Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (pronounced /ˈtɒməs ˈkruːz ˈmeɪpɒθər/; born July 3, 1962), better known by his screen name of Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards. His first leading role was the 1983 filmRisky Business, which has been described as "A Generation X 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, Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of Mission: Impossible action films in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to these heroic roles, he has starred in a variety of other successful films such as Days of Thunder (1990), Jerry Maguire (1996), Magnolia (1999), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004) and War of the Worlds (2005).
In 2005, the Hollywood journalist, Edward Jay Epstein argued that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) 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 film studio, with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his controversial support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology.
Cruise's early life was so tough it's a bona fide miracle that he's come so far. He was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse, New Jersey on the 3rd of July, 1962, to nomadic parents. His mother, Mary Lee Pfeiffer from Louisiana, had married Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electronics engineer from the University of Kentucky, whose job with General Electric took them all over. Daughter Lee Anne was born in Louisville, then Marian, Tom and Cass (a third daughter) were born in Syracuse. Then they moved to Ottawa, to Missouri, back to New Jersey, and back to Louisville, before finally divorcing when Tom was 11.
Cruise would later have little good to say about his father. "He was a bully and a coward," he'd recall in an interview with Parade magazine. "He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. He was an antisocial personality, inconsistent, unpredictable. It was a great lesson in my life - how he'd lull you in, make you feel safe and then BANG!" Cruise would not see his father for 10 years, when the older man was dying of cancer. Even then there would be no apology, no forgiveness, no closure, his father only seeing Tom at all if he swore not to mention the past.
If you had told 14 year old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be considered one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to become a priest. Nonetheless, this sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in July 1962 in Syracuse, New York, was destined to become Tom Cruise, one of the highest paid and most sought after actors in screen history. The only son (among four children) of nomadic parents young Tom spent his boyhood eternally on the move and by the time he was 14 he had attended 15 different schools in the US and Canada. He finally settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, he developed an interest in acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next 15 years of his life are the stuff of legends.
He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences. Though below average height and not particularly handsome in the traditional sense, within 5 years Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top grossing films of the decade including Top Gun (1986); The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). By the 1990s and 2000s he was one of the highest paid actors in the world earning an average 15 million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible II (2000), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), and Jerry Maguire (1996) - for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor. In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church Of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughtful man well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the best liked members of the movie community. He was married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth.
Movie Year | Movie Name | Movie Director | Movies Cast |
1981 | Endless Love | Franco Zeffirelli | Brooke Shields, Shirley Knight, Martin Hewitt, Richard Kiley, Tom Cruise |
- | Taps | Harold Becker | George C. Scott, Ronny Cox, Timothy Hutton, Tom Cruise |
1983 | The Outsiders | Francis Ford Coppola | Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise |
- | Losin’ It | Curtis Hanson | Tom Cruise, John Stockwell, Jackie Earle Haley, Shelley Long |
- | Risky Business | Paul Brickman | Tom Cruise, Joe Pantoliano, Rebecca De Mornay, Bronson Pinchot |
- | All the Right Moves | Michael Chapman | Tom Cruise, Lea Thompson, Craig T. Nelson, Gary Graham |
1985 | Legend | Ridley Scott | Tom Cruise, Tim Curry, Mia Sara, David Bennent, Billy Barty |
1986 | Top Gun | Tony Scott | Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards |
- | The Color of Money | Martin Scorsese | Tom Cruise, Paul Newman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, John Turturro |
1988 | Cocktail | Roger Donaldson | Tom Cruise, Elisabeth Shue, Bryan Brown, Laurence Luckinbill |
- | Young Guns | Christopher Cain | Emilio Estevez, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland…Tom Cruise |
- | Rain Man | Barry Levinson | Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Valeria Golino, Jack Murdock |
1989 | Born on the Fourth of July | Oliver Stone | Tom Cruise, Caroline Kava, Raymond J. Barry, Jamie Talisman |
1990 | Days of Thunder | Tony Scott | Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Cary Elwes |
1992 | Far and Away | Ron Howard | Tom Cruise, Thomas Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Barbara Babcock |
- | A Few Good Men | Rob Reiner | Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, Kiefer Sutherland |
1993 | The Firm | Sydney Pollack | Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Hal Holbrook |
1994 | Interview with the Vampire | Neil Jordan | Brad Pitt, Virginia McCollam, Christian Slater, Tom Cruise |
1996 | Mission: Impossible | Brian De Palma | Tom Cruise, Emmanuelle Béart, Jon Voight, Jean Reno |
- | Jerry Maguire | Cameron Crowe | Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jerry O’Connell |
1998 | “3rd Rock from the Sun” | Terry Hughes | John Lithgow, French Stewart, Kristen Johnston…Tom Cruise |
1999 | Eyes Wide Shut | Stanley Kubrick | Tom Cruise, Madison Eginton, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack |
- | Magnolia | Paul Thomas Anderson | Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Tom Cruise |
2000 | Mission: Impossible II | John Woo | Tom Cruise, Thandie Newton, Dougray Scott, Richard Roxburgh |
2001 | Vanilla Sky | Cameron Crowe | Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Penélope Cruz, Kurt Russell |
2002 | Minority Report | Steven Spielberg | Tom Cruise, Steve Harris, Max von Sydow, Neal McDonough |
- | Austin Powers in Goldmember | Jay Roach | Mike Myers, Seth Green, Beyoncé Knowles… Tom Cruise |
2003 | The Last Samurai | Edward Zwick | Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, William Atherton, Ray Godshall Sr |
2004 | Collateral | Michael Mann | Tom Cruise, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jamie Foxx, Mark Ruffalo |
2005 | War of the Worlds | Steven Spielberg | Tom Cruise, Miranda Otto, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin |
2006 | Mission: Impossible III | J.J. Abrams | Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michelle Monaghan |
2007 | Lions for Lambs | Robert Redford | Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Andrew Garfield |
2008 | Tropic Thunder | Ben Stiller | Jeff Kahn, Anthony Ruivivar, Robert Downey Jr… Tom Cruise |
- | Valkyrie | Bryan Singer | Tom Cruise, David Bamber, Manfred-Anton Algrang, Stephen Fry |
2010 | Knight and Day | James Mangold | Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Maggie Grace, Paul Dano |
2011 | Mission: Impossible IV | Brad Bird | Tom Cruise, |
No comments:
Post a Comment