Tom Cruise : Biography

In
1976, if you had told 14 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 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned
and told you that his ambition was to become a priest. Nonetheless, this
sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in 1962 in Syracuse,
New York, was destined to become Tom Cruise, one of the highest paid and
most sought after actors in screen history. The only son (among four children)
of nomadic parents young Tom spent his boyhood eternally on the move and
by the time he was 14 he had attended 15 different schools in the US and
Canada. He finally settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, with his mother
and her new husband. While in high school, he developed an interest in
acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, dropped out of school,
and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next
15 years of his life are the stuff of legends.
Tom Cruise : Career

He made his
film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset
exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences.
Though below average height and not particularly handsome in the traditional
sense, within 5 years Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top grossing
films of the 1980s including Top Gun (1986); The Color of Money (1986),
Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). By the 1990s he
was one of the highest paid actors in the world earning an average 15
million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as _Interview with
the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)_ , Mission: Impossible (1996)
and Jerry Maguire (1996) for which he received an Academy Award Nomination
for best actor. In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced
The Church Of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured
him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughful
man well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of
the best liked members of the movie community. He was married to actress
Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a
long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth.
Tom Cruise : Films

Mission: Impossible
III (2006), War of the Worlds (2005), Collateral (2004), The Last Samurai
(2003), Minority Report (2002), Space Station (2002), America: A Tribute
to Heroes (2001), Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001), Vanilla
Sky (2001), Mission: Impossible II (2000), The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick
& "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Magnolia (1999), Mission:
Impossible (1996), Jerry Maguire (1996), Interview With the Vampire (1994),
The Firm (1993), Time Out: The Truth About HIV, AIDS and You (1992), A
Few Good Men (1992), Far and Away (1992), Days of Thunder (1990), Born
on the Fourth of July (1989), Rain Man (1988), Cocktail (1988), The Color
of Money (1986), Top Gun (1986), Legend (1985), All the Right Moves (1983),
Risky Business (1983), The Outsiders (1983), Losin' It (1982), Endless
Love (1981), Taps (1981)