Acting 101: How long has Tom Cruise been acting?

June 14, 12:02 AMActing ExaminerDeborah Smith Ford

Previous Next

7 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Acting Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

son Connor and Tom Cruise at basketball game                                        (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and film producer.  Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006.  He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards. His first leading role was in the film Risky Business (1983).

Cruise began acting after being sidelined from his high school's wrestling team due to a knee injury. While injured, he successfully auditioned for a lead role in his high school's production of Guys and Dolls and decided to become an actor after his success in the role. His cousin William Mapother is also an actor, known as Ethan Rom on television's Lost.

Cruise's first film role came in 1981, when he had a small role in Endless Love, a drama/romance film starring Brooke Shields. Later that same year he had a more substantial role in the film Taps, appearing alongside George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn. Multiple film roles ensued from the 1980s to current day.

The latest films already produced or in pre-production are Tropic Thunder, Valkyrie (both 2008), and Mission: Impossible 4 (2012). Another upcoming project is The Hardy Men.

 

I always look for a challenge and something that's different."
Tom Cruise."

Tom Cruise has been acting for almost three decades!