Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise is an American actor and producer who became one of the biggest movie stars of the 1980s and has remained a major Hollywood leading man for more than four decades. Born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, Cruise began acting professionally in the early 1980s. After early film appearances in Endless Love and Taps, his breakthrough came with 1983's Risky Business, which helped establish him as one of Hollywood's rising young stars. His career moved to another level with Top Gun in 1986, in which he played naval aviator Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. The film became one of the decade's defining blockbusters and turned Cruise into an international star. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Cruise balanced major commercial films with acclaimed dramatic performances. His credits included The Colour of Money, Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, The Firm, Interview with the Vampire, Jerry Maguire, Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia. In 1996, Cruise first appeared as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible. The role became one of his most famous, and Cruise became increasingly known for performing ambitious practical stunts himself as the franchise continued. Other notable films include Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Collateral, War of the Worlds, Tropic Thunder, Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow. Cruise returned to one of his most iconic roles more than three decades later for Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. The long-awaited sequel became a huge international success and introduced Maverick to another generation of moviegoers. Across a career spanning the VHS era to modern blockbuster cinema, Tom Cruise has become one of Hollywood's most recognisable stars, particularly known for action films, practical filmmaking, and large-scale theatrical releases.