Outside of cinema, Tom Cruise is also an interesting and unique character. Before entering his acting career, he grew up in a devout Catholic family and was a student at Franciscan Seminary in his teens. But while on the path to becoming a priest, Cruise made a big move to pursue acting.

A difficult childhood

Tom Cruise’s childhood was not idyllic. He grew up in near poverty with an abusive father who often broke. Cruise was small for his age and always sad, often bullied by other children.

Tom Cruise battled dyslexia as a child. He overcame life’s challenges and today, the star draws strength and inspiration from his past and maintains a close relationship with his mother.

While filming The Last Samurai , Tom Cruise studied Japanese for three months to authentically deliver some Japanese dialogue. He visits Japan so often that the country even gives him “Tom Cruise Day”, which is celebrated in Japan on October 10 every year.

During the filming of this movie, Tom Cruise almost lost his life when a sword swung just 3 cm from his neck! Co-star Hiroyuki Sanada stopped the sword from piercing the Hollywood star’s neck. It was an unscripted moment!

Perform your own deadly moves

Speaking of being dedicated to his career, Tom Cruise once refused to sign a contract with movie producers unless they allowed him to perform dangerous stunts. In Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation , he hung from the side of a flying plane and held his breath for nearly 6 minutes underwater!

After being inspired by his experiences filming Top Gun in 1986, Tom Cruise got his pilot’s license in 1994. Interestingly, he has a license to fly commercial and private aircraft, and even flies Even private jets.

While filming Mission: Impossible 6 in 2017, Tom Cruise jumped from a rig into a building. But he slipped when he landed and broke his ankle! He had to take 7 weeks off filming to recover, but when he returned to the set, he performed his own stunts.

Tom Cruise still performs his own stunts in  the upcoming Mission Impossible 7 . While filming this latest blockbuster, Tom performed more than 500 skydives.

At the age of 10, Tom spent all his savings to buy a Yamaha motorbike. He “modified” the car before crashing it between two cars! But an accident certainly did not discourage him because he had ridden a motorbike in many movies throughout his career.

How did a Franciscan Seminary student decide to become an actor? A knee injury is said to have turned Tom Cruise towards acting. He was forced to quit his school’s wrestling team after suffering a knee injury and discovering his acting ability.

Performing his own dangerous stunts well before becoming a Hollywood star, Tom Cruise lost his front teeth while playing hockey as a child and was so self-conscious that he always avoided being photographed. In 2002, he got braces to correct his smile and wore them for several months, only taking them off for filming.

He performs a variety of cosmetic dental procedures to improve smiles. Today, the actor’s “million like” smile has become one of his “trademark” characteristics, along with his strong, charismatic personality.

A relentless action star, when Tom Cruise appeared in Top Gear in 2010, he was the fastest driver on the celebrity rankings and nearly flipped his car!

Real friendships in Hollywood can be hard to find. Before filming The Outsiders in 1983, Tom Cruise and his colleague – Emilio Estevez – were close friends and auditioned for the movie together.

The two attended high school together in Santa Monica and Estevez later served as Tom Cruise’s best man at his first wedding to Mimi Rogers.

Predestined to number 3

Tom Cruise married three times, and strangely, he broke up with three wives: Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes when they all turned 33.

It’s unclear why all three wives left at the age of 33, but fans hope that Cruise’s next relationship will last longer!

In the movie about World War II – Valkyrie – Tom Cruise plays Colonel von Stauffenberg, who plotted to assassinate Adolf Hitler. It was later revealed that the main reason Cruise accepted the role in the film was because he saw a photo of Colonel von Stauffenberg in real life and thought they looked very similar.

The money-mining machine for Hollywood

Tom Cruise is the first star to appear in 5 consecutive movies, each earning more than 100 million USD: A Few Good Man, The Firm, Interview With The Vampire, Mission Impossible and Jerry Maguire.

All of these movies helped solidify Tom Cruise’s career and made him a legend.

In 1988, Tom Cruise was the first actor to star in both films that won the Oscar for Best Picture and the Razzie Award for Worst Picture. The Best Picture winner that year was Rain Man , which is iconic to this day. The Raspberry Award went to Cocktail – Worst movie of the year.

Unlike many famous actors, Tom Cruise refuses to lend his image to produce toys and has never even appeared in any games.

In 1996, Tom Cruise witnessed a woman being hit by a car and went with her to the hospital. He later discovered she had no insurance and decided to pay her entire $7,000 hospital bill. That’s a real life hero.

Lovely star

In addition to his biological daughter Suri with ex-wife Katie Holmes, Tom also has two adopted children Connor and Isabella with his ex-wife Nicole Kidman. When the two married, they adopted a child after Kidman suffered several miscarriages.

Although Tom Cruise has been married three times in the past and his current relationship is still unclear, Tom is a polyamorous star who dated many women before and between his marriages. He has been linked to Melissa Gilbert, Sofia Vergara, Penélope Cruz, Heather Locklear… It seems he also has feelings for older women and even dated singer Cher for a short time.

Penélope Cruz and Tom Cruise fell in love, spending time together from 2001 to 2004. The relationship broke down under religious pressure when Tom joined the Cult of Scientology.

His father, Thomas Mapother III, born in 1934, was an electrical engineer. His mother, Mary Lee Pfeiffer, was born in 1936 and worked as a “baby head knocker”.

In 2022, The New York Times declared Tom Cruise (60) “Hollywood’s Last Real Movie Star”. According to the Times , he is one of the only major film actors who has not appeared on television. All of his films are always released exclusively in theaters.