriage to Kidman was a sham designed to cover up his homosexuality.[81] In May 2001 he filed a lawsuit against gay porn actor Chad Slater. Slater had allegedly told the celebrity magazine Actustar that he had had an affair wi .....

Scientology

17. Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology and its associated social programs. He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers.He has said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Study Tech, helped him overcome dyslexia.In addition to promoting various programs that introduce people to Scientology, Cruise has campaigned for Scientology to be recognized as a religion in Europe. In 2005, .....

Wedding Bells

18. In a ceremony so secret even his publicist is left in the dark, Cruise marries girlfriend of a year and a half Mimi Rogers in a Unitarian ceremony in upstate New York. The actors close friend Emilio Estevez is the best man. In January 1990, Cruise and Rogers call it quits. .....

Working with Oliver

19. Oliver Stones Born on the Fourth of July, in which Cruise plays Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, opens. It earns Cruise his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Around this time, Cruise joins the Church of Scientology. He later credits Scientology with helping him overcome dyslexia. .....

Acting Duo

20. Cruise and Kidman hit the big screen together in Far and Away, but the movie is far from a blockbuster. The flop cost more than $45 million, but grosses only $50 million. Still, the couple return onscreen as husband and wife in director Stanley Kubricks final film Eyes Wide Shut. Reflecting on the relationship between the famous pair and Kubrick, who died in March prior to the films July 16, 1999 release, producer Jan Harlan told PEOPLE, They and .....

A Growing Family

21. The couple adopt their first child, 2 month old Isabella Jane. In February 1995, the couple will adopt a second baby, 2 week old Connor Antony. Of her growing family, Mrs. Cruise gushes to PEOPLE, Its your kids who bring you the most joy. .....