Tom Cruise is an American actor and producer who made his film debut with a minor role in the 1981 romantic drama Endless Love. He followed that with a supporting performance as Cadet Captain David Shawn in the 1981 military school drama, Taps. Two years later, he made his breakthrough by starring in the romantic comedy Risky Business (1983), which garnered his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 1985, he played Jack in the fantasy film Legend. In 1986, Cruise played a naval aviator in the Tony Scott-directed action drama Top Gun which was the highest-grossing film of the year, and also appeared with Paul Newman in the Martin Scorsese-directed drama The Color of Money. Two years later, he starred with Dustin Hoffman in the drama Rain Man (1988). His next role was as anti-war activist Ron Kovic in the film adaptation of Kovic's memoir of the same name, Born on the Fourth of July (1989), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
In 1992 he starred opposite Jack Nicholson in the legal drama A Few Good Men, an adaptation of the Broadway play of the same name also written by Aaron Sorkin. Cruise next appeared in The Firm (1993), a film adaptation of the John Grisham legal thriller of the same name, and in the same year, also made his directorial debut by directing an episode of the anthology television series Fallen Angels. Cruise starred as spy Ethan Hunt in the action film Mission: Impossible (1996), the first project of his production company Cruise/Wagner Productions, which he had co-founded with Paula Wagner in 1993. As of 2025, Cruise has appeared in seven more films in the Mission: Impossible franchise: Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025).
He played the title role in the Cameron Crowe-directed comedy-drama Jerry Maguire (1996), which garnered Cruise the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 1999, Cruise starred in the Stanley Kubrick-directed erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut opposite his then wife Nicole Kidman, and also appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed drama Magnolia. For the latter he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Cruise reteamed with Crowe on the science fiction thriller Vanilla Sky (2001), which earned him a Saturn Award for Best Actor. The following year he starred in the Steven Spielberg-directed Minority Report (2002). In 2005, he collaborated again with Spielberg on War of the Worlds, and received the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film from BAFTA Los Angeles. Three years later, he appeared in the satirical action comedy Tropic Thunder and played German army officer Claus von Stauffenberg in the historical thriller Valkyrie (both in 2008). In 2010, Cruise reunited with his Vanilla Sky co-star Cameron Diaz in the action comedy Knight and Day, followed by the action thriller Jack Reacher (2012), in which he starred in the title role and in its sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016). He starred in Oblivion (2013), and Edge of Tomorrow (2014), both of which saw his return to the science fiction genre. He then played drug smuggler Barry Seal in the action comedy American Made (2017) and then in 2022, starred in and produced the action film sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which grossed $1.5 billion at the box-office and became his highest-grossing film.
Film
Year Title Role Notes 1981 Endless Love Billy Taps 1982 Losin' It Woody 1983 Risky Business Joel Goodsen All the Right Moves 1985 Legend Jack 1986 Top Gun Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell 1988 Cocktail Young Guns Murphy's Henchman Uncredited cameo Rain Man 1989 Born on the Fourth of July 1990 Days of Thunder Also story co-writer 1992 Far and Away 1993 1994 Interview with the Vampire 1996 Mission: Impossible Also producer Jerry Maguire 1999 Eyes Wide Shut Magnolia 2000 Mission: Impossible 2 Also producer 2001 Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures Narrator Documentary Vanilla Sky Also producer 2002 Space Station 3D Narrator Documentary Minority Report Austin Powers in Goldmember Himself as Austin Powers Cameo 2003 Also producer 2004 Collateral Vincent 2005 War of the Worlds 2006 Mission: Impossible III Also producer 2007 Lions for Lambs 2008 Tropic Thunder Valkyrie 2010 Knight and Day 2011 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Also producer 2012 Rock of Ages Jack Reacher Also producer 2013 Oblivion Harper 2014 Edge of Tomorrow 2015 Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Also producer 2016 Jack Reacher: Never Go Back 2017 American Made 2018 Mission: Impossible – Fallout Also producer 2022 Top Gun: Maverick 2023 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One 2025 Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning 2026 Digger Digger Rockwell/Curtis Markson
Producer only Without Limits (1998) Suspect Zero (2004) (uncredited) Elizabethtown (2005) Ask the Dust (2006)
Executive producer only (2001) Narc (2002) Shattered Glass (2003)
Camera operator only Star Wars: Starfighter (2027)
Television Year Title Role Notes 1993 Fallen Angels Director; Episode: "The Frightening Frammis" 2002 The Art of Action: Martial Arts in Motion Picture Narrator Documentary 2009 Together: The Hendrick Motorsports Story 2017 Spielberg Himself 2024 Paris 2024 Olympics closing ceremony Shows up in the Stade de France where the ceremony was held and in the pre-made video following afterwards for the LA 2028 handover segment 2026 2026 FIFA World Cup closing ceremony
See also List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise
References
External links