Tom Cruise (born 03.07.1962) - American actor.
An actor whose name has become synonymous with All-American
testosterone-driven entertainment, Tom Cruise spent the 1980s as one of
Hollywood's brightest shining Golden Boys. With black hair, blue eyes,
and unabashed cockiness, Cruise rode high on such hits as Top Gun and
Rain Man. Although his popularity dimmed slightly in the early '90s, he
was able to bounce back with a string of hits that re-established him as
both an action hero and, in the case of Jerry Maguire and Magnolia, a
talented actor.
Born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse,
NY, actor Tom Cruise led a peripatetic existence as a child, moving from
town to town with his rootless family. A high school wrestler, Cruise
went into acting after being sidelined by a knee injury. This new
activity served a dual purpose: Performing satiated Cruise's need for
attention, while the memorization aspect of acting helped him come to
grips with his dyslexia.
Moving to New York in 1980, Cruise held down odd jobs until
getting his first movie break in Endless Love (1981). His first big hit
was Risky Business (1982), in which he entered movie-trivia heaven with
the scene wherein he celebrates his parents' absence by dancing around
the living room in his underwear. The Hollywood press corps began
touting Cruise as one of the "Brat Pack," a group of twenty-something
young actors who seemed on the verge of taking over the movie industry
in the early '80s. But Cruise chose not to play the sort of teen-angst
roles that the other Bratpackers specialized in -- a wise decision, in
that he has sustained his stardom while many of his contemporaries have
fallen by the wayside or retreated into direct-to-video cheapies. In
2000, he scored again when he reprised his role as international agent
Ethan Hunt in John Woo's MI:2, which proved to be one of the summer's
first big moneymakers. His status as a full-blown star of impressive
dramatic range now cemented in the eyes of both longtime fans and
detractors, the popular actor next set his sights on reteaming with
Jerry Maguire director Cameron Crowe for a remake of Spanish director
Alejandro Amenabar's (The Others) Abre Los Ojos titled Vanilla Sky.
Though Vanilla Sky's sometimes surreal trappings found the film
recieving a mixed reception at the box office, the same could not be
said for the following years massively successful sci-fi chase film
Minority Report. Based on a short story by science fiction writer
Phillip K. Dick and directed by none other than Steven Spielberg,
Minority Report scored a direct hit at the box office, and Cruise could
next be seen gearing up for his role in Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai.
Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide.