Perhaps if you ventured into the deepest, darkest Amazonian jungle you may be able to find someone who has never heard of Tom Cruise, but ask anyone in the civilized world and without a doubt they will know who he is.
      Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in both 1990 and 1991, Tom Cruise is probably one of the most successful actors in Hollywood today. In little over a decade of his involvement in the entertainment scene, his films have grossed close to an astounding three billion dollars with no end in sight. Further evidence of Cruise's appeal is his ability to create characters which have woven themselves into the fabric of society. His portrayals have led to trends that have since become part of everyday life around the world. Such as the saying: "Show me the money!"
      It was 1974, and in the middle of the night, Tom's mother took advantage of her husband's absence from the condo to flee Ontario, Canada to the United States. With a car loaded with Tom and his three sisters, they pulled into Kentucky and never looked back. The marriage was over, and for awhile Tom's mother worked a number of different jobs after the divorce; always doing her best to support her children. She later remarried.
      After losing his place on a high school wrestling team due to a knee injury, Tom decided to take up acting. Starring in his school's rendition of Guys and Dolls and Godspell, Tom was hooked. He spent months in New York going from one audition after another, mainly for television shows, but finally landed a part in his first major role in the feature film, Taps in 1981. From there Cruise progressively rose to stardom, memorably captivating audiences with his underwear clad form in the 1983 hit Risky Business for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He went on to create one of the most popular characters of the '80s with his portrayal of Maverick, the daring fighter pilot in the high-grossing film, Top Gun.
      Building on these performances, Cruise has earned the accolades of his peers and the public alike for his collaborations with many of entertainment's most distinguished filmmakers such as starring with Paul Newman in Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money; opposite Dustin Hoffman in Barry Levinson's Academy Award-winning film Rain Man, and director Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July.
      Cruise made his own directorial debut in 1993 when he directed a half-hour episode titled Frightening Frammis, based on a short story by Jim Thompson, for the Showtime series Fallen Angels. The project starred Peter Gallagher, Isabella Rossellini and Nancy Travis.
      He was married to actress Mimi Rogers for several years, but it was not a match made in heaven and they later divorced. It was during the filming of Days Of Thunder that he met and married actress Nicole Kidman. They divorced in the late part of 2001. During their marriage, they adopted two children, Isabella and Connor. Tom is currently married to actress Katie Holmes. They have one daughter.
      In his spare time, Tom enjoys skydiving, scuba diving, and piloting his Pitts Special S-2B stunt plane.
Photo © Lance Staedler/Corbis - Bio by ThespianNet.com ©2001