Acting
Cruise first appeared in a very
small bit part in the 1981 film Endless Love, followed by
a major supporting role as a crazed military school student in Taps later
that year. In 1983, Cruise was part of the ensemble cast of The
Outsiders. That same year he appeared in All the Right Moves and Risky
Business, which has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a
career-maker for Tom Cruise", and which, along with 1986's Top
Gun, cemented his status as a Superstar. Cruise also played the male
lead (Jack O' the Green) in Legend (released 1986).
Cruise followed up Top Gun with The
Color of Money, which came out the same year, and which paired him
with Paul Newman. 1988 saw him star in Cocktail, which earned
him a nomination for the Razzie Award for Worst Actor. Later that year he
starred with Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, which won the Academy
Award for Best Film and Cruise the Kansas City Film Critics Circle
Award for Best Supporting Actor. Cruise portrayed real-life
paralyzed Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovicin 1989's Born on
the Fourth of July, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best
Actor - Motion Picture Drama, the Chicago Film Critics Association Award
for Best Actor, the People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture
Actor, a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and
Cruise's first Best Actor Academy Award nomination.
Cruise's next films were Days of Thunder (1990)
and Far and Away (1992), both of which co-starred
then-wife Nicole Kidman as his love interest. In 1994, Cruise starred
along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian
Slater in Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, a
gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best-selling
novel. The film was well received, although Rice was initially quite outspoken
in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film, as Julian Sands was
her first choice. Upon seeing the film however, she paid $7,740 for a two-page
ad in Daily Variety praising his performance and apologizing
for her previous doubts about him.
In 1996, Cruise appeared as superspy Ethan
Hunt in the reboot of Mission: Impossible, which he
produced. In 1996, he took on the title role in Jerry Maguire, for
which he earned a Golden Globe and his second nomination for
an Academy Award. In 1999, Cruise costarred with Kidman in the
erotic Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut, and took a
rare supporting role as a motivational speaker Frank T.J. Mackey in Magnolia,
for which he received another Golden Globe and nomination for
an Academy Award.
In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in
the second installment of the Mission Impossible films,
releasing Mission: Impossible II. The film was directed by Hong
Kong director John Woo and branded with his gun fu style,
and it continued the series' blockbuster success at the box office, taking in
almost $547M in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third
highest grossing film of the year. Cruise received an MTV Movie
Award as Best Male Performance for this film. His next five films were
major critical and commercial successes. The following year Cruise starred
in the romantic thriller Vanilla Sky (2001) with Cameron
Diazand Penélope Cruz. In 2002, Cruise starred in
the dystopian science fiction thriller, Minority Report which
was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the science fiction
short story by Philip K. Dick.
In 2003, he starred in the Edward Zwick's
historical drama The Last Samurai, for which he received a Golden
Globe nomination as best actor. In 2005, Cruise worked again with Steven
Spielberg in War of the Worlds, a loose adaptation of the H.
G. Wells novel of the same name, which became the fourth highest grossing
film of the year with US$591.4 million worldwide. Also in 2005, he won the
People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star, and the MTV Generation
Award. Cruise was nominated for seven Saturn Awards between 2002 and
2009, winning once. Nine of the ten films he starred in during the decade made
over $100 million at the box office.
In 2006, he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in the
third installment of the Mission Impossible film series, Mission:
Impossible III. The film was more positively received by critics than its
predecessor, and grossed nearly $400 million at the box office. In
2007, Cruise took a rare supporting role for the second time in Lions
for Lambs, which was a commercial disappointment. This was followed by an
unrecognizable appearance as "Less Grossman" in the 2008 comedy Tropic
Thunder with Ben Stiller andJack Black. This performance
earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. Cruise played the central
role in the historical thrillerValkyrie released on December 25,
2008 to box office success.
In March 2010, Cruise completed filming the
action-comedy Knight and Day, in which he re-teamed with former
costar Cameron Diaz; the film was released on June 23, 2010. On February
9, 2010, Cruise confirmed that he would star in Mission: Impossible –
Ghost Protocol, the fourth installment in the Mission:Impossible series.
The film was released in December 2011 to high critical acclaim and
box office success. Unadjusted for ticket price inflation, it is Cruise's
biggest commercial success to date.
On May 6, 2011, Cruise was awarded a humanitarian
award from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Museum of Tolerance for his work as
a dedicated philanthropist. In mid-2011, Cruise started shooting the
movie Rock of Ages, in which he played the character Stacee
Jaxx. The film was released in June 2012.
As of 2013, Cruise's films have grossed about $7.3
billion worldwide.
to be continued..