Birth name Thomas Cruise Mapother IV

Date of birth 3 July 1962

Star sign Cancer

Birthplace Syracuse, New York, USA

Height 5ft 7in

Eye colour Green

Marriages Mimi Rogers, 9 May 1987 (divorced, 4 February 1990); Nicole Kidman, 24 December 1990 (divorced, 8 August 2001); Katie Holmes, 18 November 2006

Children Isabella Jane Cruise, born 22 December 1992 (adopted by Tom and Nicole Kidman); Connor Antony Cruise, born 17 January 1995 (adopted by Tom and Nicole Kidman); Suri Cruise, born 18 April 2006

Biography

Ranked by Forbes as the world’s most powerful celebrity, Tom Cruise has attracted acclaim for his diverse acting roles – and controversy for his support of religious cult Scientology and his opposition to psychiatry and antidepressant drugs.

Born in Syracuse, New York, Tom took up acting when a knee injury sidelined him from his high school wrestling team. His first film role came in 1981 when he had a bit part alongside Brooke Shields in Endless Love, but it was in 1983 film Risky Business that Tom really caught the eye – thanks to a scene where he danced in his underwear.

He took to the skies in 1986 in Top Gun – the highest grossing film of the year – before marrying Mimi Rogers a year later in a secret ceremony in New York. The marriage lasted less than three years, but Tom was having better luck in his professional life, winning praise for his performance in Rain Man (1988) and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role as a Vietnam War veteran in Born On The Fourth Of July (1989).

Tom was named People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1990, but he was soon off the market again, wedding Nicole Kidman in July and bringing their off-screen chemistry to Far And Away (1992) and erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut (1999). The couple adopted their first child, Isabella, in 1992 and Connor in 1995, but they divorced in 2001, amidst rumours that the marriage was a sham and that Tom was gay – a claim he has successfully filed lawsuits against.

After further film success including the Golden Globe-winning rom-com Jerry Maguire and the Mission: Impossible trilogy as well as a brief relationship with Vanilla Sky co-star Penélope Cruz, Tom hooked up with Dawson’s Creek actress Katie Holmes in 2005. He stunned the press and public when he jumped around on the set of the Oprah Winfrey Show to declare his love for Katie, but it seemed ‘TomKat’ were the real deal – they tied the knot and had first child, Suri, in 2006.

Despite his heart-throb status, Tom has drawn increasingly negative press for his outspoken support of Scientology. He openly criticised Brooke Shields for using antidepressants in 2005 and created a storm for dubbing psychiatry ‘a Nazi science’. But Tom – who will star in World War II thriller Valkyrie in 2009 – remains one of only three actors in the history of film (along with Will Smith and Tom Hanks) to have seven consecutive $100 million blockbusters.

Quotes
‘I didn’t become an actor to have power, but it just happens that I have it.’ (Tiscali.co.uk)

‘Oh, man, I hit a lot of walls. I hit a lot of walls. But there are moments where you just say, “OK, I’m going to climb over the wall.”’ (The Observer, 12 September 2004)

‘I don’t play games. I’m very STRAIGHT about how I feel about things... I like intimacy… when I’m into my woman, I want to know about my woman. Hmm.’ (Kettyket.blogspot.com)

‘It is the time now. Now is the time... Being a Scientologist, people are turning to you, so you better know it, you better know it and if you don’t, go and learn it, but don’t pretend you know it. It’s like we’re here to help.’ (Heatworld.com)

‘I didn’t have a normal life growing up. It wasn’t normal. I’ve never met a normal person.’ (Msnbc.com)