He is an adrenaline junkie, scientologist, Hollywood cash cow. He is associated with a shining Hollywood smile, and one very popular spy tune. He earned tens of millions of dollars from his films, and became one of the 100 most important actors of all time. What were the craziest tricks he performed on his own on the set? Why did Steven Spielberg refuse to work with him? And why was Nicole Kidman so happy to divorce him? This is the Biographer Article, and today we are going to tell you about the charming Tom Cruise's life path, his best roles, his love of extreme sports and how his passion for scientology influenced his romantic relationships. Childhood and adulthood The full name of this American actor sounds like Thomas Cruise Mapother IV.
Tom Cruise was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, on the
eve of Independence Day and became the second of four children in the family.
His parents, electrical engineer Thomas Cruise Mapother III and special
education teacher Mary Lee were from Louisville, Kentucky and had English,
German and Irish descent. Cruise grew up almost in poverty and received a
catholic upbringing. He later characterized his father as a "chaos
merchant", a "bully" and a "coward" who beat his
children. He remembered: “My father was the kind of person where, if something
goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life—how he'd lull you
in, make you feel safe and then, bang!” For the future actor, it was like,
"There's something wrong with this guy." He understood that it was
not worth trusting him, you need to be careful with him. His father struggled
to earn a living for a large family. They had to move from place to place
frequently, traveling the United States and Canada. By the age of 8, Tom was
already tired enough of poverty and had to get a job. He was mowing lawns,
raking leaves, delivering newspapers and even selling postcards for Easter and
Christmas. Due to frequent moves from state to state, from America to Canada,
the boy had to change at least 15 schools in 14 years.
Tom's father got a job in the Canadian Armed Forces as a
consultant and the whole family moved to Beacon Hill, Ottawa at the end of
1971. While living in Canada, one of the schools of particular importance to
Tom was the Robert Hopkins Public School in Ontario. There the boy, studying in
the 4th-5th grade, became interested in drama and participated in plays, under
the guidance of drama teacher George Steinburg. One day, Cruise and 6 other
boys staged an impromptu piece to music called "IT" at the Carleton
Elementary School drama festival. Val Wright, who was the organizer and was in
the hall, said that "the movement and improvisation were excellent... it
was a classic ensemble piece". A bit later, after another move, Cruise
studied in the 6th grade at Henry Munro Middle School in Ottawa. In the same
year, his mother left his father and took the children back to the United
States. Later in 1978, she married Jack South.
Tom's father had cancer and he passed away in 1984. For a time,
Cruise received a church scholarship to study at Franciscan seminary in
Cincinnati, Ohio. It was that seminary that influenced the actor's desire to
become a Catholic Franciscan priest. However, he was expelled from the seminary
for drunkenness and passion for acting. During that period, he decided to give
up religious studies in his late teens. “From being this kind of wild kid, to
one year studying to be a Franciscan priest at the seminary….I was very
frustrated. I didn’t have a lot of friends. The closest people around me were
my family. I think they felt a little nervous about me because I had a lot of
energy and I couldn’t stick to one thing. If I worked in an ice-cream store –
and I’ve worked in a lot of them – I would be the best for two weeks." In high
school, Tom played football for the university team as a midfielder, but after
an incident with being caught drinking beer before the game, he was off the
team. At that time, Cruise had such extremes in his life. In one interview, the
actor recalled how he constantly quitted the job, or was fired because he was
bored. Tom has never lived in one place for a long time. His whole life
consists of moving. He always packed up and moved, staying in Canada, Kentucky,
Jersey, St. Louis. All that was useful, because he was constantly learning a
new accent, finding himself in a different surrounding. Tom's last school was
Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey, where he again participated in school
plays and starred in the school production of “Guys and Dolls”. The actor graduated
from the senior class in 1980 and finally breathed a sigh of relief. The
Beginning of an acting Career After graduating from high school, Tom Cruise
decided to develop his acting career and, with the blessing of his mother and
stepfather, arrived in New York. At first he tried to survive by waiting tables
in a restaurant. In his spare time, he regularly had acting auditions. After
working as a waiter in a restaurant, Tom went to Los Angeles to try himself on
television.
And pretty soon all his efforts paid off. Tom signed a contract
with the CAA and got a small role in the 1981 film “Endless love”, based on the
novel by Scott Spencer. In the same year, he played the main supporting role of
a crazy student of the military academy in the film “Taps”. The appearance in
"Endless love” gave the actor invitations to other minor roles. Therefore
Cruise became part of the cast in an adaptation of the dramatic novel by S. E.
Hinton, “The Outsiders”, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He also appeared in
the film “All the Right Moves". It was difficult not to notice the
promising potential of the young actor. At the start of his career, Tom had
several relationships with women. In the early-mid-1980s, the actor had a
romance with Rebecca De Mornay, Patti Scialfa and even Cher. But he put all his
efforts into the work. One of the most showing Tom's acting potential was a
role in the film “Risky Business” of the same 1983. That period in the actor's
life and appearance in that film was a turning point in his career. The film
was rated by Rotten Tomatoes as “undeniably one of his early best". From
that moment on, Cruise's life really started taking off. THE FIRST POPULARITY
In 1985, Tom, in the status of a rising star, played the main role in the
Ridley Scott film “Legend". It was an epic adventure in the genre of dark
fantasy. He played the role of Jack O' the Green, a green man of the forest.
Interestingly, later Tom would get the name Jack in other films. The actor
noted that the name was easy to remember.
The film did not receive much audience love, but was nominated for
several awards: Oscar, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
Saturn Award, as well as several nominations for BAFTA Awards. As a result, by
the release of the film “Top Gun” next year, Cruise was already in the status
of a superstar. Initially, Tom was not eager to act in the film, but still
changed his mind. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer told how he managed to convince
the actor: “So the Navy take Tom up there, and they do five Gs. They do barrel
rolls, they do everything. He's heaving in the plane. He gets on the tarmac,
runs to a pay phone ... and he said, 'I'm in. I'm doing the movie. I love it.
This is great”. (Jerry Bruckheimer) The actor had never ridden a motorcycle
before and went to learn at the House of Motorcycles in El Cajon, California.
They taught him in the parking lot of their store. Of course, that was not all
that Tom had to learn for the film. Next he took the wheel of a real F-14 and
probably soon felt the craving for adrenaline. Today we know Tom as a real hard
worker and one of the few actors who performs their own stunts in films without
stuntmen. But back then, in 1986 Tom's adrenaline addiction was just beginning
to emerge in the form of a high-speed motorcycle ride that would be with him
from movie to movie. It would be fully revealed in 10 years. When Tom Cruise
first took off in an F-14, he was with Lieutenant Commander Lloyd
"Bozo" Abel. After Bozo performed several maneuvers, Cruise's body
made itself felt and he had to take his sick bag. However, at that point Bozo
began to gain altitude, causing Cruise's head to press to the floor of the
cabin. He tried to activate the intercom to tell Bozo what was going on. When
Bozo finally leveled the plane, Cruise turned on the intercom and said,
"Bozo, didn't you see I wasn't in your rear-view mirror?" - to which
he replied: “They don't call me 'Bozo' for nothing”. Tom had to wear high-soled
shoes in shots with Kelly McGillis.
Tom Cruise is 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m) tall, and McGillis is 5
feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall. At least it came in handy for one episode. It was
a scene, when after the auto-chase, Charlie told Maverick that he didn't want
anyone to know that she was falling in love with him. Maverick initially had a
phrase that he wanted to say according to the script. However, Tom forgot the
phrase and instead "improvised" by kissing Kelly McGillis. Director
Tony Scott liked it so much that he decided not to reshoot anything. The film
turned out to be extremely successful. It got $ 357 million at the box office,
with a budget of 15 million. During the release, the U.S. Navy installed
recruiting booths in movie theaters to try to catch some adrenaline-charged
guys leaving the watching. As a result, the level of applicants was the highest
in recent years. The popularity of the film led to a 500 percent increase in
the number of recruits wishing to enroll in the aviation program. On May 9 in
1987, Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers. It was she who introduced Tom to the
Church of Scientology. Their marriage was short-lived and in February 1990 the
couple divorced. According to the ex-spouses, they had different work schedules
and lost the spark. But Cruise would connect his life with Scientology for many
years to come. Apparently, the new religion significantly influenced his future
relationships with women. But we will talk about it later. Tom started shooting
a new film after the divorce. Soon the picture “The Color of Money” was
released, which hooked him up with Paul Newman. Many years later on "The
Graham Norton Show” Tom would tell about one lesson from Paul Newman, which
could only be learned by working on the set for a long time. That lesson Cruise
would remember for a lifetime. Filming took place in Chicago in January and it
was very cold outside.
And while Tom was freezing in a leather jacket with a summer
T-shirt, Newman was sitting in a car with an electric heater in a warm coat.
They exchanged surprised glances, having met in a joint scene, and Newman did
not miss a chance to tease the aspiring actor: In 1988 , Cruise appeared in the
movie “Cocktail”, which was nominated for the 9th Golden Raspberry Awards in 4
nominations at once, and the actor himself was nominated for the Razzie Award
for Worst Actor. However, in the same year Tom played with Dustin Hoffman in
“Rain Man”, which turned out to be much more successful. Hoffman and Tom Cruise
questioned the film's potential and jokingly called it "Two Jerks in a
Car." Hoffman did not believe in the potential of the film and his
performance so much that three weeks after the start of the project he wanted
to leave it, telling director Barry Levinson: "Invite Richard Dreyfuss,
invite someone, Barry, because this is the worst job in my life." Oh, if
Hoffman knew that he would receive the Academy Award for Best Actor for his
work… Cruise rehearsed his role with Hoffman throughout the filming, sometimes
changing roles. Once in an interview, Sir Michael Caine admitted that the role
of Tom Cruise in “Rain Man” was one of his favorites from everything he had
ever seen in a movie. He said with great sincerity: "Tom's performance was
perfectly played." Tom Cruise was required to have a lot of discipline and
responsibility so that the viewer could empathize with his character. In the
first release weekend, the film got only $ 6 million, showing a lower result
than expected. But in the following weeks it caused an excitement and was on
top at the box office. As a result, the picture received extremely positive
reviews and eventually got cult status.
The film won an Academy Award, and Tom Cruise received the Kansas
City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 1989, Cruise
appeared in “Born on the Fourth of July”, where he played the role of a
paralyzed Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic, who was a real historical figure.
Thanks to the film he got the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, the Chicago
Film Critics Association Award, the People's Choice Award, as well as a
nomination for the BAFTA Award, and Tom's first nomination for the Best Actor
Academy Award Every year Tom Cruise became an increasingly important figure in
Hollywood. For example, in 1990, the actor was recognized as “The sexiest man
alive" by People magazine. The actor's next film was “Days of Thunder” in
1990. The romantic sports-adventure drama directed by Tony Scott fixed Tom up
with a young actress Nicole Kidman. Cruise approved the actress's candidacy as
his character's love interest after watching her in "Dead Calm", on
the recommendation of the director. The idea of “Days of Thunder” was born when
Tom and Paul Newman were allowed to test one of Rick Hendrick's racing cars.
The production of the film started without a finished script. It was the first
picture for which Tom helped write the script. Scenes were often born right on
the day of filming. During one of the driving episodes, Tom Cruise actually had
to read his lines from the tips attached to the windshield, which led to a
small accident. In the subsequent driving scenes, the actor was provided with a
special earphone to make hints. Tom has loved racing and cars all his life, and
when he was growing up, he often watched racing competitions on TV. Working
with Paul Newman on “The Color of Money”, they only talked about cars. Once Tom
told Paul that he would like to try himself in that field and he offered him a
try. Cruise arrived at the quarter-mile track and Paul Newman, being familiar
with a large number of riders, borrowed the car for a while. And Tom managed to
drive a Nissan GT3 car. The host of the show, David Letterman, noticed that it
was a more modified model of the car that Tom could have bought himself.
Despite the fact that the model accelerated to 150 miles per hour, Tom failed
to get that speed, however, at the Pocono competitions in the summer of 1988,
he accelerated to 145 - 146 miles per hour. He remembered his first race: “I
was scared to death… I thought I was gonna die.
You go into the corners and you think yeah you just uh… But it’s
really exciting. High speed chess game.” In "Days of Thunder", most
of Tom Cruise's stunts were performed by NASCAR driver Greg Sacks. Even then,
Tom had a craving for extreme sports and wanted to do stunt driving himself,
but for insurance reasons he was not allowed. Chevrolet brand cars were prepared
by Rick Hendrick's racing team, which later used some cars in real races.
During the filming, 35 cars were crushed. The film turned out to be a bit
unrealistic in terms of special effects, characters and fake dialogues. It got
mixed reviews. However, it was Quentin Tarantino's favorite big-budget film
about racing. The director believed that the picture should not be taken
seriously and in fact it was quite funny. There was a spark between Cruise and
Kidman on the set and over time the relationship developed into a happy
marriage. The couple got married on Christmas Eve of the same year. The actors
quickly became a Hollywood star couple. In an interview with Marie Claire ,
Kidman recalled: “I felt I became a star only by association. We would go to
the Oscars, and I would think, 'I'm here to support him. ' I felt it was my job
to put on a beautiful dress and be seen and not heard”(Nicole Kidman) Over
time, Nicole admitted that she was so in love that she overlooked some things -
she forgot about her plans for life and desperately wanted to have a child with
Tom. A little over a year after the wedding, Kidman became pregnant.
Unfortunately, the pregnancy turned out to be ectopic and she lost her first
child. That painful and traumatic experience prompted the couple to adopt. In
1992, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise adopted a girl named Isabella Jane, and in
1995 they adopted a boy named Connor. According to the actor's religious
beliefs, the children were adopted through the church. Cruise and Kidman were
very secretive parents and rarely put their children's lives in the spotlight.
In 1992, the couple appeared in another joint project - “Far and Away"
directed by Ron Howard. The actors played the roles of Irish immigrants seeking
happiness in America in the 1890s, which led them to the Land Run of 1893.
Cruise's acting career continued to go uphill. In 1993, the actor starred in
the legal thriller “The Firm” directed by Sydney Pollack, based on the novel of
the same name by author John Grisham.
During the production of the film, Tom Cruise reached an agreement
with Paramount that only his name could appear above the title on the poster.
Gene Hackman, who joined the shooting not from the beginning of the project,
wanted his name to appear on top too. But he demanded that his name be removed
from the poster altogether after being refused. The film was a great commercial
success, grossing 270 million dollars with a budget of 42 million. Career
success Every year, Cruise's projects became larger and more diverse, although
the actor still focused on action films such as sports and military dramas. The
next picture in which Tom played was a surprise for many who closely followed
the actor's career. In 1994, the film ”Interview with the Vampire" was
released. It was a Gothic drama in the horror genre directed by Neil Jordan,
based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name. The big-budget movie
adaptation received an all-star cast. Therefore, Tom Cruise was on the set with
another handsome Brad Pitt, who was becoming increasingly popular. They
together with him performed the main roles of the novel Lestat de Lioncourt and
Louis de Pointe du Lac. Why did Tom decide to play a role in that movie? “I
just love scary movies and I’ve had a fascination with vampires. And I love the
book “Interview with the Vampire”. Just sounded like ``It's a great character,
a fun character to play.” Filming was not easy for Tom. Actors playing vampires
had to hang upside down for up to thirty minutes during makeup. And the blood
rushed to their heads in that position, causing the blood vessels on their
faces to swell. Then the makeup artists highlighted the swollen veins, creating
an eerie look with translucent skin. The poor devils had to repeat the process
several times, as the blood quickly flowed back. Because of that, the makeup
process took a very long time.
Cruise spent three and a half hours in the makeup chair every day.
On the set, Tom again got into an awkward position because of his height. The
actor had to occupy elevations to reduce the difference in height with other
vampires, during some scenes. In addition, during the filming, tension arose
between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt due to Pitt's allegedly poor personal hygiene.
According to Cruise, his film's colleague did not use deodorant. And because of
that, the smell of sweat became noticeable. But how true that was, we probably
won't know in any way. Tom Cruise prepared for the role of Lestat by watching
videos of lions attacking zebras in the wild. By the way, Johnny Depp was
offered that role before Tom Cruise, but he refused. You can find out
information about Johnny, his career and difficult relationships in our
separate biographical video. Click on the pop up card if you are interested.
The film was well received, although initially the author of the novel Anne
Rice criticized the casting of Cruise for the role of Lestat. Later, when she
saw the film, she was pleasantly surprised and even apologized to Tom. She paid
$7,740 for a two-page advertisement for the film in Daily Variety, in which she
praised his performance and apologized for doubting him. The film got $223
million and was awarded an Oscar nomination for Best Art Production and Best
Original Soundtrack. Since then, Tom Cruise has been sending Kirsten Dunst a
coconut cake with pieces of white chocolate every Christmas. Dunst calls it
"the Cruise cake", which she is always happy to receive.
The actress admits that the cake never stays longer than a day.
Meanwhile, until the beginning of 1996, the filming of perhaps the most significant
picture in Cruise's career took place. Participation in that particular film
would become the most recognizable role of Tom Cruise and would probably
forever fix the image of a top agent named Ethan Hunt for him. “Mission:
Impossible” directed by Brian De Palma became both a continuation of the 1966
TV series and its reinterpreted sequel. Tom Cruise was the first producer of
the film in which he played the main role. Paramount Pictures owned the rights
to the TV series and tried to shoot a full movie for years, but could not come
up with a viable interpretation. Tom Cruise had been a fan of the show since he
was young and thought it was a good idea for his next movie. The actor chose
“Mission: Impossible” as the first project of his new production company and
convinced Paramount to allocate a budget of $ 80 million. Cruise and his
production partner Paula Wagner worked on the story for several months with
director Sydney Pollack, before the actor hired Brian De Palma for the
production. Cruise met De Palma while working on "Interview with the
Vampire". It happened during dinner with Steven Spielberg. The actor was
impressed by De Palma's filmography, so when he returned home, he watched all
the director's films and convinced himself to hire De Palma for “Mission:
Impossible”. “I loved the TV series when I was growing up, I loved the music
and to be able to turn it into a feature film and really take it from a cold
war series to this… to bring it to modern audiences in cinema as something that
is there without a doubt the most challenging films to produce, the challenging
films to make…” The process of working on the script was not easy. The idea was
repeatedly revised, the initial and final episodes were rewritten by Steve
Zaillian, David Koepp, and Robert Towne, and the dialogues were finalized for a
long time by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. Only the main plot remained
unchanged.
De Palma convinced Cruise to shoot the first act of the film in
Prague because it was a city that was rarely seen in Hollywood films at that
time. The management wanted to save the budget, but Tom wanted a spectacular
and impressive action movie. However, they still managed to save part of the
budget, since Tom wanted to perform most of his stunts on his own. Although
some of them were really dangerous, the thirst for extremes finally got the
upper hand over the actor. For example, during the filming of the famous scene
in which Tom Cruise fell from the ceiling and hovered a few inches above the
ground, his head kept hitting the floor until he came up with the idea to put
coins in his shoes for balance. The CD trick that Tom Cruise did to fool the
Jean Reno character was a real sleight-of—hand trick, without editing. The
scene in the restaurant with glass walls and a giant aquarium with lobsters in
the middle was Cruise's idea. De Palma tried to shoot that scene with a
stuntman, but it didn't look real, and he allowed Cruise to do it, even despite
the possibility that the actor might drown! "Mission: Impossible" was
released on May 22, 1996 and broke the record on the premiere day of the
screening with $11.8 million ahead of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day".
Tom Cruise refused his usual $20 million fee in favor of a significant
percentage of the box office. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert rated
the film well and wrote: "This is a movie that exists in an instant, and
we have to exist in an instant to enjoy it." However, some actors of the
original series were dissatisfied with the reinterpretation of their characters.
Thanks to the success, the picture would make a series of spy thrillers
“Mission: Impossible” and Tom would return to the role of Ethan Hunt. In the
same year, the romantic comedy-drama “Jerry Maguire” was released, where Cruise
acted with Renée Zellweger.
It was another film for Tom that was a financial success, and
critics praised the acting and the script. The movie was nominated for five
Academy Awards, including Best Actor. It was Tom Cruise's second nomination. In
addition, the film got three Golden Globe nominations, one of which was
received by Cruise. At the same time, the actor was considered for the main
role in the sci-fi thriller “Matrix”, which as a result went to Keanu Reeves.
In 1998, Tom Cruise won a court case against the British tabloid Daily Express,
which claimed that his marriage to Kidman was a fiction to hide his
homosexuality. Over time, the courts would become a usual thing for the actor.
A year later, Tom reappeared on screen with Nicole Kidman in their third joint
film “Eyes Wide Shut”. It was an erotic detective psychological drama by
Stanley Kubrick. Unfortunately, the director died six days after showing the
final version of the film to Cruise, Kidman and the management of Warner Bros.
Pictures. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had signed indefinite contracts,
agreeing to work on the project until Stanley Kubrick released them, no matter
how long it took. The couple lived in the UK for so long because of the
protracted filming that their two children acquired an English accent. Director
Stanley Kubrick joined psychoanalysis sessions with Tom Cruise and Nicole
Kidman to prepare his stars for their roles. He forced them to confess their
fears about the relationship and their real marriage. According to Kidman, it
was extremely honest and blurred the line between them and their fictional
characters. Both have vowed never to reveal what they discussed during those
sessions. Unfortunately, psychoanalysis did not help the couple to maintain a
relationship, but you find it out a little later. One day, director Paul Thomas
Anderson visited the set, where he offered Tom Cruise to play the supporting
role of Frank T.J. Mackey in "Magnolia".
Tom was a fan of Anderson's previous movie “Boogie Nights” and
agreed. The film was released the same year, and Cruise received another Golden
Globe and an Oscar nomination. A year later, Tom returned to the role of Ethan
Hunt in the second part of "Mission: Impossible 2". He performed most
of the dangerous stunts on his own, despite the studio's concern for his safety.
In the opening scene, Tom climbed on his own at Dead Horse Point State Park in
Moab, Utah. He did not want to remove that scene from the film, and performed
the trick only with a climbing harness, not having an insurance net under him.
Performing a jump from one part of the cliff to another Tom tore his shoulder.
The film became the highest-grossing movie of 2000, and Tom Cruise received the
MTV Movie Award for his efforts. The following year, Cruise starred in the
romantic thriller “Vanilla Sky” with Cameron Diaz and Penélope Cruz. That was
an English-language adaptation of the Spanish film Alejandro Amenábar's
"Open Your Eyes". Cruz said: “I've been offered a lot of films to buy
and remake, and I never have because I felt it was too connected with the
culture of that place, whatever country it was from. But this was a universal
story that was still open-ended, that still felt like it needed another chapter
to be told.” During that period, the public was shocked by the news that Cruise
was divorcing Nicole Kidman.
The couple did not disclose the reasons for the breakup, but many
suspected that it was because of Cruise's fascination with Scientology. By the
time Nicole and Tom Cruise's marriage went wrong, the actor was not just an
adept of the Church of Scientology, but its face. There is simply no more
famous follower of this doctrine in the world than Cruise, and it's no
coincidence. It was rumored in closed circles that David Miscavige, the head of
the Church of Scientology, specifically kept Tom "in his pocket",
creating the illusion around him that he was helpless without religion. Kidman,
in turn, is a diligent Catholic, which is simply unthinkable for a leading
Scientologist. Moreover, Kidman's father is a psychologist who has repeatedly
pointed out to his daughter the strange behavior of her husband. Because the
actress was madly in love with Tom, she tried to join the Church of Scientology
for him, but left in 1997. It was rumored that the actress began to interfere
with Tom's rituals, disrupt his meditations and express suspicions that his
church was using him. It is difficult, and even impossible, to figure out where
the truth is and where the fiction of conspiracy theory lovers is. In an
interview with Vanity Fair, Nicole would say that she was "locked up"
during her marriage to Tom. She admitted that she was too young for a long
marriage. She got together with Tom when she was only 23 years old, and by the
time Nicole turned 27, she and Tom had already adopted their two children. She
compared that condition to being in a bubble. As a result of a difficult
divorce, the children remained with their father and the church. That led to a
strained relationship with their foster mother. Looking back in an interview
with The Sun , Nicole would say: “Motherhood is about the journey. There are
going to be incredible peaks and valleys, whether you are an adopting mother or
a birth mother. What a child needs is love." Despite the divorce, the
actor tried to be a good father. After the opening ceremony of the 2002 Oscar,
Tom did not stay for the rest of the award ceremony, because it was his turn to
look after his and Nicole Kidman's children. He left the Kodak Theater through
the back door after the opening of the event and rushed home to watch the rest
of the event on TV with Connor and Isabella. During the divorce process, Cruise
managed to start a romantic relationship with his colleague in the film Vanilla
Sky, Penelope Cruz. They would meet for three years before breaking up in
2004.
In 2002, Tom starred in the science fiction action-dystopian
"Minority Report" directed by Steven Spielberg, based on "The
Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. Tom's partner on the set that time was
Colin Farrell. The picture became one of the most popular in 2002 and was nominated
for an Oscar, and also received as many as eleven nominations for the Saturn
Award. The next year, Tom was again a success for his role in the historical
thriller by Edward Zwick “The Last Samurai". The actor was nominated for a
Golden Globe. In 2004, Cruise received critical acclaim for his role of Vincent
in the film “Collateral” directed by Michael Mann. A year later, the actor
returned to work with Steven Spielberg on the film adaptation of the H. G.
Wells novel “War of the Worlds". “Working with Steven Spielberg, which it
is a creative combustion, it’s not an analytical, it’s not a mechanical
process, it’s an inspired process. This was the fastest pre-production and the
scale of this film is the largest scale that I have ever been a part of” While filming
underwater scenes, Steven Spielberg pranked Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning by
playing dramatic music from another of his films "Jaws" through
massive underwater speakers. "War of the Worlds" was nominated for
many awards, including the Oscar and Saturn. But the reaction of critics to Tom
Cruise's acting turned out to be so bipolar that the actor received nominations
for the Saturn Award and for the Golden Raspberry. That's not to say that Tom's
performance in that movie was bad. What do you think? You can share your
opinion in the comments. Anyway, the audience loved Tom, and therefore in the
same year the actor was awarded the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male
Movie Star and the MTV Generation Award. After the filming, Steven Spielberg
stated that he would never make a film with Tom Cruise again because of his
connection with the Scientology Church. It's not surprising, because Tom tried
to involve the director in that. Spielberg was neither the first nor the last
one whom the actor tried to involve in Scientology.
Other celebrities including James Packer, Victoria and David
Beckham, Jada Pinkett, Will Smith were tried to be involved too. In addition to
promoting various programs that introduce people to Scientology, Cruise
campaigned for Scientology to be recognized as a religion in Europe. In 2005,
the actor lobbied French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, Senate President
Jean-Claude Gaudin, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to recognize the
church in the United Kingdom as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Cruise
also personally lobbied for Scientology among Bush administration officials.
Now Tom Cruise is one of the most famous Scientologists in Hollywood.
Scientology is a rather controversial religion, which has both many fans and opponents.
Cruise claims that the teachers of this church are practically saving the
world. In an interview, the actor admitted that he suffered from dyslexia at an
early age, and Scientology helped him overcome the disease. Those who left the
church spoke quite differently about the church. Some mentioned Cruise himself
in their stories. For example, the actress Leah Remini, who left the church in
2013 and actively criticized it, spoke about Cruise as follows: “I think it’s
time for people to start waking up to the real facts here. Tom has for years
manipulated his image to be the good guy… Although I believe there was a time
when Tom was a decent and kindhearted person, he has morphed himself into David
Miscavige and is completely dedicated to Scientology’s mission to ‘clear’
planet Earth — which means making 80 percent of the world’s population into
Scientologists.” According to rumors, Cruise's next bride was helped to choose
by the Scientology church in order to avoid previous mistakes with Nicole
Kidman. The brethren in religion introduced Cruise to the actress Nazanin
Boniadi.
The couple met for a few months, after which they broke up.
Shortly after that, at one of the Hollywood parties, a girl accidentally
knocked over a glass of champagne on Tom. It was like in the movies. They felt
a spark, and soon they began dating. That girl, as you already understood, was
called Katie Holmes. She had been in love with Cruise since her youth and even
had a poster of the actor in her room. Their relationship developed rapidly. A
month later, Cruise publicly declared his love for Holmes on the Oprah Winfrey
Show, and in October 2005, the actors announced that they were expecting a
child. Tom Cruise was thrilled about the upcoming birth of his third child, he
was so excited that he bought an ultrasound machine that cost about $ 200,000.
The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine condemned Tom, noting that the
purchase was inappropriate and violated FDA regulations regarding the sale of
medical equipment. In response, Cruise promised to donate the device to the
hospital after Katie gave birth. On April 18 of the next year, the couple had a
daughter named Suri. A week later, Tom was still emotional. In an interview
with “20/20” he said: "It was everything that we wanted it to be. ... It
was spiritual. It was powerful. It was indescribable." 6 months later, Tom
proposed to Katie at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. On November 18, Holmes and
Cruise were married at Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano in a Scientology ceremony
to which many Hollywood stars were invited. David Miscavige, the head of the
Church of Scientology, was Tom Cruise's best man, like a best friend. Katie,
who grew up in a religious family of Baptist Christians, got his religion for
the love of Tom and began to go to his church with him. At the same time, Tom
continued to build his career. In 2006, the actor returned to his spy series in
the sequel “Mission: Impossible III". The film was more positively
received by critics than the previous parts of the series, and grossed almost $
400 million at the box office.
Meanwhile, Premiere magazine named Cruise the most influential
actor in Hollywood, as Cruise took 13th place in the magazine's Power List,
becoming the actor with the highest rating. In the same year, Forbes magazine
named him the most influential celebrity in the world. On October 10, 2006,
"Tom Cruise Day" was announced in Japan. The Japan Memorial Day
Association said he was honored with a special day because of "his love
for Japan and his close connection with it." The following year, Tom
played a minor role in the war drama “Lions for Lambs”, which failed at the box
office. That was followed by an unrecognizable appearance as Les Grossman in
the 2008 comedy “Tropic Thunder". The partners on the set were Ben
Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., and the director was also Ben Stiller.
Cruise got another Golden Globe nomination thanks to that project. Also that
year, Tom played the main role in the historical political military thriller
“Valkyrie”, which was a commercial success. Between 2002 and 2009, Tom Cruise
was nominated for seven Saturn Awards, winning once. In general, this can be
considered the best period in the actor's career. Nine out of ten films in
which he starred over a decade were commercially successful at the box office
and got over $ 100 million. “Well, the quest for truth and excellence in both
character and stories a goal of every actor, and nowhere is that quest better
exemplified then in the dedicated actors” In the summer of 2010, the comedy
”Knight and Day“ was released. It was the second joint work with Cameron Diaz
after ”Vanilla Sky". Then Tom Cruise again played the role of Ethan Hunt
on the screen in the fourth part of “Mission: Impossible – Ghost
Protocol". In that film, Tom Cruise performed some unimaginable tricks on
his own, for example, holding on to a safety rope. Tom, at a height of several
hundred meters, jumped on the facade of the high-rise building, named Burj
Khalifa, at the level of about the 130th floor. And that was at the age of 49,
while young actors were filming on a green screen with stuntmen - it's crazy!
The film made a record amount for the series of 694.7 million dollars from the
release. In mid-2011, Cruise started filming the jukebox musical comedy “Rock of
Ages”, which failed at the box office, despite an extremely successful start.
At that time, Tom was already working on the film adaptation of the novel by
the British writer Lee Child's “One Shot”. The actor played the role of Jack
Reacher in the film of the same name, although again he almost suffered due to
height. Some fans of the series of novels actively spoke out against the
casting of Cruise due to the fact that the actor's height did not match the
characteristic of Reacher in the novels. The original author defended Cruise,
saying: “Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force,
which Cruise portrays in his own way.
With another actor you might get 100% of the height but only 90%
of Reacher. With Tom, you'll get 100% of Reacher with 90% of the height.” The
film was positively received by critics and collected $ 218 million, thereby
ensuring the possibility of continuing the series. On June 29, 2012, Katie
Holmes filed for divorce from Cruise. Many believe that it happened because of
the desire of the actress to put herself and the child out of the Church of
Scientology. There is an interesting fact: by a strange coincidence, all three
of Cruise's wives filed for divorce at the age of 33. Cruise was having a hard
time breaking up. Colleagues on the set of the film Oblivion, in which the
actor starred at that time, said that one of the most famous actors on the
planet at that time looked like one of the saddest people on Earth. As a result
of the divorce process, Cruise did not receive custody of his daughter at all
and because of that refused the visitation rights offered to him. Tom provides
quite a large amount for the child. He pays more than $ 33,000 a month for the
care of Suri. In 2013, Joseph Kosinski's science fiction film "Oblivion",
based on the director's graphic novel of the same name, was released. Cruise
had been showing interest in the film for a long time. The most difficult scene
on the set was when Tom's character took a break to admire the view and water a
flower. It was shooted when Cruise was sitting on an 800-foot (240-meter)
cliff, at the top of Iceland's Jarlhettur on the root of Langjökull, which is
accessible only from a helicopter. The film received slightly mixed reviews
from critics, but got a pretty good box office. Then Tom starred in the sci-fi
action movie “Edge of Tomorrow" with Emily Blunt. The film was an
adaptation of the 2004 Japanese light novel “All You Need Is Kill” by Hiroshi
Sakurazaka. Warner Bros. spent over $100 million just to advertise the film,
but it was worth it. The movie received positive reviews from critics, who
praised the plot, direction, action and performance of Tom Cruise and Emily
Blunt. In 2015, Cruise starred in the fifth part of Mission: Impossible – Rogue
Nation, where Simon Pegg as Benji and Jeremy Renner as William Brandt also
returned. And we can also guess that the stuntmen did not return there again.
Tom continued to amaze the audience with his courage and recklessness,
performing incredibly dangerous stunts. For example, there was a scene in the
film when Cruise's character took off on a military cargo plane while being
outside. The actor was told how a movie scene should look like, and that it
would not work to shoot it live. But Cruise said that he should try. He was
offered to replace him with a stuntman, but he just wanted to do it himself.
And he did, being attached only by a meter-long rope. The first thing the
53-year-old actor thought about when the plane took off was: “Holy shit, I'm
really doing this!” The film did not break the box office record of the
previous part, but showed a quite similar result. In 2017, Tom Cruise starred
in the relaunch of Boris Karloff's horror film “The Mummy” from 1932. In the
movie, Tom Cruise played the role of U.S. Army Sergeant Nick Morton, a soldier
of fortune who accidentally unearthed the ancient tomb of the trapped Egyptian
princess Ahmanet. Although, the new film adaptation of “The Mummy” received
negative reviews and wasn't much success at the box office.
The following year, Tom reprised the role of Ethan Hunt in the
sixth film in the series “Mission: Impossible – Fallout". Each time the
actor's tricks, which he performed himself, became more and more dangerous,
because in that part Tom made a jump from an airplane from a height of 7000
meters. At the time of filming, the actor was 56 years old. There were also
injuries. In one scene Tom made a jump from the roof of one building to
another, between which there were 5-6 meters. However, the actor did not reach
it and hit his foot into the wall of the building, holding with hands and
hanging out on it. Cruise would tell later in The Graham Norton Show: “I hit
the side of the wall and then I climb up on the wall and I’m supposed to run… I
knew I broke it instantly. And I just “uh, run past camera, we got the shot”
The film was more positively received by critics than the previous parts of the
series, and grossed more than $ 791 million, updating the franchise's box
office record. It was not surprising that thanks to such a success of the
series, two more planned sequels await us. During the filming of “Mission:
Impossible 7” Tom Cruise was spotted on the roof of a train that was moving at
a speed of 60 miles (97 km) per hour. It's scary to imagine what kind of
madness he will agree to for the sake of the 8th movie. Meanwhile, in May 2020,
it was reported that Cruise will play the main role and produce a film shot in
outer space. Doug Liman will be the director, screenwriter and co-producer of
the film. Together with Cruise, they will go to the International Space Station
as part of the upcoming Axiom Space mission on SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft Now,
in the near future, the premiere of Tom Cruise's new project “Top Gun:
Maverick" will take place. Director Joseph Kosinski has already worked
with the actor on Oblivion, and now he has worked on the sequel to the original
1986 film. The film was supposed to be released in 2019, but was repeatedly
postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result of which it is going to be
released in 2022. Controversies and Courts Cruise often gets into some
scandalous stories. In May 2001, the actor filed a lawsuit against gay porn
actor Chad Slater. He told celebrity magazine Actustar that he had an affair
with Tom Cruise. Tom rejected that statement and the court ordered Slater to
pay him $ 10 million, the case dragged on, but after 2 years, the porn actor
said that his story was a lie. Cruise also sued the publisher of Bold Magazine,
Michael Davis, requesting $100 million for claiming that he had a sex video
with the actor proving that Cruise was gay. The lawsuit was dismissed in
exchange for Davis' public statement that Tom Cruise was not in the video and
that the actor was heterosexual.
In October 2012, Cruise filed a lawsuit against In Touch and Life
& Style magazines for defamation. They claimed that Cruise "left"
his six-year-old daughter. During the settlement of the dispute, Tom stated
that he had not seen his daughter for 110 days due to the workload of filming.
The lawsuit was settled. It happened, of course, that Cruise himself had thrown
oil in the fire. In January 2004, the actor made a very ambiguous statement: “I
think it's an utter waste of time. There's nothing scientific about it.
Communication is a good thing, but I think people get more mentally out of
having a good meal or going for a walk. I think psychiatry should be outlawed”
There he added that he could not believe that electroshock therapy was still
being used. Cruise thinks it's definitely doing more harm than good. The very same
statement raised a lot of noise, especially among actors who attend
psychotherapy sessions. However, the controversial religion of the Church of
Scientology refuses to accept psychiatry as a legitimate form of
self-improvement. Later, in 2005, Cruise openly criticized the actress Brooke
Shields for using Paxil (paroxetine). It was an antidepressant to which she
attributes her recovery from postpartum depression after the birth of her first
daughter. Cruise argued that there was no such thing as a chemical imbalance,
and that psychiatry was a form of pseudoscience.
In response, Shields said that Cruise "should continue to
save the world from aliens and allow women experiencing postpartum depression
to decide for themselves which treatment options are right for them." That
led to a huge debate between Cruise and Matt Lauer on the NBC Today program. In
August of the following year, Cruise visited the actress at her home and
personally apologized to Shields for his comments. Touched by that gesture, she
accepted Cruise's apology. In May 2021, after a scandal and controversy
surrounding the Golden Globe Awards broke out, the actor returned three of his
Golden Globes to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In particular, the
reason for that was the lack of diversity, the absence of people from BME and
ethical issues related to financial benefits for some members of the award.
Hobbies and charity Tom Cruise shows his love for extreme sports not only on
the set of films. The actor enjoys skydiving, scuba diving and piloting his
Pitts Special S-2B stunt plane. He owns and operates a World War II P-51
Mustang with the inscription "Montana Miss". He later changed it to
"Kiss Me Kate". Once on the show The Late Late Show with James
Corden, the actor jumped with a parachute together with the host James Corden
from a height of 12 thousand feet (3657 m). The actor has several houses. He
lives, moving between Beverly Hills in California; Clearwater in Florida;
Dulwich in London; and East Grinstead in West Sussex. Thanks to his friendship
with David Beckham, he became a fan of the Spanish football club Real Madrid.
Tom Cruise regularly tries to help charities and people who really need help.
He made donations, sparing no expense, to the Ashley Flint Fund, the Tsunami
Relief Fund, the Diabetes Foundation Themoms.biz, Hillary Clinton's Campaign
and the Church of Scientology. Cruise co-founded and collected donations for
Downtown Medical to offer the lifeguards of New York on September 11
detoxification therapy based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. Tom was criticized
by doctors and firefighters, but Scientology leader David Miscavige awarded the
actor the Scientology Freedom Medal of Valor at the end of 2004. Also, we know
the story about Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and 20 other team members' visit
to Lexington, Virginia Dairy Queen, during the filming of “War of the Worlds”.
The actor saw a jar with a photo of Ashley Flint and the story that happened to
her. Flint got into a go-kart accident, leaving her family with a mountain of
hospital bills. Tom didn't hesitate to put $5,000 in the jar.
Most likely, that was not the last time that Cruise decided to
help a stranger. Now Tom Cruise is filmed less often than before, but films
with his participation are still eagerly awaited by fans around the world. We
are sure that a lot of good things are waiting for him in the future, both in
the vastness of cinematography and beyond. We know that there are no boundaries
for Tom Cruise. His films have grossed over $4 billion in North America and
over $10.1 billion worldwide, making Tom Cruise one of the highest-grossing
stars of all time. Surprisingly, with all his experience with blockbusters and
the skill to attract big box offices, Cruise has not yet starred in any Marvel
movie, although he could. Not everyone knows, but Marvel planned to shoot Iron
Man back in the 90s, and then it was Cruise who was the main contender for the
cult role. But the work has reached a dead end. That was probably for the best,
because the picture would most likely become a failure. Why are we so sure of
this? Why didn't filmmakers create high-quality comic book adaptations in the
80s and 90s? It was Biographer, thanks for watching this Article to the
end! You can like it, and we are already preparing something new for you! See
you soon!
Managing Director of
Blind Set
[Editor & presenter]
Subair Mohammed Osmi
