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Tom Cruise



 
 
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (; born July 3, 1962), better known by his screen name
Stage name

A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, comedians, musician, and professional wrestling....
 Tom Cruise, is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 and film producer
Film producer

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making film. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors....
. Forbes
Forbes

Forbes is an United States publishing and mass media company. Its flagship publication, Forbes magazine, is published bi-weekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune , which is also published bi-weekly, and Business Week....
 magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
 and won three Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award

The Golden Globe Awards are presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to recognize outstanding achievements in the entertainment industry, both domestic and foreign, and to focus wide public attention upon the best in film and television program....
s. His first leading role was the 1983 film Risky Business
Risky Business

Risky Business is a 1983 in film comedy film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It is best known for being the film that launched Tom Cruise to stardom....
 , which has been described as "A Generation-X
Generation X

Generation X is a term used to identify people born after the post-World War II increase in birth rates The term has been used in demography, the social sciences, and marketing, though it is most often used in popular culture....
 classic, and a career-maker" for the actor. After playing the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and financially successful 1986 film Top Gun
Top Gun (film)

Top Gun is a 1986 American film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer in association with Paramount Pictures....
, Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible (film)

Mission: Impossible is an action movie released in 1996 in film. It was directed by Brian De Palma and starred Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The plot follows Ethan Hunt?s mission to uncover the mole within CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire IMF team....
 action films in the 1990s and 2000s.






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Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (; born July 3, 1962), better known by his screen name
Stage name

A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, comedians, musician, and professional wrestling....
 Tom Cruise, is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 and film producer
Film producer

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making film. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors....
. Forbes
Forbes

Forbes is an United States publishing and mass media company. Its flagship publication, Forbes magazine, is published bi-weekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune , which is also published bi-weekly, and Business Week....
 magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
 and won three Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award

The Golden Globe Awards are presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to recognize outstanding achievements in the entertainment industry, both domestic and foreign, and to focus wide public attention upon the best in film and television program....
s. His first leading role was the 1983 film Risky Business
Risky Business

Risky Business is a 1983 in film comedy film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It is best known for being the film that launched Tom Cruise to stardom....
 , which has been described as "A Generation-X
Generation X

Generation X is a term used to identify people born after the post-World War II increase in birth rates The term has been used in demography, the social sciences, and marketing, though it is most often used in popular culture....
 classic, and a career-maker" for the actor. After playing the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and financially successful 1986 film Top Gun
Top Gun (film)

Top Gun is a 1986 American film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer in association with Paramount Pictures....
, Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible (film)

Mission: Impossible is an action movie released in 1996 in film. It was directed by Brian De Palma and starred Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The plot follows Ethan Hunt?s mission to uncover the mole within CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire IMF team....
 action films in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to these heroic roles, he also played other roles, such as the misogynistic
Misogyny

Misogyny is hatred of women or girls. It is parallel to misandry?the hatred of men. Misogyny is also comparable with misanthropy which is the hatred of humanity generally....
 male guru
Seduction community

The seduction community is a loose-knit subculture of men who strive for better sexual and romantic success with women through self-improvement and a greater understanding of social psychology....
 in Magnolia
Magnolia (film)

Magnolia is a 1999 Cinema of the United States drama film, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and stars John C. Reilly, Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H....
 (1999) and a cool and calculating sociopathic hitman in the Michael Mann crime-thriller film Collateral
Collateral (film)

ar:?????????Collateral is a 2004 in film :Category:Crime thriller films film starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie....
 (2004).

In 2005, Economist Edward Jay Epstein
Edward Jay Epstein

Edward Jay Epstein is an American journalist. Epstein attended Cornell University during the 1960s, where he received his BA. Epstein was an early critic of the Warren Commission....
 argued that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas
George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an Academy Award-nominated United States film director, film producer, screenwriter and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the Epic film Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones....
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
 and Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerry Bruckheimer

Jerome Leon Bruckheimer , better known by his professional name Jerry Bruckheimer, is an United States film producer and television producer....
) who are able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise. Since 2005, Cruise and Paula Wagner have been in charge of the United Artists
United Artists

United Artists Entertainment LLC is an United States film studio. The current United Artists was formed in November 2006 under a partnership between producer/actor Tom Cruise and his production partner, Paula Wagner, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., an MGM company....
 film studio, with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology Scientology beliefs and practices....
.

Family and early life

Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York

Syracuse is the fifth largest city in New York State, United States. According to the United States Census 2000, the city population was 147,306, and its Syracuse metropolitan area had a population of 732,117....
, the son of Mary Lee (née
Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
 Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. Cruise has German
German American

German Americans are citizens of the United States of Germans ancestry, with traditions and self-identity based on German language and culture....
 and English
English American

English Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. According to United States Census, 2000 data, Americans claiming English descent form the Ethnic groups in the United States#Racial makeup of the U.S....
 ancestry from his paternal great-grandparents, William Reibert and Charlotte Louise Voelker; and Irish
Irish American

Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can claim ancestry originating in Ireland. A total of 36,495,800 Americans reported Irish ancestry in the 2006 American Community Survey....
 ancestry from his paternal great-great-grandfather Thomas O'Mara. It was O'Mara's son Thomas who adopted the name Mapother, the surname of his older half-brothers, becoming Thomas Cruise Mapother I. Tom Cruise's oldest sister, Lee Anne, was born in Louisville. His older sister Marian was born in Syracuse, as were Tom and his younger sister, Cass.

Cruise attended Robert Hopkins Public school for grades three, four, and five. The Mapother family then moved to the suburb of Beacon Hill, in Gloucester, Ontario
Gloucester, Ontario

Gloucester was a city in eastern Ontario, Canada, on the Ottawa River and is now a suburb of and within the City of Ottawa. Gloucester Township, Ontario was established in 1792 and originally included lands east of the Rideau River from the Ottawa River south to Manotick, Ontario....
, so Cruise's father could take a position as a defence consultant with the Canadian Armed Forces
Canadian Forces

The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces." This singular institution consists of thre...
. There, Cruise completed grade six at Henry Munro Middle School
Henry Munro Middle School

Henry Munro Middle School is located in Beacon Hill, Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada and is operated by Ottawa Carleton District School Board. The school educates in grades 6-8....
, part of the Carleton Board of Education, where he was active in athletics, playing floor hockey almost every night, showing himself to be a ruthless player, eventually chipping his front tooth. In the game "British Bull Dog", he then lost his newly capped tooth and hurt his knee. Henry Munro was also where Cruise became involved in drama, unter the tutelage of George Steinburg. The first play he participated in was called IT, in which Cruise won the co-lead with Michael de Waal, one playing "Evil", the other playing "Good". The play met much acclaim, and toured with five other classmates to various schools around the Ottawa area, even being filmed at the local Ottawa TV station. The two were also singled out for a version of Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It highlights the political and interpersonal struggles of Judas Iscariot and Jesus....
, as well as a Marcel Marceau-type act. It was at this point that Mary Lee Mapother helped foster her son's acting aspirations: when the religious overtones of the former caused concern for school principal Jim Brown, Cruise's mother convinced him that the play should proceed, and she founded the Gloucester Players, a theatrical troupe where Cruise and some of the boys in Steinburg's class acted.

When Cruise was twelve, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sister Lee Anne with her. After a long period of near-poverty, in which Tom's newspaper-delivery earnings helped put food on the table, his mother married a plastics salesman named Jack South.

Besides Ottawa, cities in which Cruise lived included Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is Kentucky's largest city and county seat of Jefferson County, Kentucky. The city's estimated population as of 2006 is listed as 557,789, with a population of 1,233,733 in the Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area....
; Winnetka, Illinois
Winnetka, Illinois

Winnetka is a very affluent village located approximately 19 mi north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, Illinois. It has a population of 12,419....
; and Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne, New Jersey

Wayne is a Township in Passaic County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States, located less than from midtown Manhattan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township had a total population of 54,069....
. In all, Cruise attended eight elementary schools and three high schools. He briefly attended a Franciscan
Franciscan

The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St....
 seminary
Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is a specialized and often live-in higher education institution for the purpose of instructing students in philosophy, theology, spirituality and the religious life, usually in order to prepare them to become members of the clergy....
 in Cincinnati (on a church scholarship) and aspired to become a Catholic priest
Holy Orders

Historically, the word "order" designated an established civil body or corporation with a hierarchy, and :wikt:ordinatio meant legal incorporation into an ordo....
. In his senior year, he played football for the varsity team as a linebacker, but he was cut from the squad after getting caught drinking beer before a game. Cruise graduated from Glen Ridge High School
Glen Ridge High School

Glen Ridge High School is a comprehensive public high school in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, in Essex County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Glen Ridge Public Schools....
 in New Jersey in 1980.

Cruise has said that he suffered from abuse as a child
Child abuse

Child abuse is the physical abuse, psychological abuse or child sexual abuse maltreatment of children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines child maltreatment as any act or series of acts or commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child....
. This was partially due to his suffering from dyslexia
Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disability that manifests itself primarily as a difficulty with Writing, particularly with Reading . It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction....
. He stated that when something went wrong, his father came down hard on him. He told Parade Magazine that his father was "a bully" and "a merchant of chaos." Cruise said he learned early on that his father was – and, by extension, some people were – not to be trusted: "I knew from being around my father that not everyone means me well." Having gone through fifteen schools in twelve years, Cruise, who dropped his father's name at age twelve, was also a victim of bullying at school.

Cruise started acting after being sidelined from his high school's wrestling team due to a knee injury. While injured, he successfully auditioned for a lead role in his high school's production of Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls

Guys and Dolls is a musical theater, with the music and lyrics written by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon....
 and decided to become an actor after his success in the role. His cousin William Mapother
William Mapother

William Reibert Mapother, Jr. is an American actor and former teacher, perhaps best known for his role as Ethan Rom on the television series Lost ....
 is also an actor most known for playing Ethan Rom
Ethan Rom

Dr. Ethan Rom is a Recurring character fictional character portrayed by William Mapother on the American Broadcasting Company television show Lost , which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote tropical island somewhere in the Oceania....
 on Lost
Lost (TV series)

Lost is an American Serial television program. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial Oceanic Flight 815 flying between Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, United States crashes somewhere in the Oceania....
.

Hollywood


Acting career


1980s
Cruise's first film role came in 1981, when he had a small role in Endless Love
Endless Love (film)

Endless Love is a 1981 in film United States romance film film director by Franco Zeffirelli, starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt . The screenplay by Judith Rascoe was adapted from the novel by Scott Spencer ....
, a drama/romance film starring Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields

Brooke Christa Camille Shields is an American actor and supermodel. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon as well as tv shows such as Suddenly Susan and Lipstick Jungle ....
. Later that same year he had a more substantial role in the film Taps
Taps (film)

Taps is a 1981 in film dramatic film, starring Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, Ronny Cox and George C. Scott, directed by Harold Becker....
, appearing alongside George C. Scott
George C. Scott

George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, film director, and Film producer. He was best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of General George S....
, Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton

Timothy T. Hutton is an United States actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People ....
 and Sean Penn
Sean Penn

Sean Justin Penn is an United States film actor. He is also a filmmaker and political activist. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama for his role in Mystic River and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and Academy Awa...
. The film about military cadets was moderately successful. In 1983, he was one of many teenaged stars to appear in Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola is a five-time Academy Award-winning United States film director, Film producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, publisher and Hotel manager....
's The Outsiders
The Outsiders (film)

The Outsiders is a 1983 in film Cinema of the United States drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an film adaptation of the The Outsiders by S....
. The cast for this film included Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe

Robert Hepler Lowe is an United States actor. He became famous after appearing in popular 1980s movies such as The Outsiders and St. Elmo's Fire , which included other members of the Brat Pack ....
, Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon

Matthew Raymond Dillon is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe Award-, and BAFTA Award-nominated United States actor. He began acting in the late 1970s, gained fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s, and developed a successful career as a mature actor in the decades following, culminating in an Academy Awards nomination for his performance in th...
, Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze

Patrick Wayne Swayze is an United States actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. He is best-known as a romantic leading man in films such as Dirty Dancing and Ghost , for which he received Golden Globe Award nominations, along with his performances in Red Dawn , Road House , and Point Break ....
, and Ralph Macchio
Ralph Macchio

Ralph George Macchio is an United Statesactor of Italians ancestry. His most notable role was as List of The Karate Kid characters#Daniel LaRusso in the The Karate Kid series....
, two of which were part of the Brat Pack
Brat Pack (movies)

The Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors and actresses who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented :Category:Coming-of-age films in the 1980s....
. That same year Cruise appeared in the teen comedy Losin' It
Losin' It

Losin' It is a 1983 in film comedy film starring Tom Cruise, Shelley Long, Jackie Earle Haley, and John Stockwell . The film is directed by Curtis Hanson....
. Cruise's breakthrough came after Risky Business
Risky Business

Risky Business is a 1983 in film comedy film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It is best known for being the film that launched Tom Cruise to stardom....
 was released, which helped to propel Cruise to stardom. One sequence in the film, featuring Cruise lip-syncing
Lip sync

Lip-sync or Lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with voice. The term can refer to: a technique often used for performances in the production of film, video and television programs; the science of synchronization of visual and Sound signals during post-production and Transmission ; the common practice of people incl...
 Bob Seger
Bob Seger

Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock musician and singer-songwriter.After years of local Detroit-area success, recording and performing in the mid-1960s, Seger achieved superstar status by the mid-1970s and continuing through the 1980s with the Silver Bullet Band....
's "Old Time Rock and Roll
Old Time Rock and Roll

"Old Time Rock and Roll" is a song made famous by Bob Seger and featured in his 1978 album Stranger in Town . It is a nostalgic look at the music of a previous generation....
" in his underwear, has become an iconic
Pop icon

A pop icon is a celebrity whose fame in popular culture constitutes a defining characteristic of a given society or era. Although there is no single definitive test for establishing "pop icon" status, such status is usually associated with elements such as longevity, ubiquity, and distinction....
 moment in 1980s film. The film has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise". A fourth film that was released in 1983 was the high-school football drama, All the Right Moves
All the Right Moves

All the Right Moves is a 1983 in film drama/romantic comedy film directed by Michael Chapman and starring Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson, Chris Penn, and Gary Graham....
. Cruise's next film was the 1985 fantasy film Legend
Legend (film)

Legend is a 1985 in film fantasy film released by 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures , directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, Alice Playten, David Bennent and Billy Barty....
 directed by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott is a United Kingdom Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe Award, Emmy Award and British Academy of Film and Television Arts winning film director and film producer known for his stylish visuals and an obsession for detail....
.

Cruise was then selected as the first choice by producers Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerry Bruckheimer

Jerome Leon Bruckheimer , better known by his professional name Jerry Bruckheimer, is an United States film producer and television producer....
 and Don Simpson
Don Simpson

Donald Clarence Simpson was an United States of America film producer. He is known for such hits as Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and The Rock ....
 for an upcoming American fighter pilot film. Cruise at first apparently turned down the project, but helped to alter the script he was given and developed the film. After being taken for a flight with the Blue Angels
Blue Angels

The United States Navy's Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, popularly known as the Blue Angels, first performed in 1946 and was the world's first officially sanctioned military aerial demonstration team....
, Cruise changed his mind and signed on with the project. The project was titled Top Gun
Top Gun (film)

Top Gun is a 1986 American film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer in association with Paramount Pictures....
 and opened in May 1986, becoming the highest grossing film of the year, taking in US$
United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
354 million in worldwide figures. Also in 1986, he starred in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese

Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese is an Academy Award-winning American filmmaker, screenwriter, film producer, and film historian. Also affectionately known as "Marty", he is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation and a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Gol...
's The Color of Money
The Color of Money

The Color of Money is a 1984 novel by American writer Walter Tevis, continuing the story of Edward "Fast Eddie" Felson from The Hustler ....
 along with Paul Newman
Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman was an United States actor, film director, entrepreneur, Humanitarianism, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations three Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a...
, which earned Newman a Best Actor Academy Award. In 1988, he starred in the lighthearted drama Cocktail
Cocktail (film)

Cocktail is a film released by Touchstone Pictures in 1988. It stars Tom Cruise as a talented bartender who finds love while working at a bar in Jamaica....
, which received mixed reviews and Cruise received his first nomination for a Razzie award in 1989. Later that year, Rain Man
Rain Man

Rain Man is a 1988 in film drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive, selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his father has left all of his millionaire estate to his brother, Raymond, an Autism Savant syndrome, of whose existence he was unaware....
 was released, which also starred Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Lee Hoffman is a two-time Academy Award-, six-time Golden Globe-, three-time BAFTA- and Emmy Award-winning United States actor....
 and was directed by Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson

Barry Levinson is an Academy Award-winning United States screenwriter, film director, actor, and Film producer of film and television....
. The film was praised by critics and was nominated for eight Academy Awards
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
, and won four, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

1990s
Cruise was welcomed with similar success the following year when he received Academy Award
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
 nominations for Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone

William Oliver Stone is an United Statesn film director and screenwriter. Stone came to prominence as a director with a series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he had participated as an American infantry soldier, and his work continues to focus frequently on contemporary political and cultural issues, often controversially....
's Born on the Fourth of July, which was based on the best selling autobiography of parapalegic veteran and anti-war
Anti-war

The term anti-war usually refers to the opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing casus belli....
 activist Ron Kovic
Ron Kovic

Ronald Lawrence Kovic is an anti-war activist, veteran and writer who was paralyzed in the Vietnam War. He is best known as the author of the memoir Born on the Fourth of July, which was made into an Academy Award?winning Born on the Fourth of July directed by Oliver Stone, with Tom Cruise playing Kovic....
. In 1990, Cruise starred as hot-shot racecar driver "Cole Trickle" in Tony Scott
Tony Scott

Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an England film director. His films include Top Gun , Days of Thunder, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide , Enemy of the State and Spy Game....
's Days of Thunder
Days of Thunder

Days of Thunder is an auto racing drama film released in 1990 by producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes and Michael Rooker....
. Cruise's next film was Ron Howard
Ron Howard

Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an Academy Award-winning American film director and film producer as well as an actor. Howard came to prominence in the 1960s while playing Andy Griffith's TV son, Opie Taylor, on The Andy Griffith Show , and later in the 1970s as Howard Cunningham's son and Arthur Fonzarelli's best friend, Richie Cunningha...
's Far and Away
Far and Away

Far and Away is a 1992 in film adventure film-drama film-romance film directed by Ron Howard from a script by Howard and Bob Dolman, and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman....
 where he again was starring with Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman

Nicole Mary Kidman, Order of Australia is an Academy Award-winning Hawaiian-born Australian actress, fashion model, singer, United Nations Citizen of the World award-winning humanitarian, and a UNIFEM and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador....
. After Days of Thunder he starred in the military thriller A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway theater by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a A Few Good Men directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore....
 with Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson

John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an United States actor, film director, film producer, and screenwriter, Movie star for his often dark-themed portrayals of Neurosis Fictional character....
 and Demi Moore
Demi Moore

Demetria Gene "Demi" Moore Kutcher is an American actress. She became well-known after a string of 1980s teen-oriented movies, and was one of the best known actresses of 1990s Hollywood....
. This film was very well received and earned Cruise a Golden Globe and MTV nominations. The following year he starred in Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack

Sydney Irwin Pollack was an United States film director, producer and actor. Born in Lafayette, Indiana to Russian Jewish immigrants, Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting....
's The Firm along with Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman

Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor. He came to fame during the 1970s, after his role as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection , and continued to appear in Hollywood films playing major roles, including Harry Caul in The Conversation, Norman Dale in Hoosiers, Agent Rupert Anderso...
 and Ed Harris
Ed Harris

'Edward Allen "Ed" Harris' is an United States actor, film writer and film director, known for his performances in Appaloosa , Radio , The Rock , The Right Stuff , Enemy at the Gates, The Abyss, Glengarry Glen Ross , Apollo 13 , Pollock , A Beautiful Mind, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and Th...
. It was based on the best selling novel by John Grisham
John Grisham

John Ray Grisham is an United States ex-politician, lawyer and novelist is best known for his works of modern legal drama. As of 2008, his books have sold over 250 million copies worldwide....
, and won Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards
People's Choice Awards

The People's Choice Awards is an awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is claimed to be based on the opinions of the general public....
.

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. He has been cited as one of the world's most attractive men and his off-screen life is widely reported....
, Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas

'Jos? Antonio Dom?nguez Banderas' , better known as 'Antonio Banderas', is a Spanish people film actor and singer. He began his acting career at age 19 with a series of films by director Pedro Almod?var and then starred in high-profile Hollywood films including Assassins , Evita , Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicl...
 and Christian Slater
Christian Slater

Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an United States actor who has starred in films such as Heathers, Kuffs, True Romance and He Was a Quiet Man....
 in Neil Jordan
Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan is an Academy Award-winning Ireland filmmaker and novelist. He received the Academy Award for The Crying Game....
's Interview with the Vampire
Interview with the Vampire

Interview with the Vampire is a vampire novel by Anne Rice written in 1973 and published in 1976. The novel, the first to feature the enigmatic vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, was followed by several sequels, collectively known as The Vampire Chronicles....
, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice
Anne Rice

Anne Rice is a best-selling United States author of gothic fiction and religious-themed books. She was married to poet and painter Stan Rice for 41 years until his death in 2002....
's best-selling novel. The film was well received, although Rice was outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film, as River Phoenix
River Phoenix

River Jude Phoenix was an United States film actor. He was listed on John Willis's Screen World, Vol. 38 as one of twelve "promising new actors of 1986", and was hailed as highly talented by such critics as Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel....
 was her first choice. In 1996, Cruise starred in (as well as produced) Brian de Palma
Brian De Palma

Brian De Palma is an US film director. In a career spanning over forty years, he is probably best known for his suspense and thriller films, including such box office successes as Carrie , Dressed to Kill , Scarface , The Untouchables , and Mission: Impossible ....
's Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible (film)

Mission: Impossible is an action movie released in 1996 in film. It was directed by Brian De Palma and starred Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The plot follows Ethan Hunt?s mission to uncover the mole within CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire IMF team....
. The film, a remake of the 1960s TV series
Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible began as an American television series that chronicles the missions of a team of secret United States government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force ....
, grossed US$456 million worldwide, making it the third highest grossing film that year. That same year he played the title role in the comedy-drama Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire is a 1996 in film United States comedy-drama film starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Ren?e Zellweger. It was written and directed by Cameron Crowe....
. The film earned him an Academy Award Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
 nomination as well as winning co-star Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Cuba Gooding Jr. is an United States actor. He is best known for his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor-winning portrayal as Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire and his critically acclaimed performance in John Singleton's Boyz in the Hood ....
 an Academy Award
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
; the film was nominated for five Academy Awards in total. The film also included the catchphrase "Show Me the Money
Show me the Money

Show Me the Money is an Ireland television show where Eddie Hobbs helps people with their finances. Sometimes they take his advice completely and sometimes they don't....
!" which became part of popular culture. In 1999 he starred in the erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut
Eyes Wide Shut

Eyes Wide Shut is a psychological drama with many elements of an erotic thriller directed, produced and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, based on the novella Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler....
 which took two years to complete and was director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was an influential American-British filmmaker, screenwriter, Film producer and photographer. He directed a number of highly acclaimed and often controversial films....
's last film. It was also the last film in which he starred alongside then spouse Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman

Nicole Mary Kidman, Order of Australia is an Academy Award-winning Hawaiian-born Australian actress, fashion model, singer, United Nations Citizen of the World award-winning humanitarian, and a UNIFEM and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador....
. But the film, which had a straightforward description of sex and a recondite story-telling style, raised great controversies. Cruise also played a misogynistic
Misogyny

Misogyny is hatred of women or girls. It is parallel to misandry?the hatred of men. Misogyny is also comparable with misanthropy which is the hatred of humanity generally....
 male guru
Seduction community

The seduction community is a loose-knit subculture of men who strive for better sexual and romantic success with women through self-improvement and a greater understanding of social psychology....
 in Magnolia
Magnolia (film)

Magnolia is a 1999 Cinema of the United States drama film, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and stars John C. Reilly, Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H....
 (1999), which netted him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He was originally intended to play as Jericho Cane in the action horror film End of Days before Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, businessman, and Politics of the United States, currently serving as the List of Governors of California Governor of California of the state of California....
 assumed the lead role.

2000s
, 2008]] In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt
Ethan Hunt

Ethan Matthew Hunt is the central fictional character from the Mission: Impossible#The movies film series.Little is known of Hunt's upbringing....
 in the second installment of the Mission Impossible films, releasing Mission: Impossible II
Mission: Impossible II

Mission: Impossible II is a 2000 in film film directed by John Woo and starring Tom Cruise, who also served as the film's Film producer.It is a sequel to Brian De Palma's 1996 in film Mission: Impossible with Cruise reprising his role as agent Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Missions Force, an unofficial branch of the CIA likely modell...
. The film was directed by Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
 director John Woo
John Woo

John Woo Yu-Sen is a critically acclaimed international China film director and film producer. Recognized for his stylized films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Mr....
 and branded with his Gun fu
Gun fu

Gun fu is the style of sophisticated close-quarters gunplay seen in Hong Kong action cinema and in Western films influenced by it. It often resembles a martial arts battle played out with firearms instead of traditional weapons....
 Style, and it continued the series' blockbuster success at the box office, taking in almost US$546 M in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third highest grossing film of the year. The following year Cruise starred in the remake of the 1997 film Abre Los Ojos
Abre los ojos

Open Your Eyes is a 1998 in film film directed by Alejandro Amen?bar and written by him and Mateo Gil. It stars Eduardo Noriega , Pen?lope Cruz, Fele Mart?nez and Najwa Nimri....
, Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky is a 2001 United States psychological thriller film, which has been variously characterized by published film critics as "an odd mixture of science fiction, Romance film, and reality warp", "part Beautiful People fantasy, part New Age investigation of the Great Beyond", a "love story, a struggle for the soul, or an Existential...
. In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopia
Dystopia

A dystopia is the vision of a society that is the opposite of utopia. A dystopian society is one in which the conditions of life are suffering, characterized by human misery, poverty, oppression, violence, disease, and/or pollution....
n science fiction
Science fiction

Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
 thriller, Minority Report
Minority Report (film)

Minority Report is a 2002 in film science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story The Minority Report and it is one of several Philip K....
 which was directed by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
 and based on the science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick

Philip Kindred Dick was an United States science fiction novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysics themes in novels dominated by monopoly corporations, Authoritarianism, and altered states of consciousness....
; and the following year
2003

2003 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.2003 has been designated as:* International Year of Freshwater.* European Disability Year....
, he was in Edward Zwick
Edward Zwick

Edward Zwick is an United States film director and film producer noted for his sprawling war films. He received an A.B from Harvard in 1974. He attended the AFI Conservatory and graduated with an M.F.A....
's historical drama The Last Samurai
The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai is a 2003 drama film/war film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay based on a story by John Logan ....
.

In the 2004 Michael Mann
Michael Mann (film director)

Michael Kenneth Mann is an Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. For his work, he has received nominations from international organizations and juries, including those at British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Cannes Film Festival and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts a...
's crime-thriller film Collateral
Collateral (film)

ar:?????????Collateral is a 2004 in film :Category:Crime thriller films film starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie....
, Cruise took a turn against his generic "good guy" role by playing the role of a sociopathic hitman. In 2005, Cruise worked again with Steven Spielberg in War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds (2005 film)

War of the Worlds is a 2005 in film science fiction-disaster film based on H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin....
, which became the fourth highest grossing movie of the year with US$591.4 M worldwide. The film also earned three Razzie
Golden Raspberry Awards

The Golden Raspberry Awards, frequently called the Razzies, were created by John Wilson in 1980 , intended to counterpoint the Academy Awards by dishonoring the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer....
 nominations including one for Cruise. In 2006, he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in the third installment of the Mission Impossible film series, Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible III

Mission: Impossible III is a 2006 in film action film, the third based on the spy-themed television series Mission: Impossible starring Tom Cruise who reprises his role of an agent of Impossible Mission Force, an unofficial branch of the CIA likely modelled after their elite Special Activities Division, agent Ethan Hunt....
. Although it was more positively received by critics than its predecessor, it disappointed at the box office, grossing nearly $150M less worldwide. He appeared in the 2007 drama Lions for Lambs
Lions for Lambs

Lions for Lambs is a 2007 in film Cinema of the United States drama film about the connection between a platoon of United States soldiers in Afghanistan, a U.S....
, which bombed, and had a comedic supporting role in the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder is a 2008 in film American action satire comedy film directed and produced by Ben Stiller and written by Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen....
. Cruise's latest starring role is in the historical thriller Valkyrie
Valkyrie (film)

Valkyrie is a 2008 in film Historical fiction thriller film set in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film depicts the 20 July plot by German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and to use the Operation Valkyrie national emergency plan to take control of the country....
, released on December 25, 2008 to mixed reviews.

Producing career

Cruise partnered with his former talent agent
Talent agent

A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, musicians, model , and other people in various entertainment businesses....
 Paula Wagner
Paula Wagner

Paula Wagner is an United States film producer and film executive....
 to form Cruise/Wagner Productions
Cruise/Wagner Productions

Cruise/Wagner Productions is a United States independent film film producer company. The company was founded by actor Tom Cruise and former casting agent Paula Wagner....
 in 1993, and the company has since co-produced several of Cruise's films, the first being Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible (film)

Mission: Impossible is an action movie released in 1996 in film. It was directed by Brian De Palma and starred Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The plot follows Ethan Hunt?s mission to uncover the mole within CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire IMF team....
 in 1996 which was also Cruise's first project as a producer. He won a Nova Award (shared with Paula Wagner
Paula Wagner

Paula Wagner is an United States film producer and film executive....
) for Most Promising Producer in Theatrical Motion Pictures at the PGA Golden Laurel Awards in 1997 for his work as a producer for the film Mission: Impossible.

His next project as a producer was the 1998 film Without Limits
Without Limits

Without Limits is a 1998 biographical film about the friendship between running star Steve Prefontaine and his coach Bill Bowerman, who had co-founded Nike, Inc....
 about famous American runner Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine

Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine was an American Long-distance track event. Prefontaine helped inspire the "running boom" in the 1970s along with contemporaries Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers ....
. Cruise returned to work as a producer in 2000, continuing work on the Mission Impossible sequel. He then served as an executive producer for The Others
The Others (2001 film)

The Others is a 2001 in film psychological Horror film film by the Spain/Chilean film director Alejandro Amen?bar, starring Nicole Kidman, and in part based on Henry James' classic, The Turn of the Screw....
 which starred Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman

Nicole Mary Kidman, Order of Australia is an Academy Award-winning Hawaiian-born Australian actress, fashion model, singer, United Nations Citizen of the World award-winning humanitarian, and a UNIFEM and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador....
, also that year, he again worked as actor/producer in Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky is a 2001 United States psychological thriller film, which has been variously characterized by published film critics as "an odd mixture of science fiction, Romance film, and reality warp", "part Beautiful People fantasy, part New Age investigation of the Great Beyond", a "love story, a struggle for the soul, or an Existential...
. He subsequently worked on (but did not star in) Narc
Narc (film)

Narc is a 2002 in film Canadian-American crime film about Police corruption Police involved in policing the illegal drug trade trade. It was released to critical acclaim and moderate commercial success....
, Hitting It Hard and Shattered Glass
Shattered Glass

Shattered Glass is a 2003 in film United States drama film written and directed by Billy Ray . The screenplay is based on a September 1998 Vanity Fair article by Buzz Bissinger....
. His next project, which he also starred in, was The Last Samurai
The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai is a 2003 drama film/war film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay based on a story by John Logan ....
, he was jointly nominated for the Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award at the 2004 PGA Golden Laurel Awards. He then worked on Suspect Zero
Suspect Zero

Suspect Zero is a 2004 Thriller , directed by E. Elias Merhige. It opened to decidedly mixed reviews, and failed to earn back half of its estimated $27 million production costs at the box office....
, Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown (film)

Elizabethtown is a 2005 in film United States film written and directed by Cameron Crowe starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Orlando Bloom plays a shoe designer visiting his father's hometown in Kentucky in the days following the father's death, and Kirsten Dunst plays a flight attendant....
 and Ask the Dust
Ask the Dust (film)

Ask the Dust is a 2006 film based on the book Ask the Dust by John Fante. The movie was written and directed by Robert Towne. Tom Cruise served as one of the film's producers....
.

Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative movie deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein
Edward Jay Epstein

Edward Jay Epstein is an American journalist. Epstein attended Cornell University during the 1960s, where he received his BA. Epstein was an early critic of the Warren Commission....
 as "one of the most powerful – and richest – forces in Hollywood". Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas
George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an Academy Award-nominated United States film director, film producer, screenwriter and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the Epic film Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones....
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
 and Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerry Bruckheimer

Jerome Leon Bruckheimer , better known by his professional name Jerry Bruckheimer, is an United States film producer and television producer....
) who are regarded as able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise. Epstein also contends that the public obsession with Cruise's tabloid controversies obscures full appreciation of Cruise's exceptional commercial prowess in the industry.

Cruise/Wagner Productions, Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson
Erik Larson

Erik Larson is an United States author. He has written Isaac's Storm , about the experiences of Isaac Cline during the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America , about the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and a series of murders by H....
's New York Times bestseller, The Devil in the White City
The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America is a 2003 non-fiction book by Erik Larson presented in a novel style....
 about a real life serial killer, H. H. Holmes
H. H. Holmes

Herman Webster Mudgett , better known under the alias of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was an United States serial killer. Holmes opened a hotel in Chicago, Illinois for the 1893 World's Fair....
, at Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
's World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition , a World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World....
. Kathryn Bigelow is attached to the project to produce and helm. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor, film producer whose career rose with his role in the television sit-com Growing Pains and quickly moved to films....
's production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair
World's Fair

Universal Exposition or Expo is the name given to various large public exhibitions held since the mid-19th century. They are the third largest event in the world in terms of economic and cultural impact, after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games....
, in which DiCaprio will star.

Breakup with Paramount
On August 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production company and distribution company, located on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California....
 announced it was ending its 14-year relationship with Cruise. In the Wall Street Journal, chairman of Viacom
Viacom

Viacom , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an United States media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable television and satellite television networks , and movie production and distribution ....
 (Paramount's parent company) Sumner Redstone
Sumner Redstone

Sumner Murray Redstone is majority owner and Chair of the National Amusements theater chain. Through National Amusements, Sumner Redstone and his family are majority owners of CBS Corporation, Viacom, and MTV Networks, Black Entertainment Television, and movie production and distribution Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks movie studios, and...
 cited the economic damage to Cruise's value as an actor and producer from his controversial public behavior and views. Cruise/Wagner Productions responded that Paramount's announcement was a face-saving move after the production company had successfully sought alternative financing from private equity
Private equity

In finance, private equity is an asset class consisting of Stock securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
 firms. Industry analysts such as Edward Jay Epstein commented that the real reason for the split was most likely Paramount's discontent over Cruise/Wagner's exceptionally large share of DVD
DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
 sales from the Mission: Impossible franchise. However, Radar
Radar (magazine)

Radar is an United States online publication. It started as a magazine, first printed in 2003 as a test-issue and re-launched twice since that date in 2005 and 2006....
 has claimed that the "personal conduct" complained of by Redstone was an allegedly Cruise-inspired attempt to intimidate Brad Grey
Brad Grey

Brad Alan Grey is an United States Film producer, television producer, and former talent manager currently working as the CEO of Paramount Pictures....
, CEO of Paramount. According to Radar, when Grey was walking to his car one night after tense negotiations with Cruise over Mission: Impossible 3, he was "surrounded by more than a dozen Scientologists, who pressured him to ease up on the actor … Following a terse exchange, the visitors allowed Grey to get into his car and leave, but the message was clear." Grey reportedly stood his ground and convinced Cruise to accept a lower fee than the actor had initially demanded.

Management of United Artists
According to an Associated Press report on November 2, 2006, Cruise and Paula Wagner announced that they will be in charge of the United Artists
United Artists

United Artists Entertainment LLC is an United States film studio. The current United Artists was formed in November 2006 under a partnership between producer/actor Tom Cruise and his production partner, Paula Wagner, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., an MGM company....
 film studio. Cruise will produce and star in films for United Artists, while Wagner will serve as UA's chief executive. Production began in 2007 of Valkyrie
Valkyrie (film)

Valkyrie is a 2008 in film Historical fiction thriller film set in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film depicts the 20 July plot by German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and to use the Operation Valkyrie national emergency plan to take control of the country....
, a thriller based on the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
. The film was acquired in March 2007 by United Artists. On March 21, 2007 Cruise signed on to play Claus von Stauffenberg, the protagonist. This project marks the second production to be greenlighted since Cruise and Wagner took control of United Artists. The first was its inaugural film, Lions for Lambs
Lions for Lambs

Lions for Lambs is a 2007 in film Cinema of the United States drama film about the connection between a platoon of United States soldiers in Afghanistan, a U.S....
, directed by Robert Redford
Robert Redford

Charles Robert Redford Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an Academy Award-winning United States film director, actor, film producer, businessman, model , environmentalism, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival....
 and starring Redford, Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. She is widely regarded as being one of the most talented and respected movie actors of the modern era....
 and Cruise. Lambs was released on November 9, 2007, opening to unimpressive box office revenue and critical reception
Lions for Lambs

Lions for Lambs is a 2007 in film Cinema of the United States drama film about the connection between a platoon of United States soldiers in Afghanistan, a U.S....
. In August 2008, Wagner stepped down from her position at United Artists; she retains her stake in UA, which combined with Cruise's share amounts to 30% of the studio.

Popularity

In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People
People (magazine)

People is a weekly United States magazine of celebrity and human interest story, published by Time Inc. As of 2006, it has a circulation of 3.75 million and revenue expected to top $1.5 billion....
 magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful
Beauty

Beauty is a characteristic of a person, Location , Object , or idea that provides a perception experience of pleasure, Value , or satisfaction....
 people in the world. In 1995, Empire
Empire (magazine)

Empire is a United Kingdom film magazine published monthly by Bauer Verlagsgruppe. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap....
 magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 movie stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere
Premiere (magazine)

Premiere was an United States and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007....
 among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.

In 2006, Premiere ranked Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazines 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor.

On June 16, 2006, Forbes
Forbes

Forbes is an United States publishing and mass media company. Its flagship publication, Forbes magazine, is published bi-weekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune , which is also published bi-weekly, and Business Week....
 magazine published 'The Celebrity 100', a list of the most powerful celebrities, which Cruise topped. The list was generated using a combination of income (between June 2005 and June 2006), web references by Google
Google

Google Inc. is an United States public company, earning revenue from AdWords related to its Google search, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Apps, Orkut, and YouTube services as well as selling advertising-free versions of the Google Search Appliance....
, press clips compiled by LexisNexis
LexisNexis

LexisNexis is a popular searchable archive of content from newspapers, magazines, legal documents and other printed sources. LexisNexis claims to be the "world?s largest collection of public records, unpublished opinions, forms, legal, news, and business information" while offering their products to a wide range of professionals in the lega...
, television and radio mentions (by Factiva
Factiva

Factiva is a division of Dow Jones & Company. The unit provides business and research information and services for the business and education communities....
), and the number of times a celebrity appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.

, "a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an "unfavorable" opinion of the actor" was cited as a reason in addition to "unacceptable behavior" for Paramount's non-renewal of their production contract with Cruise. In addition, Marketing Evaluations reports that Cruise's Q score (which is a measure of the popularity of celebrities), had fallen 40%. It was also revealed that Cruise is the celebrity people would least like as their best friend. Cruise came bottom with just 3 percent, while the winner was Jack Black
Jack Black

Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo...
. October 10, 2006 was declared "Tom Cruise Day" in Japan; the Japan Memorial Day Association said that he was awarded with a special day because he has made more trips to Japan than any other Hollywood star.

Relationships and personal life


Mimi Rogers

Cruise was married to Mimi Rogers
Mimi Rogers

Mimi Rogers is an United States film Actor and competitive poker player....
 on May 9, 1987; they divorced on February 4, 1990. Rogers is generally believed to have introduced Cruise to Scientology.

Nicole Kidman

Cruise met Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman

Nicole Mary Kidman, Order of Australia is an Academy Award-winning Hawaiian-born Australian actress, fashion model, singer, United Nations Citizen of the World award-winning humanitarian, and a UNIFEM and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador....
 on the set of their film Days of Thunder
Days of Thunder

Days of Thunder is an auto racing drama film released in 1990 by producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes and Michael Rooker....
. The couple married on December 24, 1990 and divorced on August 8, 2001. He and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella Jane (b. December 22, 1992) and Connor Antony
Connor Cruise

Background/Family Connor Anthony Kidman Cruise is an United States actor, and the adopted son of American actor Tom Cruise and Australian actress Nicole Kidman....
 (b. January 17, 1995). They separated when Kidman was three months pregnant, just before their tenth wedding anniversary; she later miscarried
Miscarriage

Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation....
.

Penélope Cruz

Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz

Pen?lope Cruz S?nchez , better known as Pen?lope Cruz, is a Spain actress. She gathered critical acclaim as a young actress for films such as Jam?n, Jam?n, La Ni?a de tus ojos, and Belle ?poque ....
, the lead actress in his film Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky is a 2001 United States psychological thriller film, which has been variously characterized by published film critics as "an odd mixture of science fiction, Romance film, and reality warp", "part Beautiful People fantasy, part New Age investigation of the Great Beyond", a "love story, a struggle for the soul, or an Existential...
. After a three-year relationship, in March 2004, Cruise announced that their relationship had ended in January.

Katie Holmes

In April 2005, Cruise began dating actress Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes

Kate "Katie" Noelle Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB Television Network television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003....
. Shortly after they began their highly publicized relationship
TomKat

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, commonly referred to by the portmanteaus "TomKat" or "Tom-Kat", are an United States celebrity supercouple whose relationship attracts a great deal of worldwide media attention....
, on June 17, 2005, Cruise announced he had proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is an Puddle iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower has become a global Cultural icon of France and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world....
 in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
. She accepted his proposal, and the couple married in Bracciano
Bracciano

Bracciano is a small town in the Italian region of Lazio, 30 km northwest of Rome. The town is famous for its volcanic lake and for a particularly well-preserved medieval castle....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 on November 18, 2006.

On April 18, 2006 Katie gave birth to a baby girl named Suri at Saint John's Health Center
Saint John's Health Center

Saint John's Health Center is a hospital in Santa Monica, California, United States. The hospital was founded in 1942 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth....
 in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica is a city in western Los Angeles County, California, California, United States. Situated on Santa Monica Bay of the Pacific Ocean, it is completely surrounded by the City of Los Angeles ? Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood, Los Angeles, California on the north, West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California on the northeast...
. Cruise stated that the name derives from the Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
 word for "princess
Princess

Princess, is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or her daughters.For many centuries, the title "princess" was not regularly used for a monarch's daughter, who might simply be called "Lady" or a non-English equivalent; Old English language had no female equivalent to "prince", "earl"...
" or the Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
 word meaning red rose
Suri (flower)

Suri is the Persian language adjective for red. See Chaharshanbe Suri . Chaharshanbe Suri literally means Red Wednesday . The word, used alone refers, to the red-toned damasc rose, Rosa damascena....
. (See also Sarah
Sarah (female name)

Sarah or Sara is a female given name with Hebrew origins which can be found many different languages. The diminutive form of Sarah is Sally....
.
) She is the first child for Holmes and third for Cruise, who (as previously mentioned) has two adopted children with Nicole Kidman.

Controversy


Scientology

Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology Scientology beliefs and practices....
. He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers
Mimi Rogers

Mimi Rogers is an United States film Actor and competitive poker player....
. Cruise has publicly said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was an American science fiction writer who devised a self-help system called Dianetics, first published in 1950, which he developed over the next three decades into a set of doctrines and rituals he called Scientology....
 Study Tech
Study Tech

Study technology, or study tech, is a Teaching method developed by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. Hubbard's "Study Tech" is used by Church of Scientology members as part of their training, and is also promoted outside the church by a church-affiliated corporation known as Applied Scholastics, which presents study...
, helped him overcome dyslexia
Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disability that manifests itself primarily as a difficulty with Writing, particularly with Reading . It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction....
. In addition to promoting various programs that introduce people to Scientology, Cruise has campaigned for Scientology to be fully recognized as a religion in Europe. He lobbied politicians in France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 and Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, where the legal systems regard Scientology as a cult
Cult

This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult . See Cult for more meanings of the term "cult"....
 and business
Business

A business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide good s and/or Service to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalism economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners....
 respectively. In 2005 the Paris city council revealed that Cruise had lobbied officials Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd President of the French Republic and ex officio List of Co-Princes of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating Socialist Party candidate S?gol?ne Royal ten days earlier....
 and Jean-Claude Gaudin
Jean-Claude Gaudin

Jean-Claude Gaudin is a France politician. He has been Mayor of Marseille since 1995 and Vice-President of the Senate of France since 1998; additionally, he has been Vice-President of the Union for a Popular Movement since 2002....
, described him as a spokesman and militant for Scientology, and barred any further dealings with him. Cruise co-founded and raised donations for Downtown Medical
Downtown Medical

Downtown Medical, also known as the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, was founded in New York City in 2003 with the purpose of treating rescue workers for toxins inhaled from the smoke of the September 11 attacks....
 to offer New York 9/11 rescue workers detoxification therapy
Purification Rundown

The Purification Rundown, also known as the Purif or the Hubbard Method, is a controversial detoxification program developed by Scientology's founder L....
 based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. This has drawn criticism from the medical profession, as well as firefighters. For these activities and others, David Miscavige
David Miscavige

David Miscavige is chairman of the board of directors of Religious Technology Center , a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology, and "holds the ultimate ecclesiastical authority regarding the standard and pure application of L....
 awarded Scientology's Freedom Medal of Valor to Cruise in late 2004.

A controversy erupted in 2005 after he openly criticized actress Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields

Brooke Christa Camille Shields is an American actor and supermodel. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon as well as tv shows such as Suddenly Susan and Lipstick Jungle ....
 for using the drug Paxil (paroxetine), an anti-depressant, to which Shields attributes her recovery from postpartum depression
Postpartum depression

Postpartum depression , also called postnatal depression, is a form of clinical depression which can affect women, and less frequently men, after childbirth....
 after the birth of her first daughter in 2003. Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance
Chemical imbalance

Chemical imbalance is one theory about the cause of mental illness. Other causes that are debated include psychological and social causes.The basic concept is that neurotransmitter imbalances within the brain are the main causes of psychiatric conditions and that these conditions can be improved with medication which corrects these imbalan...
, and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience
Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience is any knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice that is claimed to be scientific, or that is made to appear to be scientific, but which does not adhere to the scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, or otherwise lacks scientific status....
. This led to a heated argument with Matt Lauer
Matt Lauer

Matthew Todd Lauer . is an United States television journalist best known as the host of National Broadcasting Company's Today since 1994....
 on The Today Show on June 24, 2005. Medical authorities said Cruise's comments had further stigmatized mental illness and Shields herself called them "a disservice to mothers everywhere." In late August 2006, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for his comments; Shields said that she was "impressed with how heartfelt [the apology] was […]. I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it." Cruise's spokesman confirmed that Cruise and Shields had made up but said that Cruise's position on anti-depressants had not changed. Shields was a guest at Cruise's and Holmes's wedding.

Cruise also said in an Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is a magazine published by Time Inc. in the United States which covers movies, television, music, Broadway stage productions, books, and popular culture....
 interview that psychiatry
Psychiatry

Psychiatry is a Medicine Specialty devoted to the Treatment of mental disorders, Biomedical research and Prevention of mental disorder. The term was first coined by the German physician Johann Christian Reil in 1808....
 "is a Nazi
Nazism

Nazism, officially National Socialism , refers to the ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Workers? Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945....
 science" and that methadone
Methadone

Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic, antitussive and a maintenance drug addiction#Anti-addictive drugs for use in patients on opioids....
 was actually originally called Adolophine after Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
, a myth well-known as an urban legend
Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, or urban tale is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them....
. In an interview with Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel

Der Spiegel is a German weekly magazine, published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest weekly magazines with a circulation of more than one million per week....
 magazine, Cruise said that "In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation

Drug rehabilitation is an umbrella term for the processes of medical and/or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on Psychoactive drug such as alcoholic beverage, Medical prescription, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines....
 program in the world. It's called Narconon
Narconon

Narconon is an in-patient Substance-abuse rehabilitation program for drug abusers in several dozen treatment centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and western Europe....
… It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period". While Narconon claims to have a success rate over 70%, the accuracy of this figure has been widely disputed. Scientology is well-known for its opposition to mainstream psychiatry.

In January 2008 the Daily Mail
Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a United Kingdom newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun ....
 (UK) announced a forthcoming biography of Cruise, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography
Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography

Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography is a biography of actor Tom Cruise, written by Andrew Morton . The book was published in the United States in hardcover format on January 15, 2008 by St....
, by Andrew Morton
Andrew Morton (writer)

Andrew David Morton is a former United Kingdom Fleet Street tabloid journalist, and a biographer.Before moving into a career in journalism, he attended grammar school, then studied history at the University of Sussex....
. Among the book's claims, it said that Cruise had become the church's "second in command in all but name." This has been corroborated by former Scientology staff member Marc Headley. Cruise's attorney Bert Fields said that the unauthorized biography was full of "tired old lies" or "sick stuff".

IAS Freedom Medal of Valor ceremony video

On January 15, 2008, a video produced by the Church of Scientology featuring an interview with Cruise was leaked to the Internet and uploaded to YouTube
YouTube

YouTube is a Video hosting service website where users can upload, view and share video clips. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005....
. In the video, music from Cruise's Mission Impossible films plays in the background, and Cruise discusses what being a Scientologist means to him. According to The Times
The Times

The Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of News International....
, Cruise can be seen in the video "extolling the virtues of Scientology". The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in 1855. Excepting the Financial Times and The Herald , it is the only remaining national daily newspaper printed on traditional newsprint in the broadsheet format in the United Kingdom, as most other broadsheet publications have converted to the smaller tabloid/Compa...
 characterizes Cruise as "manic-looking" during the interview, "gush[ing] about his love for Scientology".

The Church of Scientology asserted that the video material that had been leaked to YouTube and other websites was "pirated and edited" and taken from a three-hour video produced for members of Scientology. YouTube removed the Cruise video from their site under threat of litigation. As of February 4, 2008, the web site Gawker.com
Gawker.com

Gawker.com is a blog based in New York City that bills itself as "The source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the Mass media industry....
 was still hosting a copy of the video, and other sites have posted the entire video. Lawyers for the Church of Scientology sent a letter to Gawker.com demanding that they remove the video, but Nick Denton of Gawker.com stated: "It's newsworthy, and we will not be removing it."

Oprah Winfrey Show incident

Cruiseonoprah
Cruise has made several expressions of his feelings for Holmes to the media, most notably the "couch incident" which took place on the popular The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show

The Oprah Winfrey Show is a United States Television syndication talk show, hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey, and is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
 of May 23, 2005. Cruise "jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend." The phrase "jumping the couch", fashioned after "jumping the shark
Jumping the shark

Jumping the shark is a colloquialism used by television critics and fans to denote that point in a TV show or movie series' history where the plot veers off into absurd story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations, particularly for a show with falling ratings apparently becoming more desperate to draw viewers in....
", is used to describe someone "going off the deep end" in public in a manner extreme enough to tarnish his or her reputation. It enjoyed a short-lived popularity, being chosen by the editors of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang
Historical Dictionary of American Slang

The Historical Dictionary of American Slang, often abbreviated HDAS, is the most comprehensive and thoroughly researched dictionary of American slang and the only American slang dictionary prepared entirely on historical principles....
 as the "slang term of the year" in 2005 and by the nonprofit group Global Language Monitor
Global Language Monitor

The Global Language Monitor is an Austin, Texas, Texas-based company that collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language....
 as one of its top phrases for the year.

The "couch incident" was voted #1 of 2005's "Most Surprising Television Moments" on a countdown on E!
E!

E!: Entertainment Television is an United States cable television and direct broadcast satellite network. From November 2006 onwards, it became wholly owned by Comcast....
 and was the subject of numerous parodies, including the epilogue of Scary Movie 4
Scary Movie 4

Scary Movie 4 is the fourth and last film of the Scary Movie franchise and is film director by David Zucker, screenwriter by Jim Abrahams, Craig Mazin and Pat Proft, and film producer by Craig Mazin and Robert K....
.

In early May 2008, Cruise reappeared on the Oprah Winfrey show to celebrate 25 years of being in the film business. The feature was a two hour special, the first hour was Oprah spending the day with Cruise at his house in Telluride, Colorado
Telluride, Colorado

The Town of Telluride is a Colorado municipalities#Home_Rule_Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous town of San Miguel County, Colorado in the southwestern portion of the U.S....
 on May 2. The second part was on May 5 with Cruise making an in studio appearance and ending with every member of the audience receiving a box DVD set of all the films Cruise had ever starred in.

Litigation related to gay rumors

  • The Daily Express newspaper
    Daily Express

    The Daily Express is a conservative, United Kingdom tabloid newspaper, in its heyday a middle-market title but nowadays very much downmarket....
     — During his marriage to actress Nicole Kidman, the couple endured public speculation about their sex life and rumors that Cruise was gay. In 1998, he sued a British tabloid that alleged that the marriage was a sham designed to cover up his homosexuality.
  • David Ehrenstein
    David Ehrenstein

    David Ehrenstein is an United States critic who focuses primarily on issues of homosexuality in cinema. His father was a Secular Jewish culture Jew with Poland ancestors, and his mother was of African American and White people Irish people descent....
     — Tom Cruise's lawyers threaten to sue Ehrenstein for his book titled "Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928–1998", that discussed Cruise's appeal to both men and women.
  • Chad Slater
    Kyle Bradford

    Kyle Bradford is the stage name of United States gay pornography Phil Notaro, who also used the alias Chad Slater. He specialised in movies featuring nude wrestling'....
     — In May 2001 he filed a lawsuit against gay porn actor Chad Slater (aka Kyle Bradford
    Kyle Bradford

    Kyle Bradford is the stage name of United States gay pornography Phil Notaro, who also used the alias Chad Slater. He specialised in movies featuring nude wrestling'....
    ). Slater had allegedly told the celebrity magazine Actustar that he had engaged in an affair with Cruise. Both Slater and Cruise denied having the affair, and in August 2001 Slater was ordered to pay 10 million USD to Cruise in damages after Slater declared he could not afford to defend himself against the suit and would therefore default.
  • Michael Davis — He also sued Michael Davis, publisher of Bold Magazine, who alleged but never confirmed that he had video that would prove Cruise was gay. The suit was dropped in exchange for a public statement by Davis that the video was not of Cruise and that Cruise was heterosexual.


Other litigation

  • Buffalo Beast newspaper – After The Beast's publication of their 50 Most Loathsome People of 2004 (which included Cruise in the list), Cruise's lawyer Bertram Fields
    Bertram Fields

    Bertram Fields is a Harvard-trained American lawyer famous for his work in the field of entertainment law; he has represented many of the leading studios, as well as individual celebrities including The Beatles, Warren Beatty, James Cameron, Mike Nichols, Joel Silver, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, and John Travolta....
     threatened to sue the small independent publication. The Beast, seeing the opportunity for nationwide exposure (particularly after the story broke on the entertainment program
    Celebrity Justice
    Celebrity Justice

    Celebrity Justice was an United States news show which ran from 2002 to 2005. It was produced by Harvey Levin Productions, and directed by Brad Kreisburg, and Rob Dorn for one episode in 2005....
    and later in mainstream newspapers) actively encouraged the lawsuit, effectively calling Fields's bluff. No lawsuit was ever filed and Cruise was included more prominently in the 2005 list.
  • TomCruise.com – In 2006, Cruise sued cybersquatter Jeff Burgar to obtain control of the TomCruise.com domain name. When owned by Burgar, the domain redirected to information about Cruise on Celebrity1000.com. The decision to turn TomCruise.com over to Cruise was handed down by WIPO on July 5, 2006. The decision was criticized by The Register
    The Register

    The Register is a United Kingdom technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice and Mike Magee in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service....
     suggesting that the WIPO conflict resolution system is flawed and that "if you were provided with the names of the panelists in any given case, you could predict with almost complete certainty what the outcome was."


Publicist

Cruise's more open attitude to Scientology
Scientology

Scientology is a Scientology beliefs and practices created by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics....
 has been attributed to the departure of his publicist
Publicist

A publicist is a person whose employment is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book or film....
 of 14 years, Pat Kingsley, in March 2004. He replaced her with his sister, fellow Scientologist Lee Anne DeVette, who served in that role until November 2005. He then demoted his sister and replaced her with veteran publicist Paul Bloch, from the publicity firm Rogers and Cowan. DeVette explained that it was her decision to work on philanthropic projects rather than publicity. Such restructuring is seen as a move to curtail publicity of his views on Scientology, as well as the hard-sell of his relationship with Katie Holmes backfiring with the public.

Filmography


See also

  • Brat Pack
    Brat Pack (movies)

    The Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors and actresses who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented :Category:Coming-of-age films in the 1980s....
  • Church of Scientology
    Church of Scientology

    The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology Scientology beliefs and practices....
  • List of Louisvillians
  • List of Scientologists
    List of Scientologists

    A Scientologist is a follower of the doctrines and beliefs of Scientology. Eileen Barker writes in New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response that the Church of Scientology considers any individual who has taken at least one Scientology course to be a Scientologist....
  • Supercouple
    Supercouple

    A supercouple is a popular or financially wealthy pairing that intrigues and fascinates the public in an intense or even obsessive fashion. The term was coined in the early 1980s when intense public interest in the fictional soap opera couple Luke Spencer and Laura Webber from General Hospital made the pair a popular culture phenomenon....
  • Tom Cruise: Unauthorized
    Tom Cruise: Unauthorized

    Tom Cruise: Unauthorized is a non-fiction biographical book about Tom Cruise, written by Wensley Clarkson. The book was published by Hastings House in 1998....
    (1998)
  • Tom Cruise: All the World's a Stage
    Tom Cruise: All the World's a Stage

    Tom Cruise: All the World's A Stage is an authorized biography of actor Tom Cruise, written by United Kingdom film critic Iain Johnstone. The book was first published by Hodder & Stoughton in a paperback format on October 1, 2006, and then again in a hardcover format on March 1, 2007, and a second paperback release, on May 1, 2007....
    (2006)
  • Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography
    Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography

    Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography is a biography of actor Tom Cruise, written by Andrew Morton . The book was published in the United States in hardcover format on January 15, 2008 by St....
    (2008)
  • TomKat
    TomKat

    Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, commonly referred to by the portmanteaus "TomKat" or "Tom-Kat", are an United States celebrity supercouple whose relationship attracts a great deal of worldwide media attention....


External links