Tom Cruise Biography: A Look Back On His Life And Film Career

Tom Cruise has been a household name in the entertainment industry for almost three decades. He is best known for his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ film series. In addition to movies, he is also an accomplished film producer, having produced several films including ‘Vanilla Sky’ and ‘Born on the Fourth of July’.

He is a celebrity in his own right, with numerous awards throughout the years such as three Golden Globe Awards, three People’s Choice Awards for Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture Actor and six MTV Movie Awards for Best On-Screen Duo.

Early life and education

Tom Cruise was born on 3 July 1962. He is the younger son of Mary Lee Pfeiffer and Thomas Mapother III. His mother decided that Tom should follow in his father's theatrical footsteps by becoming an actor at age 15. He graduated from Cranbrook Academy at age 18, where he was considered a rising star, but fell behind on loan payments and was expelled from the school after just one year. He was then forced to take a job as a newspaper reporter, working for a variety of publications including "The Village Voice".

Career

Tom Cruise started out as a child actor, appearing on television shows such as "Gunsmoke," "The Mickey Mouse Club," "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "Daniel Boone." His big break came when he was cast as Jimmy Olsen in "Superman" in 1978. Tom later had a run of movies that were commercially successful and received critical praise, including "Endless Love," "Risky Business," "Basketball," "Rain Man," "Top Gun" and "Rain Man." However, a series of flops followed, including "Crimson Tide," "Eyes Wide Shut," "Disney's The Last Adventure" and "Mission: Impossible 2." In 1987, Tom made his directorial debut with the horror film "The Hitcher," but he has since expressed regret for directing the movie because he believes it gave him a bad taste in his mouth about the experience.

Major works

Tom Cruise is best known for his filmmaking works including Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and non-fiction films Fade to Black (2008) and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015). The bulk of Cruise's earnings come from his performance in the action film series Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2004), in which he played the title role.

Awards & Achievements

Tom Cruise has been in the entertainment industry for over 40 years. His achievements are numerous and varying. He is known for his action films such as Mission:Impossible III (2004), Top Gun (1986), Falling Down (1993), There Was Never a Donkey Like That (1991), and The Rainmaker (1995). He won the World War II Directorial Medal of Merit with Two Ships (1943) and two British Empire Medals with Viscountess Sandwich (1944). He was also awarded an Imperial Medal of the Order of the British Empire for services to the film industry.

Family & Personal Life

Tom Cruise was born Thomas Cruise Mapother III on 3 July 1962 in New York City. His mother,Mary Lee Pfeiffer, worked as a cashier and his father, Thomas Mapother III, was a mechanic. His father committed suicide when Tom was a small child. His mother then married Patrick John Cruise, who adopted Tom and changed his name to Tom Cruise Mapother. In the 1970s and 1980s, Tom’s mother was struck by mental illness and her son lived with his paternal grandparents. His father had left his family when he was five years old and later married Maria Lord, a woman 15 years his junior.

Cruise’s father was frequently in and out of jail due to alcoholism and beat his mother throughout his childhood. His mother once attempted to commit suicide when she found her father at the bottom of a staircase, although her attempt failed as he got up and shook her awake.