Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise was born on July 3, 1962 in Syracuse, New York. After abandoning plans of becoming a Catholic priest, he dropped out of school and went to New York to begin his acting career. His film debut was a small role in 1981’s Endless Love, but it was box office stardom from there, including the 80’s box office hits Risky Business (1983), Top Gun (1986), Rain Man (1988), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). In the 1990’s he starred with then-wife Nicole Kidman in Days of Thunder (1990) and Far and Away (1992), the vampire ensemble based on Anne Rice’s books Interview with a Vampire (1994), and the title role in Jerry Maguire (1996).

Cruise also produced and starred as the lead role in the Mission Impossible reboot, a franchise that continues to this day. At the turn of the century he starred in several commercial and critical hits including Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005). In 2012 he starred as Jack Reacher, launching another action thriller franchise. He is one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, and his films have grossed over $8 billion worldwide.