One of the biggest movie stars in the history of modern cinema, American actor and producer Tom Cruise`s stellar Hollywood career spans well over three decades. Since his debut in the 1981 romantic drama Endless Love, Cruise has appeared in over 40 feature films, earning 3 Oscar nominations and billions in box office returns along the way. Of these, more than 20 movies have grossed over $200 million worldwide, underlining Cruise`s credentials as one of the most bankable superstars of all time. He has also won three Golden Globes in the course of his illustrious career, for performances in the movies Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Jerry Maguire (1996) and Magnolia (1999). The international audience is perhaps best familiar with the actor`s iconic portrayal of IMF agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible film series (1996-present), which has so far produced six movies that have earned over $3 billion in total.

EARLY LIFE

Born in Syracuse, New York, Cruise is the son of Mary Lee, a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. The actor, along with his three sisters, Lee Anne, Marian and Cass, was raised in a typical Catholic family. Up until the fifth grade, Cruise studied at the Robert Hopkins Public School, which was where he was first exposed to acting and performing arts.

PERSONAL LIFE

Tom Cruise`s first publicized relationship was in the mid 1980s with Rebecca De Mornay, who happened to be a part of his film Risky Business. His next significant relationship was with Patti Scialfa, the immensely popular singer-songwriter. Cruise married his first wife Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987. They divorced three years later, on February 4, 1990. He adopted two children, Isabella and Connor Antony, with his second wife Nicole Kidman, whom he married in December 1990, and after living together for more than decade, the couple filed for divorce in 2001.

By April of 2005, Tom Cruise was dating actress Katie Holmes, whom he married on November 18th, 2006. In April 2006, the couple had their first daughter named Suri. In June 2012, Holmes filed for divorce. Subsequently, the couple signed the divorce settlement in July, ending their five-and-a-half-year-old marriage.

MOVIE CAREER

Cruise debuted in 1981 with the romantic drama titled Endless Love alongside Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, and Shirley Knight. Although the film was highly successful at the box office, Cruise did not garner any attention or praise for his performance. The actor continued to work in several films but struggled to get any recognition. It wasn`t until 1986 that he proved to be a star with his performance in the action film Top Gun, which won him not only millions of fans but also critical acclaim. The actor then appeared in The Color of Money, where his portrayal of Vincent Lauria, a charismatic pool player and video gaming enthusiast, won him immense praise from the critics and the audience. The year 1988 turned out to be a turning point in Cruise`s career as his popularity catapulted, courtesy his brilliant performance in the Barry Levinson-directed comedy-drama film Rain Man.

In 1990, Cruise turned story writer for his movie Day of Thunder, which opened to mixed critical reviews but emerged to be a massive commercial hit, grossing more than 157.9 million USD. His next major hit came with the 1992 legal drama A Few Good Men, which revolved around the lives of two American Marines charged with the murder of a fellow marine and their court-martial. The film won several nominations at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards, while Cruise was nominated for a Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor.

By the mid 1990`s, Tom Cruise had already established himself as one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood with stellar performances in The Firm (1993) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). Two years later, in 1996, he starred in Mission: Impossible, which went on to become the third-highest grossing movie of the year. Mission: Impossible would eventually go on to become one of the biggest and the most successful film franchises. Later in the same year, the actor starred in the critically acclaimed comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire where he played the role of a sports agent. The film, which received nominations at several prestigious award functions, won Cruise his maiden Golden Globe Award.

Cruise did not have any releases over the next couple of years barring his production venture, Without Limits (1998), which was a commercial hit. He made his comeback in 1999 with the erotic drama film Eyes Wide Shut, which opened to positive reviews from the critics and grossed about 162 million USD at the box office. In 2000, Cruise reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible II. Although the film received mixed critical reviews, it was a massive commercial hit. In his solitary release in 2001, the superstar starred in the American science fiction psychological thriller Vanilla Sky.

His next project was the critically acclaimed film Minority Report, which was declared a massive commercial hit and sold more than 400 million DVDs within the first few months of its home release. His other two films of the year - Austin Powers in Goldmember and Narc - opened to average reviews. Following the mediocre end to 2002, Cruise started 2003 on a high by starring in the Japanese epic historical war film The Last Samurai directed by Edward Zwick. Cruise`s portrayal of the retired US military officer won him praise from all quarters.

In 2006, Cruise starred in the third installment of the Mission: Impossible series, which was directed by J.J. Abrams. The movie collected close to $400 million at the box office, and holds a healthy 70% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This was followed by a remarkable cameo in the action comedy Tropic Thunder (2008), the well-received historical thriller Valkyrie (2008) and the action comedy Knight and Day (2010), where he starred alongside Cameron Diaz. The actor`s unique gift for headlining popular franchises continued to favour him in the subsequent years, as the action thriller films Jack Reacher (2012) and its sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016); and the highly acclaimed Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) did phenomenally well at the box office. In between, he also had his share of duds, with the action-adventure film The Mummy (2017) proving to be a major disappointment in every aspect.

In 2018, Cruise reprised the role of Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, the sixth installment in the celebrated film series. The movie, which co-starred Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Henry Cavill and Michelle Monaghan, which opened to positive reviews. He then featured in Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two (2024).