Tom Cruise was branded ‘unrecognisable’ at last night’s charity gala alongside Prince William, with the 61-year-old Hollywood star a ‘far cry’ from his former self

Hollywood’s real life action man took the spotlight alongside Prince William last night, when Hollywood royalty accompanied British royalty at a glittering gala in London.

Tom Cruise began his career back in the 80s, starring in breakthrough roles in Risky Business in 1983 and Top Gun in 1986, propelling him into stardom and one of the highest paid actors, with his films grossing more than £3billion in North America and over £9billion worldwide.

And while he’s certainly raised more than a few eyebrows over the years, most notably for his ‘turbulent’ love life and ‘spiritual beliefs’, more recently, the 61-year-old actor has been criticised for looking ‘unrecognisable.’

Tom Cruise and Prince William at the London Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner ( Image: Getty Images)

As he steps into his fifth film-making decade, we’ve taken a look at the changing face of the Hollywood star, from the early years until now…

Joining Prince William as his VIP guest at a gala dinner in support of London’s Air Ambulance Charity (of which the Mission Impossible star has been a loyal supporter) at Raffles London at the OWO (Old War Office), all eyes were on the action film savant, as he’s become noted for a noticeable change of appearance over the past four decades.

80s

Tom Cruise, as Lieutenant Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, in a promotional portrait for Top Gun in 1986 ( Image: Getty Images)

Top Gun was a huge success ( Image: Getty Images)

Tom was fresh-faced when he made his debut, aged 24, in one of his most notable films to date. Winning the role of Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the movie Top Gun, the action film became the highest-grossing domestic film of the year, with £283million, catapulting him into the limelight, with him saying his rapid rise to fame ‘took time’ for him to get used to: ‘I’m really very private, in my own world,” he said. “Suddenly I was someone walking on the street and people were looking at me and I was thinking, ‘Jesus, is something hanging out of my nose?’

90s

American actor Tom Cruise on the set of the film ‘Mission: Impossible’, circa 1996 ( Image: Getty Images)DON’T MISS

At the turn of the Millennium, Cruise’s film fortunes had also taken a turn – for the better, with his starring role in Magnolia seeing him firmly established as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, with a flowing-haired and chiseled model appearance to match. While he was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor at the Screen Actors Guild for his role in Magnolia in 2000, this period led into the demise of his marriage to Nicole Kidman (the couple had wed in 1990 and adopted two children together in 1992 and 1995).

And while his marriage broke down, his Mission Impossible franchise took off triumphantly, with his first sequel in 2000 becoming the highest grossing film that year, earning £434million at the box office, allowing Cruise to make £59million.

00s

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise at the 2012 Vanity Fair Oscar Party ( Image: Getty Images)

From the mid-naughties, and firmly in his forties, Cruise sported ceramic braces and a bolder, shorter crew cut that was to characterise his style for years to come.

This was a truly defining decade for Cruise, career-wise, too, with a slew of top films firmly under his Hollywood belt, including The Last Samurai, Collateral, and War of the Worlds, while he prepped for his return to the Mission: Impossible franchise’s third instalment. In 2005, he also began dating Katie Holmes, with the couple announcing the birth of their first child, Suri, in April 2006. While they married in November of that year, Katie filed for divorce five and a half years later.

2021-present

Tom Cruise looked different at a sports game in 2021 ( Image: AP)

In 2021, Cruise raised eyebrows when he was seen with a more pronounced, puffier face while attending a LA Dodgers baseball game in San Francisco in October 2021, sparking widespread speculation that he had opted for fillers to try to hold back the years. While some said it could have been weight gain, Dawn Attewell, Registered Aesthetics Nurse at therapyhouse.co.uk told The Daily Mail’s Femail at the time that the pictures were a result of ‘excessive filler’ and ‘post-procedure swelling’ but said he looked fresher thanks to a ‘hair transplant’ and ‘skin tightening treatments’.

Tom Cruise pictured in 2020 ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Attewell said: “In the infamous October 2021 picture, you can see that Tom looked swollen and puffy, which could be due to excessive filler, post-procedure swelling, or weight gain. Often, surgical procedures such as a platysmal plasty, or neck lift, combined with a mid-facelift could create this type of swelling in these areas.” Cut to 2022, however, and he appeared back in Cruise control, sporting a slimmed down appearance for the Cannes Film Festival’s red carpet.

After returning to the spotlight in 2022 with his first film in four years, Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise was, quite literally back in the driving seat, with the film making a staggering £1.1billion billion at the box office – making the movie the highest grossing film of his career to date.

Sporting longer locks and an arguably more easygoing, relaxed sartorial style than recent years, it certainly seems that while the Hollywood icon has never won an Oscar, his ongoing and fruitful career at the ‘ripe’ age of 61, means he still has a lot to flash his award-winning smile about.