Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise (born July 3, 1962) is the stage name of Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, an American actor, producer, and Scientologist who has starred in a number of top-grossing movies and remains one of the biggest movie stars in the world. His first leading role in a blockbuster movie was in 1983's Risky Business.[1]
Early life
Cruise was born to Thomas Cruise Mapother III and Mary Lee Pfeiffer in Syracuse, New York.[2] His paternal ancestry is Welsh: his great great grandfather Dylan Henry Mapother emigrated from Flint, in north Wales, to the United States in 1860. [3] Cruise also has German ancestry from his paternal great-grandparents, William Reibert and Charlotta Louise Voelker. [4] Cruise's parents moved frequently when he was a child, residing in a number of locations throughout the United States and Canada, including Ottawa; Louisville, Kentucky; Glen Ridge, New Jersey (where he attended Glen Ridge High School); and Wayne, New Jersey.[citation needed] Before going into acting, Cruise attended a Franciscan seminary and aspired to become a Catholic priest. [5]
Acting career
While it was not his first film, Risky Business (1983) propelled Cruise to stardom. One sequence in the film, featuring Cruise lip-syncing Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" in his underwear, has become an iconic moment in film history. Cruise's status as an A-list actor was secured a few years later when he starred in Top Gun (1986).
He received Academy Award nominations for Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Jerry Maguire (1996), both as Best Actor; and for Magnolia (1999), as Best Supporting Actor[6]. In 1996, he became the first actor in history to star in five consecutive films that grossed $100 million in domestic release; the films were A Few Good Men (1992), The Firm (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996).[7]
Cruise also took on more unusual roles following Interview With The Vampire and Jerry Maguire, with Eyes Wide Shut (1999) which took two years to finish as director Stanley Kubrick's last film, alongside then spouse Nicole Kidman[8]. Cruise also performed as a misogynistic male guru in Magnolia (1999), which netted him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and in very rare form, played a villain as the hitman who kidnaps unsuspecting cabbie Jamie Foxx in Michael Mann's Collateral (2004).[9]
Cruise teamed with producer Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions, which has co-produced several of Cruise's films such as Mission: Impossible and its sequels, Vanilla Sky (2001), and The Last Samurai (2003). The company also co-produced The Others (2001).[10]
Sex appeal
In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world.[11] In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history.[12] Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 movie stars of all time.[13] In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.[14]
In October 2005, it was reported that Tom Cruise's popularity dropped significantly after his publicity tour for the release of War of the Worlds and his engagement to actress Katie Holmes. [15]
Personal life
Cruise has been married twice, to Mimi Rogers (married on May 9, 1987, divorced February 4, 1990)[16] and later Nicole Kidman (married on December 24, 1990, divorced August 8, 2001)[17]. He and Nicole Kidman adopted two children, Isabella (born 1993) and Connor (born 1995).[18]
Cruise recently discussed his bi-racial son on the TV talk show with Oprah Winfrey. Oprah asked Cruise if the issue of his race was ever discussed in the household. "We're from the human race, human kind," Cruise said. "I mean, what's there to talk about? He's my son. Listen, that's just how I feel about it. He's my son. I've never thought about color, race, I just have not thought about that." [19]
During his marriage to actress Nicole Kidman, the couple endured public speculation about their sex life and rumors that Cruise was gay [20]. In 1998, he sued a British tabloid that alleged that the marriage was a sham designed to cover up his homosexuality [21]. In May 2001 he filed a lawsuit against gay porn actor Chad Slater (aka "Kyle Bradford"). Slater had allegedly told the celebrity magazine Actustar that he had engaged in an affair with Cruise. Both Slater and Cruise denied this, and in August 2001 Slater was ordered to pay $10 million to Cruise in damages. [22] He also sued Michael Davis, a magazine publisher, who alleged that he had photographs that would prove Tom Cruise was homosexual: this suit was dropped in exchange for a public statement by Davis that Tom Cruise was heterosexual[23].
It is also rumored that Kidman lost interest in Scientology[citation needed], and the friction between her and Cruise over this issue drove the marriage apart. Cruise left Kidman three months pregnant, just shy of their 10 year wedding anniversary; she lost the child.[citation needed]
Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz, the lead actress in his film Vanilla Sky. In March 2004, he announced that his relationship with Penélope Cruz had ended in January. [24] In April 2005, he began dating Katie Holmes, before announcing on 17 June 2005 that he had proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. [25] She accepted his proposal, and the couple are expected to be married on July 7, 2006. [citation needed]
Church of Scientology
Cruise is arguably Hollywood's most outspoken member of the Church of Scientology. He joined in 1990[26], while married to Mimi Rogers[citation needed]. Cruise has publicly said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Scientology Study Tech [27], allowed him to overcome his dyslexia [28].
Since 2004, Cruise has talked more openly about Scientology and promoted its ideas, especially its rejection of psychiatric drugs, which was the subject of a heated argument with Matt Lauer on the Today Show on June 24, 2005[29]. He openly criticized actress Brooke Shields for using the drug Paxil, an anti-depressant, which Shields claims helped her recover from post-partum depression after the birth of her daughter in 2003; Brooke Shields subsequently described Cruise's comments as "irresponsible and dangerous". [30] Cruise also claimed in an Entertainment Weekly interview that psychiatry "is a Nazi science" and that methadone was actually originally called Adolophine after Adolf Hitler, a well-known urban legend. [31] In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Cruise claimed that "In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon... It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period". [32] While Narconon claims to have a success rate over 70% [33], the accuracy of this figure has been disputed. [34]
Cruise's more open attitude to Scientology has been attributed to the departure of his publicist of 14 years, Pat Kingsley, in March 2004. He replaced her with his sister, fellow Scientologist Lee Anne DeVette, who served in that role until November 2005 [35].
Recently Cruise has also been reported to have risen to one of the highest echelons of the Church of Scientology, known as "Operating Thetan Seven" or OT-VII [36], and it has been suggested that Cruise's increasing willingness to talk openly about Scientology may be a reflection of this. [37] Cruise's fiancée, Katie Holmes, has recently begun studying Scientology, which Cruise says does not conflict with her Roman Catholic upbringing. [38]
In June 2005, it was reported that Cruise had "auditioned" [39] Scarlett Johansson before his liaison with Holmes. It was alleged that, after two hours of proselytizing, Cruise introduced Johansson to a room full of upper level Scientologists waiting to dine with the pair; at that point, Johansson allegedly excused herself politely. She then pulled out of Cruise's upcoming movie Mission Impossible III. [40] Johansson never confirmed this incident and claimed to have dropped out of the movie due to scheduling conflicts with a Woody Allen film she was working on[citation needed].
As of 2005, Tom Cruise has begun campaigning on behalf of the Church of Scientology before politicians and government officials around the world. As an example, he has lobbied French minister Nicolas Sarkozy in favor of Scientology[citation needed]. Such advocacy does not go well in several European countries where this organization is considered to be a cult. As an example, on July 13th, 2005, the city council of Paris vowed "never to receive [before the council or the mayor] the actor Tom Cruise, spokesman for Scientology and self-declared militant for this organisation" [41] after his lobbying of Sarkozy and Jean-Claude Gaudin, the mayor of Marseille, was mentioned. [42]
Cruise also fell victim to a South Park episode, "Trapped in the Closet", which explicitly mocked Scientology. It alluded to the unsubstantiated rumor of his closet homosexuality as the character locks himself inside a closet after Stan tells him that he's a decent actor, but "not as great as the guy who played Napoleon Dynamite". The Cruise character remains in the closet throughout the episode, and all the other characters, including fellow Scientologist John Travolta, R&B singer R. Kelly, and ex-wife Nicole Kidman, plead with him to "come out of the closet".
Cruise's involvement with Scientology has been parodied by the "Scientomogy" website.
Oprah, interviews and Katie Holmes
On May 23, 2005, Cruise raised some eyebrows with a frenzied, almost manic appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in which he — in the words of The New York Times — "jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell rapturously to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend, the actress Katie Holmes." [43]
Cruise's public image came under further scrutiny after a number of subsequent television interviews in which he was described as acting in an odd manner and espousing a number of controversial views. In his famous Matt Lauer interview, Cruise appeared tired and hostile when discussing psychiatry, which the Church of Scientology considers to be a harmful "pseudoscience". [44] He accused Lauer of being "glib" and insisted that there is "no such thing as a chemical imbalance", and that through "vitamins and exercise" a person's psychiatric problems can be cured. Noting that Katie Holmes was embracing Scientology, Lauer then asked Cruise if he could be with someone who wasn't a Scientologist. He replied: "It's something you don't understand. You can be a Christian and be a Scientologist. It is a religion in that it deals with the spirit, you as a spiritual being." [45]
This short, yet very public love affair took a dramatic turn when Cruise and Holmes got engaged in Paris [46] while on a world publicity tour for their two most recent movies (War of the Worlds for Cruise, and Batman Begins for Holmes). War of the Worlds director Steven Spielberg indicated that he was frustrated by media coverage of Cruise's relationship during promotion of the film, though he believed it to be genuine. [47] On October 5, 2005, it was reported by People magazine that Holmes is pregnant. Cruise came under fire from various medical professionals after he bought a sonogram machine to monitor his baby. The medical ACR claim that overuse or misuse of the medical equipment is unnecessary and could be harmful to the baby's health, and that it may be illegal to own. [48] The birth would be Holmes' first child, and Cruise's third; Cruise has two adopted children: Connor Antony (born January 17 1995) and Isabella Jane (born December 22 1992) from his marriage to Nicole Kidman.[49]
Cruise's hostile behavior in recent interviews and his very public romance with Katie Holmes led him to become the butt of numerous jokes on late night television shows such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien..[50] The jokes commonly referred to Cruise being insane or parody the Lauer interview. The phrase "jumping the couch" is now used to refer to someone (usually a celebrity) who seems to have gone insane.
In the wake of these events, Tom Cruise demoted his sister LeAnne DeVette and replaced her with veteran publicist Paul Bloch, from the publicity firm Rogers and Cowan. Such restructuring is seen as a move to curtail publicity about his Scientology views, though DeVette said that it was her decision to work on philanthropic projects rather than publicity. [51]
Selected filmography
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Reported salaries
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Worldwide film grosses
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Other work
Tom Cruise co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway with Dismas in 2004.
See also
References
- ^ Tom Cruise at IMDb
- ^ "In tense moment, Cruise calls Lauer ‘glib’", MSNBC.COM. (June 28, 2005)
- ^ Template:Nndb name
- ^ Eyes Wide Shut (1999) at IMDb
- ^ Template:Imdb company
- "Actor Tom Cruise Opens Up about his Beliefs in the Church of Scientology", SPIEGEL Online. (April 27, 2005)
- Shields, Brooke. "War of Words", New York Times. (July 1, 2005)
- ""Cruise Leaves Big Tip For Accident Victim", NBC4 TV. (December 17, 2004)
- "Tom Cruise Says Scientology Helped with Learning Disability"", beliefnet / Associated Press. (July 11, 2003)
- Gonzales, Luis. ""New Church of Scientology Opens in Madrid", beliefnet.
- "Cruise lobbies over Scientology". BBC News. (January 30, 2002)
- "Tom Cruise buys sonogram machine to watch baby". (November 25, 2005)
- "Tom & Katie Expecting a Baby". People magazine. (October 5, 2005)
External links
