Hollywood Shining Star Tom Cruise

Born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV to father Thomas Mapother III, an electrical engineer, and mother Mary Lee Pfeiffer.

Cruise had a close relationship with his three sisters: Marian, Lee Ann (who later became his publicist until November 2005) and Cass. He was seven when he was diagnosed with dyslexia and his parents divorced when he was twelve.

His parents moved house frequently and by the time he was 14, Cruise had attended fifteen different schools in the US and Canada. Finding his father "a bully and a coward … a merchant of chaos", Cruise dropped the name Mapother when his father refused to pay child support. He then enrolled at a Franciscan seminary to become a priest (at age 14) but dropped out after a year.

Briefly attending St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky, he was a paperboy for the Louisville Courier-Journal and finally settled at Glen Ridge High School, New Jersey. It was here that Cruise developed an interest in acting, after injuring his knee and being unable to continue on the school's wrestling team. He played the lead role in the school's production of 'Guys and Dolls' with great success.

After graduating from Glen Ridge High School in June 1980, Cruise headed for New York to pursue an acting career. He attended the Neighbourhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York City, studying drama with renowned acting coaches Phil Gushee and Sanford Meisner.

He also studied at the Actors Studio, New School University, New York. Cruise made his film debut with a small part in Franco Zeffirelli's 'Endless Love' (1981), starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. Having gained immediate notice, he was then cast as Cadet Captain David Shawn, with George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn, in the military drama 'Taps' (1981). The film had a mediocre response but helped Cruise gain further acting exposure and ensured a full filmmaking schedule for the next two years.

Hollywood's Leading Man

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama, A Few Good Men. The film grossed more than $15 million its first weekend, and earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. Over the next several years, Cruise made several more well-received movies, including The Firm (1993) andInterview with a Vampire (1994) co-starring Brad Pitt.

Next, Cruise hit the big screen with two huge hits—the $64 million blockbuster, Mission: Impossible (1996), which Cruise also produced, and the highly acclaimed Jerry McGuire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe. For the latter, Cruise earned a second Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe for Best Actor.

Cruise and Kidman spent much of 1997 and 1998 in England shooting Eyes Wide Shut, an erotic thriller that would be directorStanley Kubrick's final film before his death in 1999. The movie was released in the summer of 1999 to mixed reviews. That same year, Cruise appeared in the ensemble film Magnolia. His performance in the movie as a self-confident sex guru earned him another Golden Globe award and an additional Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Cruise then starred in the long-awaited smash hit Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000 alongside Anthony Hopkins, Thandie Newton, and Ving Rhames. In 2002, he starred in his second collaboration with director Cameron Crowe, Vanilla Sky, as well as Stephen Spielberg's Minority Report.

Cruise began 2003 with a trip to Australia to shoot the $100 million film, The Last Samurai. Then in 2005, he teamed up with Steven Spielberg again for the mega-hit, War of the Worlds

Actor Filmography

1.     Selling Time (2007)

2.     Lions for Lambs (2007)

3.     Mission: Impossible III (2006) ... Ethan Hunt

4.     War of the Worlds (2005) ... Ray Ferrier

5.     Collateral (2004) .... Vincent

6.     The Last Samurai (2003) ... Capt. Nathan Algren

7.     Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) .... Himself

8.     Minority Report (2002) .... Detective John Anderton

9.     Space Station (2002) (voice) .... Narrator

10. 74th Annual Academy Awards, The (2002) (TV) .... Speaker: introductory remarks

11. Who is Alan Smithee? (2002) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself

12. Vanilla Sky (2001) .... David Aames

13. America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001) (TV) .... Himself

14. 73rd Annual Academy Awards, The (2001) (TV) (uncredited) .... Presenter of Best Director

15. Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001) (voice) .... Narrator

16. 2000 MTV Movie Awards (2000) (TV)

17. Mission Improbable (2000) (TV) .... Himself 
... aka Being Tom Cruise (2000) (TV)

18. Mission: Impossible II (2000) .... Ethan Hunt 
... aka M:I-2 (2000) (USA: promotional abbreviation)

19. Magnolia (1999) .... Frank T.J. Mackey 
... aka mag-no'li-a (1999) (USA: promotional title)

20. Eyes Wide Shut (1999) .... Doctor William 'Bill' Harford 
... aka EWS (1999) (USA: promotional abbreviation)

21. American Film Institute Salute to Dustin Hoffman, The (1999) (TV) .... Himself

22. Junket Whore (1998) .... Himself

23. Jerry Maguire (1996) .... Jerry Maguire

24. Mission: Impossible (1996) .... Ethan Hunt 
... aka Mission Impossible (1996)

25. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) .... Lestat de Lioncourt 
... aka Interview with the Vampire (1994) (USA: short title)

26. Firm, The (1993) .... Mitch McDeere

27. Time Out: The Truth About HIV, AIDS, and You (1992) (V) .... Himself

28. Few Good Men, A (1992) .... Lieutenant Daniel Alistair Kaffee

29. Far and Away (1992) .... Joseph Donnelly

30. American Film Institute Salute to Kirk Douglas, The (1991) (TV) .... Himself

31. 63rd Annual Academy Awards, The (1991) (TV) (uncredited) .... Presenter - Best Director

32. Days of Thunder (1990) .... Cole Trickle

33. Born on the Fourth of July (1989) .... Ron Kovic

34. Rain Man (1988) .... Charlie Babbitt

35. Young Guns (1988) (uncredited) .... Man Who Is Shot

36. Cocktail (1988) .... Brian Flanagan

37. Color of Money, The (1986) .... Vincent Lauria

38. Top Gun (1986) .... Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

39. Legend (1985) .... Jack

40. All the Right Moves (1983) .... Stefen 'Stef' Djordjevic 
... aka All Right (1983)

41. Risky Business (1983) .... Joel Goodson

42. Losin' It (1983) .... Woody

43. Outsiders, The (1983) .... Steve Randle

44. Taps (1981) .... David Shawn

45. Endless Love (1981) .... Billy

  PHOTOGENIC TOM CRUISE:

Reference:

http://www.biography.com/people/tom-cruise-9262645

www.imdb.com

http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/tom-cruise.html