Tom Cruise facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tom Cruise
|
|
|---|---|
Cruise at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con
|
|
| Born |
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
July 3, 1962 Syracuse, New York, U.S.
|
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 1980–present |
|
Works
|
Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | William Mapother (cousin) |
| Awards | Full list |
| Signature | |
 |
|
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and producer. He is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time.
Cruise received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards.
Contents
Early life and education
Cruise was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York. His father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III (1934–1984), was an electrical engineer. His mother, Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer; 1936–2017), worked as a special education teacher. Cruise has three sisters named Lee Anne, Marian, and Cass. Cruise described his father as "a merchant of chaos", a "bully", and a "coward" who beat his children.
Cruise spent part of his childhood in Canada when his family moved to Beacon Hill, Ottawa in late 1971. He attended the new Robert Hopkins Public School for his fourth and fifth grade education.
In sixth grade, Cruise went to Henry Munro Middle School in Ottawa. That year, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sisters back to the United States. In 1978, she married Jack South. Cruise briefly took a Catholic church scholarship and attended the St. Francis Seminary in Cincinnati; he aspired to become a Franciscan priest before leaving after a year. Priests at the seminary have said Cruise chose to leave the school when his family relocated again. In 1980, he graduated from Glen Ridge High School in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Acting career
At age 18, with the blessing of his mother and stepfather, Cruise moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. After working as a busboy in New York, he went to Los Angeles to try out for television roles. He signed with CAA and began acting in films. He made his breakthrough with leading roles in Risky Business (1983) and Top Gun (1986). Critical acclaim came with his roles in the dramas The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). For his portrayal of Ron Kovic in the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. As a leading Hollywood star in the 1990s, he starred in commercially successful films, including the drama A Few Good Men (1992), the thriller The Firm (1993), the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), and the romance Jerry Maguire (1996). For the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Cruise's performance in the drama Magnolia (1999) earned him another Golden Globe Award and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Cruise subsequently established himself as a star of science fiction and action films, often performing his own risky stunts. He has played fictional agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible film series since 1996. His other films in the genre include Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Knight and Day (2010), Jack Reacher (2012), Oblivion (2013), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). He made his directorial debut in 1993 with an episode of the anthology television series Fallen Angels.
In February 2024, it was announced that Cruise would star in a new film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. This is set to be his first film at Warner Bros. Pictures in 10 years.
_(cropped).jpg)
Acting credits and accolades
In 2006, Premiere ranked Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazine's 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor.
Personal life
Cruise splits his time between homes in Beverly Hills, California; Clearwater, Florida; and the South of England, where Cruise has lived in various places such as Central London, Dulwich, East Grinstead, and Biggin Hill. In the early-to-mid-1980s, Cruise had relationships with Melissa Gilbert, Rebecca De Mornay, Patti Scialfa, and Cher.
Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987. They divorced on February 4, 1990. Rogers received a $4 million divorce settlement.
Cruise met his second wife, actress Nicole Kidman, on the set of their film Days of Thunder (1990). The couple married on December 24, 1990. They adopted two children: Isabella Jane (born 1992) and Connor Antony (born 1995). On February 5, 2001, the couple's spokesperson announced their separation. Cruise filed for divorce two days later, and their marriage was dissolved later that year, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences.
Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz, his co-star in Vanilla Sky (2001). Their three-year relationship ended in 2004.
In April 2005, Cruise began dating actress Katie Holmes. On April 27 that year, Cruise and Holmes—dubbed TomKat by the media—made their first public appearance together in Rome. A month later, Cruise publicly declared his love for Holmes on The Oprah Winfrey Show. On October 6, 2005, Cruise and Holmes announced they were expecting a child. In April 2006, their daughter Suri was born.
On November 18, Holmes and Cruise were married at the 15th-century castle Castello Orsini-Odescalchi in Bracciano, in a Scientologist ceremony attended by many Hollywood stars. On June 29, 2012, Holmes filed for divorce from Cruise. On July 9, the couple signed a divorce settlement worked out by their lawyers.
Interesting facts about Tom Cruise
- Cruise grew up in near poverty and had a Catholic upbringing.
- As a teenager, he attended fifteen schools in fourteen years.
- In May 2021, Cruise protested against the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) by returning all three of his Golden Globe Awards in light of controversy surrounding the HFPA, particularly its lack of diversity.
- Cruise holds the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive $100-million-grossing movies.
- Forbes ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006.
- In 2024, Cruise appeared in the Paris 2024 Olympics closing ceremony to promote Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics, by jumping from the roof of the Stade de France stadium in Paris. He took the flag from Mayor Karen Bass and athlete Simone Biles.
- Cruise is an aerobatic pilot and was inducted as part of the Living Legends of Aviation in 2010, receiving the Aviation Inspiration and Patriotism Award from the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy.
Tom Cruise quotes
- "In this life, it's not what you hope for, it's not what you deserve - it's what you take!"
- "Perception and reality are two different things."
- "No dream is ever just a dream."
- "I'm passionate about learning. I'm passionate about life."
See also
In Spanish: Tom Cruise para niños
- Miles Fisher, American actor and notable Cruise impersonator
- Supercouple
