Tom - Cruze - Love - http://maxpages.com/teenhelp/Tom

Tom Cruise
It may be hard to believe that one of the world's most famous actors was once just as average as everyone else, but such was the case with Tom Cruise. Tom was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, on July 3, 1962 in Syracuse, New York. He was the third of four children, and the only son of Mary Lee and Thomas Mapother. Tom's father, an electrical engineer, was constantly looking for work during Tom's childhood. As a result, Tom and the rest of his family never had the opportunity to settle down in one place. Their constant moving around was hard on the family, and especially hard on Tom.

Not long after settling into Glen Ridge, NJ, Tom's parents divorced. Tom's mother was given custody of the children, and the tight economic situation became even tighter for the family. With no older brothers, Tom was now the oldest man in the house, although still only a 12-year-old boy. In addition to problems at home, being dyslexic was yet another obstacle standing in the way of Tom's education. Not excelling in school, Tom entered a seminary for the priesthood at the age of 14. Tom left not long afterwards, and enrolled in Glen Ridge High School.

Tom continued to struggle academically during his high school years. Before ever seriously considering acting in high school, Tom joined the wrestling team there. However, after suffering a serious injury he decided to do something else. That something else was acting. Tom would act in two high school musicals before graduating from high school in 1980.

Shortly after graduating, Tom moved to New York to pursue an acting career. Like the vast majority of young actors with dreams of stardom, Tom also had to start out with anything he could get. Later that year Tom landed his first role, although an extremely small one, in "Endless Love", a Brooke Shields vehicle which did well at the box office. Tom landed his first major role a few months later in "Taps", a film about a military academy, which also starred George C. Scott and Sean Penn. Although Tom's role was originally a much smaller one, he was given the larger role shortly before the film started shooting. From that point on, Tom would never have trouble finding work again.

In 1983 Tom Cruise became a household name. During that year Tom landed four major roles, including the very popular "Risky Business". The film did huge business at the box office taking in $63.5 million, and even earned Tom a Golden Globe nomination for Best Comedic Performance. Most importantly, the famous scene of him dancing in his underwear made Cruise an overnight sex symbol. In 1986 Cruise appeared in two of the year's largest films, "Top Gun" and "The Color of Money". Together, the films raked in nearly $230 million at the box office, and boosted Tom to superstar status, where he has remained ever since.

Before the decade was over, Tom had appeared in three more major roles, which together took in $320 million at the box office. The last two of the three, "Rain Man" and "Born on the Fourth of July", were critically acclaimed. This proved that Cruise was a much better actor than his pretty-boy image had earned him credit for. Tom's amazing performance as Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July" earned him a Golden Globe award for Best Dramatic Performance, and an Oscar nomination as well.

At the turn of the decade, Tom and his first wife, actress Mimi Rogers, divorced after being married for three years. Before the year was out, Tom married Nicole Kidman, his co-star from "Days of Thunder" (released earlier that year). The couple have no children of their own, but they have two adopted children, Isabella and Conner. Shortly after their marriage, the two appeared together once again in Ron Howard's "Far and Away". The film received an enormous amount of hype as a result of pairing the newlywed couple. It was nonetheless a rare box office disappointment for Cruise, failing to reach the $60 million mark during the summer of 1992. Tom quickly made up for it at the box office as his next film, "A Few Good Men", took in $141.3 million during its run. It earned Tom another Golden Globe nomination. The film was the first of five consecutive films for Cruise to break the $100 million mark at the box office. The other four, "The Firm", "Interview With the Vampire", "Mission: Impossible", and "Jerry Maguire", took in a combined $602.3 million at the box office. The film "Jerry Maguire" also earned Cruise a second Golden Globe (this time for a comedic performance) and a second Oscar nomination (for Best Actor).

On the heels of Jerry Maguire, Tom and Nicole traveled to the U.K. to film Stanley Kubrick's long anticipated next film, "Eyes Wide Shut". As was common with almost any Kubrick film, the shoot went much longer than intended, lasting more than a year. Kubrick constantly required re-shoots to be made. As was the case with "Far and Away", "Eyes Wide Shut" was a box office disappointment for Tom. It ended Tom's streak of $100 million films, despite arguably being his most anticipated film to date. As a result of the long delays on "Eyes Wide Shut", Tom's next project, John Woo's "Mission: Impossible 2" has been delayed until Memorial Day 2000. Shortly afterwards, Tom will star in Steven Spielberg's big-budget futuristic film, "Minority Report". With that film currently scheduled for the holiday season of 2000, Tom Cruise should be starting another string of $100 million films in the very near future.

Need help?? Im or E-mail me!!!
shortie2862@Yahoo.com
Please vote for my site!!	Please sign the guest book!!	Please take the polls!!!!
E-mail me to tell me what you think of the site.
Need Help?? Im or mail me!!!
Fax Visit www.maxpages.com/NewsFlash2
www.maxpages.com/TeenHelp2

Sign Guestbook

View Guestbook

Visitors: 07080

Page Updated Sun Jan 28, 2001 7:55pm EST