Tom Cruise

Born as Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in 1962, Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise has come a long way from his humble beginnings. Who doesn't remember the crazy kid in Risky Business who danced around in a white dress shirt and his underwear or the hot shot pilot from Top Gun?

Mission Impossible III New York Premiere

The Early Years

Tom Cruise was born to an electronics engineer father and a teacher mother. He was raised as the only brother to three sisters. The family moved often, which meant Cruise was accustomed to the role of new kid on the block who had to work hard to fit in or face the wrath of bullies. In fact, he had attended 15 schools by the time he graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey.

When he was 11, his mother and father divorced. For the next few years, they lived on the verge of poverty as his mother struggled to make ends meet on a teacher's salary. Eventually she remarried and the family's nomadic existence ended.

After his parents divorced Tom became estranged from his father, whom Cruise later characterized in a Parade magazine article as antisocial, inconsistent, and unpredictable. Even when his father lay dying from cancer, reports stated Cruise continued to exhibit signs of not forgiving his father for the atrocities of his childhood.

Cruise's Career

Cruise's acting career began in high school when a wrestling injury limited his ability to participate in athletics. He acted in the school's production of Guys and Dolls and later in Godspell.

After high school Tom Cruise moved to New York and then Los Angeles in the search for acting work, supporting himself by taking jobs in restaurants and as a porter while attending drama classes. His first real break came in Endless Love, which starred Brooke Shield, but he didn't earn any real recognition until he played Cadet Dick Shawn in Taps (1981).

From there, his fame quickly accumulated into superstardom. He has appeared in more than 30 television and film roles, produced several shows and movies, including Vanilla Sky, the Mission Impossible trilogy, The Last Samurai, and Elizabethtown. In 1993 he directed an episode of Fallen Angels, and in 1990 he received a writing credit for Days of Thunder in which he also starred.

Tom Cruise and Women

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes

Tom Cruise's boy-next-door good looks and charismatic smile has made him a favorite with celebrity women. His name has been linked with such actresses as:

• Mimi Rogers (married 1987-1990)
• Cher
• Melissa Gilbert
• Nicole Kidman (married 1990-2001)
• Penelope Cruz
• Katie Holmes (wedding set for July 7, 2006)

He has two adopted children with Nicole Kidman and a daughter (Suri born April 18, 2006) with Katie Holmes.

Radical

In recent months, Tom Cruise has gained a lot of notoriety for his strong support of Scientology. It has even been rumored that his relationships with Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman ended because of his religious beliefs, and his impeding marriage to Katie Holmes has been influenced by her decision to join Scientology. He has also publicly expressed his disbelief in ADD, postpartum depression, and the use of medications to correct chemical imbalances. These strong opinions have opened him to ridicule by many of his contemporaries and fans, leading many to wonder if his consistently high box office draws will continue or if he is on a downward swing to one amazing career.

Tom Cruise Trivia

Cruise at Collateral World Premiere

• Ranked first on the Forbes list of Top 100 Celebrities in 2006.
• Claims Scientology has cured his lifelong battle with dyslexia.
• Cruise was considered for the role of Neo in Matrix.
• Ranked in the top 50 greatest movies stars of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
• Tom Cruise has vehemently fought the tabloids for printing stories that he felt were defamatory in nature and donated the court case proceeds to charity.

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