Tom Cruise biography

TOM CRUISE has achieved unprecedented success as an actor and producer in a career spanning two decades. He is a three-time Academy Award nominee whose films have earned in excess of six billion dollars worldwide. In addition, while continuing to explore new artistic challenges, Cruise has utilized his professional success as a vehicle for positive change, becoming an international advocate, activist and philanthropist in the fields of health and education.

War of the Worlds marks Cruise’s second collaboration with director Steven Spielberg. In 2002, Cruise starred in Spielberg’s futuristic thriller Minority Report.

Through Cruise/Wagner Productions, which he founded in 1993 with his partner, Paula Wagner, Cruise has moved seamlessly into the broader role of producer, bringing a range of diverse projects from new and established talents to the screen. The first film released under the C/W banner was the international hit Mission: Impossible, and in 1997 resulted in the company being honored with the Nova Award for Most Promising Producers in Theatrical Motion Pictures. The company went on to produce the critically acclaimed films Without Limits, Shattered Glass, Narc, and the period thriller The Others. The last marked Cruise’s first collaboration with director Alejandro Amenabar, whose film Abre Los Ojos became the basis for the C/W production Vanilla Sky, under the direction of Cameron Crowe. The producing team was honored recently with the UCLA /Producers Guild of America Vision Award.

Immediately following the release of War of the Worlds, Cruise will begin filming the third installment of the Cruise/Wagner blockbuster Mission: Impossible franchise, which has grossed over one billion dollars worldwide to date. In addition, in his role as producer through Cruise/Wagner Productions – which he founded in 1993 with his partner, Paula Wagner – he is producing Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst, set for release this fall.

Cruise made his feature film debut in 1981 at the age of nineteen in the romantic drama Endless Love, followed by the critically acclaimed Taps, co-starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders. His breakout performance in Risky Business earned him his first Golden Globe nomination in 1983. The role of Maverick in Tony Scott’s Top Gun catapulted Cruise to international stardom as the film went on to become the highest grossing picture of 1986.

He next starred opposite Paul Newman in Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money and opposite Dustin Hoffman in Barry Levinson’s Oscar-winning Rain Man. In 1989, Cruise received his first Academy Award nomination and earned the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his portrayal of Vietnam veteran and anti-war activist Ron Kovic in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July, which received a Best Picture nomination. His performance in Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men, opposite Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore, led to a third Golden Globe nomination, and, in 1997 he received his second Academy Award nomination and the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his work in Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire.

In 1999, Cruise received critical acclaim for his powerful performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ensemble drama Magnolia, earning a third Academy Award nomination and his third Golden Globe, for Best Supporting Actor. That same year, he starred in Stanley Kubrick’s final film, the psychological thriller Eyes Wide Shut.

His additional screen credits include Ron Howard’s epic Far and Away, Sydney Pollack’s legal thriller The Firm and Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire, based on the bestselling novel by Anne Rice. He most recently starred in the critically acclaimed box-office hit Collateral for director Michael Mann.

Cruise has been the recipient of numerous awards and tributes, reflecting both critical and commercial recognition within the industry and the broad popular support of audiences worldwide.

This November Cruise will receive the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for excellence in film from the British Academy of Film & Television Arts. He was recently honored with the MTV Generation Award, which celebrated Cruise as the actor of his generation. And in April 2005, Cruise received a David di Donatello award for lifetime achievement. He has been honored twice by the People’s Choice Awards, and received two Screen Actors Guild nominations for his work in Jerry Maguire and Magnolia. He was recognized by the Chicago Film Festival as the Actor of the Decade in 1993 and earned the NATO/SHOWEST Meritorious Achievement Award that same year. Cruise has also been honored with a Saturn Award for Vanilla Sky, both the Chicago Film Critics Award and the Blockbuster Award for Magnolia, and an MTV Award for Mission: Impossible 2.
Cruise has also been honored with tributes ranging from Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Man of the Year Award to the John Huston Award from the Artists Rights Foundation, The American Cinema Award for Distinguished Achievement in Film, and the American Cinematheque Award.

Tom Cruise Filmography
Actor
2006 Mission Impossible: 3
2005 War of the Worlds
2004 Collateral
2003 The Last Samurai
2002 Minority Report
2001 Vanilla Sky
2000 Mission Impossible: 2
1999 Magnolia
1999 Eyes Wide Shut
1996 Jerry Maguire
1996 Mission Impossible
1994 Interview with the Vampire
1993 The Firm
1992 A Few Good Men
1992 Far and Away
1990 Days of Thunder
1989 Born on the Fourth of July
1988 Rain Main
1986 The Color of Money
1986 Top Gun
1986 Legend
1983 All the Right Moves
1983 Risky Business
1983 Losin’ It
1983 The Outsiders
1981 Taps
1981 Endless Love

Producer
2006 Deathrace 3000
2006 Mission Impossible: 3
2005 Elizabethtown
2003 The Last Samurai
2003 Shattered Glass
2002 Narc
2001 Vanilla Sky
2001 The Others
2001 Mission Impossilbe: 2
1998 Without Limits
1996 Mission Impossible