Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise has achieved extraordinary success as an actor, producer, and philanthropist in a career spanning over two decades. He is a three-time Academy Award nominee and three-time Golden Globe Award winner whose films have earned in excess of six billion dollars worldwide—an incomparable accomplishment.

In the 28 years since becoming an actor, Cruise’s versatility is evidenced by the varied films and roles he chooses. He has made 37 films and has worked with a remarkable list of acclaimed film directors, including Francis Ford Coppola. Paul Brickman, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Martin Scorsese, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Ron Howard, Rob Reiner, Sydney Pollack, Neil Jordan, Brian de Palma, Cameron Crowe, Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, John Woo, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, J.J. Abrams, Robert Redford, Bryan Singer and most recently James Mangold.

Cruise will next be seen starring with Cameron Diaz in the romantic-action-comedy Knight and Day, opening June 25, 2010. This summer he will begin shooting Mission: Impossible IV. This franchise has grossed over two billion dollars worldwide since Cruise began producing the films at Paramount, and starring as the legendary spy Ethan Hunt. Mission: Impossible was Paramount’s highest grossing film of 1996. Cruise is producing Mission: Impossible IV with J.J. Abrams.

In 2008, Cruise played German officer Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in the critically acclaimed, worldwide hit Valkyrie, the historical thriller about the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler during World War II. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film grossed nearly $200 million internationally, making it the fifth highest grossing WWII-set film. Cruise also appeared in Ben Stiller’s comedy smash Tropic Thunder as the hip hopping foul-mouthed Hollywood movie mogul Les Grossman.

Cruise earned his seventh Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance as Grossman, a character he created. Cruise received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, in addition to a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Magnolia. He also received Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, as well as Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia, and nominations for his roles in Risky Business, A Few Good Men, The Last Samurai and Tropic Thunder. Cruise has also earned acting nominations and awards from BAFTA, the Screen Actors Guild, the Chicago Film Critics Association, and the National Board of Review.

Cruise has produced or executive produced 17 films, including Valkyrie, all the Mission: Impossible films, The Last Samurai, Narc, Vanilla Sky, The Others, Shattered Glass and Without Limits among others.

Cruise has been honored with tributes ranging from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Man of the Year Award to the John Huston Award from the Artists Rights Foundation, and The American Cinematheque Award for Distinguished Achievement in Film. He has been memorialized as being the only Hollywood star to have his own day in Japan - Tom Cruise Day – celebrated annually in that country on October 6. While continuing to explore new artistic challenges, Cruise has used his professional success as a vehicle for positive change, becoming an international advocate, activist and philanthropist in the fields of health and education. He has been honored by the Mentor-LA organization for his work on behalf of the children of Los Angeles and around the world. In May, 2011 he will receive the Simon Wiesenthal Humanitarian Award.

Cruise lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Kate, and his three children.