25 Years of Tom Cruise

09 October 2008

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Love him or hate him, and he really is splitting the vote at the moment with his rather odd behaviour, this year Tom Cruise is celebrating his twenty fifth year as a Hollywood star.

And despite his slightly strange actions when the cameras have stopped rolling he remains one of the most bankable stars with his most recent blockbusters War of the Worlds and Impossible II doing well at the box office.

And although he began his career in 1981 it was his role in Risky Business that proved to be his breakthrough performance just two years later and a star was born. And the scene with the young actor lip-syncing to Old Time Rock and Roll in just his undies was one of the movie images of the decade.

But the role that cemented him as bona fide leading man was in Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson's American fighter pilot film Top Gun. The movie was the biggest grossing picture of 1986, grossing in excess of $354 million , and propelled Cruise to heart-throb status.

More serious role in Rain Man and Born on the Fourth of July rounded off the eighties as Cruise earnt critical acclaim for his work, securing a Best Actor Oscar nomination for the latter, and proved that he didn't just rely on his good lucks and action roles.

Despite this early success the nineties was the most successful decade for Cruise with A Few Good Men, Interview with a Vampire and the beginning of the Mission impossible franchise, to name but a few of his successes.

Into the nineties and he had split with his first wife Mimi Rogers and, after a whirlwind romance, married Nicole Kidman becoming the golden couple of Hollywood.

More Oscar recognition followed in 1999 when he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role on Magnolia, winning the Golden Globe in the same category.

The noughties cemented him as an all American action hero with a Mission Impossible sequel, which did better than it's predecessor at the box office, Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Collateral, War of the Worlds and a third Mission Impossible all in the space of six years between 2000-06.

But in 2001 he split with wife Nicole Kidman, after ten years of marriage, before embarking on a three year relationship with actress Penelope Cruz and becoming an advocate for controversial religion Scientology.

Since a series of bizarre behaviour, which included jumping up and down on Oprah Winfrey's sofa shouting 'I Love Katie', Cruise has made movies sparingly.

He married Katie Holmes in 2006 and together they have a daughter Suri.

While some claim that the actor's star is setting with a successful twenty five year career behind him no one would write him off to make an impressive return. he next appears on the big screen at the end of the year in Valkyrie.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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