Tom Cruise is the kind of actor who needs no introduction. The man, the myth, the Hollywood legend that we all love comes from humble beginnings, and it is amazing how he made a name for himself over the years. With iconic roles in many popular movies, Tom Cruise is a name that you can’t forget.
Here’s a rundown of Tom Cruise’s life as he went on to become the best TV actor in television history.
Early Life and Humble Beginnings of Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV was born on July 3, 1962, to working-class parents. When he was young, he would often be moving places because of his father’s job. When Tom was 16, his mother left his father and moved to Cincinnati. Not only that, but Tom had a multitude of personal challenges to deal with, such as dyslexia. However, Tom used that to his advantage and took the motivation to become an actor, and the rest is history.
Tom Cruise went to different schools during his childhood, and he eventually settled in New Jersey. There, he developed a keen interest in acting after he was inspired by a high school drama teacher. His dyslexia didn’t stop him from achieving his dream, and after high school, he paid all his attention to his acting career. He moved to New York in 1980 to start his acting career.
His acting career kick-started during the early years of the 1980s. He achieved more recognition with his films Endless Love in 1981 and Taps in the same year. However, his breakout movie was Risky Business in 1983, and from there, Tom went onward and upward. The scene that made him famous in the first place was the iconic scene in which he dances in his underwear.
You can read more about Tom Cruise’s early life and humble beginnings in this IMDb biography, which explains everything brilliantly.
Rise to Stardom in the 1980s and 1990s
When Tom turned 18, he moved to Los Angeles so that he could pursue a professional career as an actor. He first appeared in a series of television shows, but then he landed a small role in the 1981 movies Endless Love and Taps, which I mentioned earlier.
In 1983, the famous director Francis Ford Coppola cast Tom Cruise as a part of the youth cast members for The Outsiders alongside some other popular actors such as Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, and Emilio Estevez. Every actor’s acting skills were top-notch notch and this later opened up more horizons for each of them. For instance, Ralph Macchio went on to star in The Karate Kid the very next year.
Tom garnered so much success from the movie that in the same year, he managed to land roles in two movies, Risky Business and All the Right Moves. Both of these movies received so much praise that it skyrocketed Tom’s newly established career.
However, it was 1986 that really changed things for the veteran actor when he got the leading role in Top Gun, a movie that is loved even today. This was the movie that finally gave him his superstar status, and he became a teenage heartthrob of the 80s. In the same year, he starred in the lead role for The Color of Money as well, a well-known Martin Scorsese movie that was nominated for numerous Academy Awards.
In 1988, he starred in Cocktail and Rain Man, out of which Rain Man won 4 Academy Awards, including the Best Picture Award. Tom received a lot of praise for his performance in the movie. In the 90s, he continued to star in many popular movies with box-office success in each of them. These movies include Days of Thunder, Far and Away, Jerry Maguire, and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles.
Then came 1996, and Tom Cruise starred in the movie he is most known for, Mission: Impossible. The movie was a commercial success, and Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning is the main highlight of 2025. After the success of the first Mission: Impossible movie, it allowed Tom Cruise to star in further sequels of the movie. The best part is, he performed all of his stunts himself, which added more excitement to the series.
You can catch all of these movies online on various OTT platforms; the only thing that you need is an internet service reliable enough for you to stream all these movies as flawlessly as possible. I personally recommend using Xfinity Internet, as my own experience has been out-of-this-world whenever I have used it to stream my favorite Tom Cruise movies!
Reinvention and Resilience in the 2000s
As Tom Cruise progressed to become a Hollywood legend, he didn’t let anything get in his way. He continued through the 2000s while acting in films of all kinds. These movies include Sci-Fi ones such as Minority Report, War of the Worlds, while other movies include The Last Samurai, Collateral, and Tropic Thunder. While many of these movies were hits, some were flops, such as Lions for Lambs, which was a flop at the box office.
This goes to show how resilient Tom Cruise was with his acting career, and despite having flop movies, he didn’t take that as something that was demotivating for him. In fact, he excelled as he progressed with his movies, including the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Mission: Impossible and Franchise Dominance
Mission: Impossible was that one franchise that steered Tom Cruise’s career in the direction into what it is today. I believe it is the franchise that he is most known for, and that too for all the right reasons. Though the movie was an adaptation of the TV show that aired before it, the movie was a perfect rendition of it. In May 1996, when the movie was first released, the true fans of the show knew that they were in for a treat.
Everything about all the Mission: Impossible movies has been truly iconic. Whether it was the famous scene where Ethan is suspended over pressure sensors so that he can retrieve data, or it was when Ethan scaled the Burj Khalifa, or even hung from a plane. The best part was, all of these stunts were done by Tom Cruise himself, which symbolizes how versatile he is as an actor.
The franchise has always been so good that it has overshadowed a lot of other movies that Tom Cruise has been a part of. However, some movies will always remain iconic, such as his role as Maverick in Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick. Though it is an undeniable fact that the Mission: Impossible franchise will always hold a place of its own.
Here’s an article on how the Mission: Impossible franchise really impacted Tom Cruise’s career and helped it progress further.
Cultural Impact and Lasting Legacy of Tom Cruise
There wouldn’t be a shadow of a doubt if I said that Tom Cruise is among the best actors of Hollywood, even today, when he is appearing in movies such as Mission: Impossible. However, it isn’t just his movie career that makes him what he is today, it is his resilient personality that has made him reach where he is today.
You can see from his early life how he made a lot of sacrifices, especially when it came to family. He was never settled in one place, which meant that he couldn’t socialize much, and his dyslexia put a social strain on him, but he never let any of that pull him back, and he kept moving forward.
A Legend Still in Motion
Among all the legends of Hollywood, Tom Cruise is a Hollywood legend that can never be forgotten. He has proven his mettle every chance he got, and it’s pretty difficult to say that he’s a bad actor. He has poured his heart and soul into every character he has played, whether it was Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible or Maverick in Top Gun.
Not only can we look at Tom Cruise as an amazing actor, but we can always take inspiration from his resilience and learn that no matter how many obstacles we may have in our way, the grass is always greener on the other side!
