Cruise, Tom 1962–
CRUISE, Tom 1962–
PERSONAL
Original name, Thomas Cruise Mapother IV; born July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, NY; son of Thomas Cruise III (an electrical engineer) and Mary Lee (a special education teacher) Mapother; married Mimi Rogers (an actress), May 9, 1987 (divorced, 1990); married Nicole Kidman (an actress), December 24, 1990 (divorced, 2001); adopted children: (second marriage) Isabella Jane, Connor Antony. Religion: Scientologist.
Addresses: Agent —–Rick Nicita, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Publicist —Pat Kingsley, PMK/HBH, 8500 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 700, Beverly Hills, CA 90211.
Career: Actor, director, and producer. Cruise/Wagner Productions, producer.
Member: Earth Communications Office (board member).
Awards, Honors: Golden Globe Award nomination, best actor in a comedy or musical motion picture, 1983, for Risky Business; Special Award, box office star of the year, ShoWest Convention, National Association of Theatre Owners, 1987; Academy Award nomination, Golden Globe Award, Chicago Film Festival Critics Award, and Film Award nomination, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, all best actor, 1989, for Born on the Fourth of July; selected one of the fifty most beautiful people in the world, People Weekly, 1990, 1991, and 1997; People's Choice Award, favorite motion picture actor, 1990; Golden Globe Award nomination, best actor, 1992, MTV Movie Award nominations, most desirable male and best male performance, 1993, for A Few Good Men; staronthe Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1993; MTV Movie Award nomination (with Nicole Kidman), best on–screen duo, 1993, for Far and Away; named Hasty Pudding Man of the Year, Hasty Pudding Theatricals, 1994; People's Choice Award, favorite dramatic motion picture actor, 1994; MTV Movie Award nominations, most desirable male and best male performance, 1994, for The Firm; MTV Award nominations, most desirable male, best villain, and best on–screen duo (with Brad Pitt), 1995, for Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; Golden Globe Award nomination, Academy Award nomination, Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, and National Board of Review Award, all best actor, Golden Satellite Award, best actor in a comedy or musical motion picture, MTV Movie Award, best male performance, and Blockbuster Entertainment Award, favorite actor in a comedy or romance, all 1996, for Jerry Maguire; Nova Award (with Paula Wagner), most promising producer in theatrical motion pictures, Producers Guild of America, 1996, for Mission: Impossible; American Cinematheque Gala Tribute Award, 1996; Blockbuster Entertainment Award, favorite supporting actor—drama, Academy Award nomination, best actor in a supporting role, Chicago Film Critics Association Award, best supporting actor, Golden Globe Award, best performance, Golden Satellite Award nomination, best performance by an actor in a supporting role, Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, outstanding performance by a cast in a theatrical motion picture (with others) and outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role, 2000, all for Magnolia; Special Silver Ribbon, Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, 2000; Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination, favorite actor—drama/romance, 2000, for Eyes Wide Shut; Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination, favorite actor—action, and MTV Movie Award, best male performance, 2001, for Mission: Impossible II; Wannabe Award, Kids' Choice Awards, 2001; Saturn Award, best actor, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, 2002, for Vanilla Sky; Saturn Award, best actor, and Empire Award, best actor, 2003, for Minority Report; Golden Globe Award nomination, best performance by an actor in a motion picture, Golden Satellite Award nomination, best performance by an actor in a motion picture—drama, Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award nomination (with others), PGA Golden Laurel Awards, 2004, all for The Last Samurai.
CREDITS
Film Appearances:
(Film debut) Billy, Endless Love, Universal, 1981.
David Shawn, Taps, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1981.
Woody, Losin' It, Embassy, 1983.
Steve Randle, The Outsiders, Warner Bros., 1983.
Joel Goodson, Risky Business, Warner Bros., 1983.
Stefen "Stef" Djordjevic, All the Right Moves (also known as All Right ), Twentieth Century–Fox, 1983.
Jack, Legend, Twentieth Century–Fox/Universal, 1985.
Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Top Gun, Paramount, 1986.
Vincent Lauria, The Color of Money, Buena Vista, 1986.
Brian Flanagan, Cocktail, Buena Vista, 1988.
Charlie Babbitt, Rain Man, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer/United Artists, 1988.
(Uncredited) Cowboy shot in gun battle at McSween's, Young Guns, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1988.
Ron Kovic, Born on the Fourth of July, Universal, 1989.
Cole Trickle, Days of Thunder, Paramount, 1990.
Joseph Donelly, Far and Away, Universal, 1992.
Lieutenant J. G. Daniel Kaffee, A Few Good Men, Columbia, 1992.
Mitch McDeere, The Firm, Paramount, 1993.
Lestat de Lioncourt, Interview with the Vampire (also known as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles ), Warner Bros., 1994.
Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible, Paramount, 1996.
Jerry Maguire, Jerry Maguire (also known as The Agent ), TriStar, 1996.
Junket Whore, 1998.
Dr. Bill Harford, Eyes Wide Shut (also known as EWS ), Warner Bros., 1999.
Frank T. J. Mackey, Magnolia (also known as mag– no'li–a ), New Line Cinema, 1999.
Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible II (also known as M: I–2 ), Paramount, 2000.
Behind the Mission: The Making of "M: I–2 " (also known as Behind the Mission: The Making of "Mission: Impossible II "), 2000.
Narrator, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, 2001.
Code of Conduct, 2001.
David Aames, Vanilla Sky, Paramount, 2001.
Detective John Anderton, Minority Report, Twentieth Century–Fox, 2002.
Narrator, Space Station 3–D, IMAX, 2002.
Prelude to a Dream, 2002.
Hitting It Hard, 2002.
Cameo, Austin Powers in Goldmember (also known as Austin Powers: Goldmember ), New Line Cinema, 2002.
Nathan Algren, The Last Samurai, Warner Bros., 2003.
Vincent, Collateral, Paramount, 2004.
Film Producer:
(With Paula Wagner) Mission: Impossible, Paramount, 1996.
Without Limits, Warner Bros., 1998.
Mission: Impossible II (also known as M: I–2 ), 2000.
Vanilla Sky, 2001.
The Last Samurai, 2003.
Suspect Zero, 2004.
Film Executive Producer:
The Others (also known as Les autres and Los otros ), 2001.
Narc, 2002.
Shattered Glass, 2003.
Television Appearances; Specials:
The 19th Annual American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to Kirk Douglas (also known as The American Film Institute Salute to Kirk Douglas ), CBS, 1991.
Host, MTV's 10th Anniversary Special, MTV, 1991.
Rock the Vote, Fox, 1992.
Hollywood Hotshots, Fox, 1992.
Fox/MTV Guide to Summer '92, Fox, 1992.
Barbara Walters Special, ABC, 1992.
And the Winner Is, syndicated, 1993.
Barbara Walters Presents the Ten Most Fascinating People of 1996, ABC, 1996.
Fire and Ice Ball '97, E! Entertainment Television, 1997.
A Salute to Dustin Hoffman (also known as The 27th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to Dustin Hoffman ), ABC, 1999.
Ron Howard: Hollywood's Favorite Son, Arts and Entertainment, 1999.
Intimate Portrait: Melissa Etheridge, Lifetime, 1999.
Interviewee, Entertainers 2000, E! Entertainment Television, 2000.
Mission: Improbable (also known as Being Tom Cruise ), 2000.
America: A Tribute to Heroes, 2001.
Interviewee, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, Cinemax, 2001.
A Look Inside: The Others, 2001.
(Uncredited; in archive footage) Who Is Alan Smithee?, AMC, 2002.
(In archive footage) Shirtless: Hollywood's Sexiest Men, AMC, 2002.
Road to the Red Carpet, E! Entertainment Television, 2002.
Interviewee, The Barbara Walters Special, ABC, 2002.
Back in the U. S., ABC, 2002.
Interviewee, E! Entertainer of the Year 2003, E! Entertainment Television, 2003.
Television Appearances; Episodic:
Late Night with David Letterman, 1988.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, 1990.
The Rosie O'Donnell Show, syndicated, 1996.
Host, "Goes Cell–ular," The Magic School Bus, PBS, 1997.
Guy on couch, "Dick and the Other Guy," 3rd Rock from the Sun, NBC, 1998.
"25 Toughest Stars," E! Rank, E! Entertainment Television, 2001.
The Ray Martin Show, 2001.
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 2001, 2002, 2003.
Late Show with David Letterman, 2002.
The View, 2002, 2003.
The Oprah Winfrey Show, syndicated, 2002, 2003.
(In archive footage) Love Chain, E! Entertainment Television, 2003.
Tinseltown.TV, 2003.
Dateline NBC, NBC, 2003.
The Today Show, 2003.
Larry King Live, CNN, 2003.
The Early Show, CBS, 2003.
Inside the Actors Studio, Bravo, 2004.
Film '72, 2004.
On Air with Ryan Seacrest, 2004.
Also appeared in an episode of Amazing Stories, NBC; Movie House.
Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:
The 61st Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1989.
Presenter, The 63rd Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1991.
Presenter, The 66th Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 1994.
The Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, 1996.
Presenter, The 54th Annual Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 1997.
The 2000 MTV Movie Awards, MTV, 2000.
2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Fox, 2000.
Nickelodeon's 14th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, Nickelodeon, 2001.
Presenter, The 58th Annual Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 2001.
The 2001 MTV Movie Awards, MTV, 2001.
The 73rd Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2001.
Young Hollywood Awards, 2001.
The 74th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2002.
The 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, NBC, 2002.
(Uncredited), 2003 ABC World Stunt Awards, USA Network, 2003.
Television Director; Episodic:
"The Frightening Framis," Fallen Angels, Showtime, 1993.
Stage Appearances:
Appeared in a dinner theater production of Godspell.
RECORDINGS
Videos:
Time Out: The Truth about HIV, AIDS, and You, 1992.
WRITINGS
Screenplays:
(Story; with Robert Towne) Days of Thunder, 1990.
OTHER SOURCES
Books:
Sanello, Frank, Cruise: The Unauthorized Biography, 1995.
Periodicals:
Cosmopolitan, January, 1984.
Entertainment Weekly, December 20, 1996, p. 20; December 27, 1996, p. 30; June 14, 2002, p. 30; December 14, 2001, p. 34.
Interview, November, 1994.
Maclean's, August 15, 1983; November 7, 1983.
Mademoiselle, April, 1985.
Moviegoer, December, 1985.
National Review, October 14, 1983.
New Republic, September 19, 1983.
Newsweek, August 15, 1983; November 7, 1983.
New Yorker, September 5, 1983.
Parade, January 8, 1989.
People Weekly, September 5, 1983; March 5, 1984; August 13, 1990; May 3, 1993; November 16, 1998, p. 11; March 15, 1999, p. 130, July 30, 2001, p. 68; February 19, 2001, p. 48; May 22, 2000, p. 136; December 15, 2003, p. 73; July 21, 2003, pp. 60, 62.
Premiere, July, 1988.
Rolling Stone, January 11, 1990; May 28, 1992.
Seventeen, February, 1984; April, 1985.
Sports Illustrated, November 14, 1983.
Teen, November, 1982; December, 1983.
Time, December 14, 1981; April 4, 1983; November 7, 1983; June 24, 2002, p. 56.
Cruise, Tom
CRUISE, Tom
Nationality: American. Born: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse, New York, 3 July 1962. Education: Attended high school in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Family: Married 1) the actress Mimi Rogers, 1987 (divorced 1990); 2) the actress Nicole Kidman, 1990, son: Connor, daughter: Isabella. Career: 1981—film debut in Endless Love; 1993—directed an episode of TV series Fallen Angels. Awards: Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama, for Born on the Fourth of July, 1990; Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year, 1994; Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Comedy/Musical, National Board of Review Best Actor Award, and Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical, for Jerry Maquire, 1997; Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, and Chicago Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor Award, for Magnolia, 2000. Agent: Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, U.S.A.
Films as Actor:
- 1981
Endless Love (Zeffirelli) (as Billy); Taps (Becker) (as David Shawn)
- 1983
Losin' It (Hanson) (as Woody); The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola) (as Steven Randall); Risky Business (Brickman) (as Joel Goodson); All the Right Moves (Chapman) (as Stef Djordevic)
- 1985
Legend (Ridley Scott) (as Jack)
- 1986
Top Gun (Tony Scott) (as Lt. Pete Mitchell); The Color of Money (Scorsese) (as Vincent)
- 1988
Cocktail (Donaldson) (as Doug Coughlin); Rain Man (Levinson) (as Charlie Babbitt)
- 1989
Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone) (as Ron Kovic)
- 1990
Days of Thunder (Tony Scott) (as Cole Trickle)
- 1992
A Few Good Men (Rob Reiner) (as Lt. J. G. Daniel Kaffe); Far and Away (Ron Howard) (as Joseph Donelly)
- 1993
The Firm (Pollack) (as Mitch McDeere)
- 1994
Interview with the Vampire (as Lestat de Lioncourt)
- 1996
Mission: Impossible (DePalma) (as Ethan Hunt, + pr)
- 1997
Jerry Maguire (Crowe) (as title role)
- 1999
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick); Magnolia (Anderson) (as Dr. William Harford)
- 2000
Mission Impossible 2 (as Ethan Hunt)
- 2002
Minority Report (Spielberg) (as John Anderton)
Publications
By CRUISE: articles—
Interview in Ecran Fantastique (Paris), August 1985.
Interview in Interview (New York), May 1986.
Interview with Robert Scheer, in Playboy (Chicago), January 1990.
Interview with Patrick Goldstein, in Rolling Stone (New York), 28 May 1992.
"60 Minutes with Tom Cruise," interview with S. Rebello, in Movieline, December 1992.
"The Interview, the Vampire, the Actor," interview with Ingrid Sischy, in Interview (New York), November 1994.
"Cruise Vamps it Up!," interview with Barry Norman in Radio Times (London), 14 January 1995.
On CRUISE: books—
Anthony, Jolene M., Tom Cruise, New York, 1988.
Netter, Susan, Cruise Control: The Unauthorized Biography, New York, 1988.
Cross, Edward, Top Gun: The Films of Tom Cruise, Las Vegas, 1990.
Clarkson, Wensley, Tom Cruise: Inside Story, 1994.
Sanello, Frank, Tom Cruise: The Strictly Unauthorised Biography, London, 1994.
Sellers, Robert, Tom Cruise: Biography, New York, 1995.
Liljedahl, Karen, Tom Cruise, Kansas City, 1998.
On CRUISE: articles—
Current Biography 1987, New York, 1987.
"Tom Cruise," in Films and Filming (London), April 1987.
Gabriel, Trip, "Cruise at the Crossroads," in Rolling Stone (New York), 11 January 1990.
Pye, Michael, "Boy Wonder with a Stain of Anger," in Independent on Sunday (London), 18 March 1990.
Richardson, J. H., "Catch a Rising Star," in Premiere (New York), September 1993.
Lurie, Rod, "No More Mr. Nice Guy," in Los Angeles Magazine, October 1993.
Norman, Barry, "Cruise Vamps It Up!" in Radio Times (London), 14 January 1995.
Radio Times (London), 24 February 1996.
Campbell, V., and C. Oakley, "A Star Is Born," in Movieline (Escondido), vol. 7, June 1996.
Conant, J., "The Professional," in Vanity Fair (New York), June 1996.
Friend, T., "Man with a Mission," in Premiere (Boulder), June 1996.
Paterson, Elaine, "Mission: Improbably," in Time Out (London), no. 1347, 12 June 1996.
* * *
Despite his male model features and proven box-office clout, there is something thin and underdeveloped about Tom Cruise's screen image. Has any leading man gotten so much mileage out of playing variations on the same theme in such a relatively short time span? Immensely likable, Cruise calculatedly plays the cocky all-American overachiever who is ultimately humbled by life-lessons learned at the knee of an older male mentor and eventually humanized by the love of the proverbial good woman. Capable of bending the law slightly on occasion, this self-assured locker room antihero gets knocked down a few pegs in formulaic fashion; it is a neatly stage-managed persona that has served Cruise well in Risky Business, Cocktail, Top Gun, The Color of Money, Rain Man, Days of Thunder, A Few Good Men, Far and Away, and The Firm. Incredibly, the only clinker marring this track record is the meandering fairy tale, Legend. When required to stretch, Cruise can perform with sleek assuredness matching Paul Newman shot for shot in The Color of Money and outclassing the contemporary cinema's Paul Muni—Dustin Hoffman—in the sappy Rain Man.
If Cruise's career seems less the by-product of a thespic drive than the inspiration of well-connected business managers, Cruise has tried to stretch himself although not with any of the daring moves associated with Richard Gere, for example. Still, in Born on the Fourth of July, the Vietnam War film based on Ron Kovic's book of the same name, Cruise convincingly and effectively portrays a Ron Kovic who moves from naive recruit to angry, wheelchair-bound paraplegic. Although the movie version of Interview with the Vampire guts the homoerotic content of the novel, this profitable bloodbath was a bold move on Cruise's part, and he rises to the challenge with an atypically flamboyant turn as a hedonist bloodsucker for whom no standard Cruise-ian redemption awaits. Modulating his usually strained vocal resources, Cruise, for the first time in his career, etches an eerily believable characterization far removed from his heel-reborn-as hero image. Although this Interview is too glumly serious, deficient in mystery, and sadistic to be scarily entertaining, Cruise does pump it full of vampiric glee.
Still young and shrewdly determined to keep the machinery of his success oiled, Cruise carries out a Mission Impossible in order to upgrade his stature as a film star who can play with the big boys (Ford, Schwarzenegger) in the action flick arena. Thus far, his mainstream success stands as a monument to the never-ending adolescence of men who enjoy exercising their braggadocio, treating women like trophies, and egotistically excelling at various sports. Whether flying MIGs, racing cars, playing pool, boxing bare-knuckled, footballing for a scholarship, or shaking a cocktail, Cruise taps into the American male's unconscious desires. What this really amounts to is Peter Pan with a sex drive or Huckleberry Finn discovering puberty. It is a juvenile conception, and fans to the contrary, it is an image which Cruise cannot go on revamping forever. That crooked grin could become as obsolete as Mary Pickford's sausage curls.
That's why it's so reassuring to observe Cruise reconnecting with his fans in a role that exercised his acting muscles without dampening his magnetism. After toiling profitably in the most poorly designed blockbuster of the 90s, Mission Impossible, Cruise puts his magnetism to better use as a sports agent in the quirky seriocomedy, Jerry McGuire. Relaxed yet authoritative, Cruise is more believable than he is with showier roles that require "acting." Part con man, part cheerleader, McGuire makes a living by massaging the egos of petulant athletes. Whether he's pitching himself to clients or wooing Renee Zelwegger, Cruise reveals an astounding command over the audience's goodwill. The role marks a defining moment in Cruise's stardom.
Tight-lipped about his private life, Cruise, nonetheless, chose to expose himself in provocative fare that was a far cry from the safety of Mission Impossible 2. Devoting an inordinate amount of time to notoriously finicky Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Cruise submerges his ego to serve the director's swan song. Although one vainly hoped Kubrick would do for Cruise what Bertolucci did for Brando in Last Tango in Paris, Cruise deserves credit for lending his star-power to this circumspect exploration of sexuality. If there seems to be too much ice and not enough fire in the Kubrick project, there is altogether too much heat in Cruise's performance as a self-help huckster in the pretentious Magnolia. Structurally intricate, the film wants to bowl you over by fitting mega-star Cruise into its ensemble, but it actually positions him as a sun surrounded by lesser stars. (Imagine if Tyrone Power had tried to upstage everyone in Nightmare Alley, and you get an idea of the magnitude of the problem.) Unfortunately, Cruise's performance doesn't showcase his quiet magnanimity, even as it appeals to awards voters, impressed by sound and fury signifying nothing. And yet, not one of Cruise's male contemporaries has dared similar challenges at the height of popularity. Still youthful looking, Cruise can afford to take vacations from stardom to stretch himself instead of accepting something like Top Gun Hits Middle Age. One hopes, however, that he realizes there's more art and less artfulness in the laid-back environment of Jerry McGuire, than there is in the symbol-laden landscapes of directors uninspired by Cruise's greatest strength, which is his covert vulnerability.
—Robert Pardi