tom cruise oscar history

How many Oscars were won by Tom Cruise?

• June 22, 2024

How many Oscars does Tom Cruise have?

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Tom Cruise's Post-9/11 Opening: 2002 Oscars

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Tom cruise's award history at the oscars, share this article.

With Top Gun: Maverick set to compete for the 95th Academy Awards, it’s worth wondering about its A-list star.

Tom Cruise has been a fixture in Hollywood since the the ’80s, appearing in such beloved films as the Mission: Impossible series, Risky Business , Days of Thunder , A Few Good Men , Rain Man , Minority Report and plenty more.

With Cruise nominated as a producer in the Best Picture race with T op Gun: Maverick , would he win his first Oscar if the film won the evening’s top prize?

Cruise has been nominated four times for various categories, but he’s never outright won a category.

He was nominated for Best Actor for acclaimed films like Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire , and he was nominated in Best Supporting Actor for the film Magnolia .

His producing nomination for the blockbuster Top Gun sequel would be his first Oscar win if the film indeed took home the Best Picture honor.

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How ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and Tom Cruise’s Need for Speed Could Fly to the Oscars

By Clayton Davis

Clayton Davis

Senior Awards Editor

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After a making a record-breaking $160.5 million and sporting an exceptional 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, Tom Cruise ‘s high-flying “ Top Gun: Maverick ” is among the top movie successes of the year. With love pouring in for the second chapter of the story of test pilot and flight instructor Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, can this fighter stay airborne for the next seven months and lead to Academy Awards success?  

Casual awards viewers and fans have made comparisons to George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” as a possible Oscars point of comparison – a pretty wild and far-fetched correlation. One of only six movies to be nominated in every artisan category, Miller’s movie rejuvenated its franchise and arguably the entire action genre. “Maverick,” likewise, is a wonderful callback to its 1986 predecessor and boasts some fantastic effects and achievements.

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But the chatter surrounding a best pic nom for “Top Gun: Maverick” feels more like it could be the first instance of the “CODA” effect — a reference to the best picture winner that made h opeful cinephiles feel like “anything is possible” when it comes to awards. But we’ve heard this song before when films like “The Avengers” (2012) and “Furious 7” (2015) become box office juggernauts that also garner critical acclaim. While nominating “Top Gun: Maverick” could help goose Oscarcast ratings, it’s highly unlikely Joseph Kosinski’s air adventure can summon the G-force to crack the best picture lineup — albeit not impossible.  

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The road to awards success begins in the artisan branches, where more than 60% of the Academy’s membership resides. The threshold for blockbuster movies has bubbled around five to six tech noms that are typically needed to help land a best picture nod. Recent movies like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015) and “Blade Runner 2049” (2017) landed five in their respective years but couldn’t get over the finish line while others like “Inception” (2010) and last year’s “Dune” have cleared their markers.  

At the least, “Maverick” has a runway to a manageable four noms. The film editing and sound categories have gone to the same movie in the last decade (no two categories have a longer correlation in the 94-year Oscar history), and that tradition could continue with editor Eddie Hamilton (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”) and the sound team (the Academy determines which craftspeople are eligible). The pulse-pounding pace and stellar aural beats put the viewers right in the cockpit, creating an experience that’s the most accessible for recognition.

Oscar-winning DP Claudio Miranda (“Life of Pi”) fetches exquisite aerial shots and a breathtaking framework that puts him in line for his third career nom. Cinematography has also had a solid correlation to visual effects with practical effects-driven films such as “1917” (2019) being embraced in the last few years.

With four credited composers — Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga and Hans Zimmer — it’s going to be an uphill battle as the music branch isn’t typically kind to multiple musicians. Not since the 12-person assembly for “The Color Purple” (1985) has a film with four or more composers been nominated. However, you can bet your bottom dollar every concerted effort will go into campaigning the chart-topper “Hold My Hand,” penned by Balfe and Gaga, for original song. After being snubbed for “House of Gucci” last year, Gaga would be wise to take a softer approach on the awards circuit.

Any hopes of the film cracking best picture will rely on whether or not its actor and producing star Tom Cruise comes out and campaigns for the film’s achievements. Always known for his love for the big screen, and his relentless advocacy for movie theaters and the technical wizards that bring them to life, he’ll need to adopt a more hands-on approach to ensuring his movie is not forgotten come voting time. This will include sitting for Q&As with his crafts team, especially as the fall festival will bring new and shinier awards prospects.

The first “Top Gun” was able to muster four noms — editing, sound, sound effects and original song for “Take My Breath Away,” which it won. What will make it so different this time around? The Tom Cruise and the Academy of today are far different than in 1986.

Before the film was screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival , the audience was treated to a ten-minute montage of Cruise’s illustrious career. Whether it’s sliding across the floor in his underwear in “Risky Business” (1983) or telling Claudia that she’s been a very naughty girl in “Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles” (1994), the package reminded us that his presence is likely a core memory in our cinematic psyche. An accomplished actor, his role as a movie star has brought a dynamic range of characters that have received critical raves and secured awards attention.

After sitting next to two best actor winners — Paul Newman in “The Color of Money” (1986) and Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man” (1988) — he landed his first Oscar nom for Oliver Stone’s anti-war biopic “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989), followed by his beloved sports agent in Cameron Crowe’s romantic dramedy “Jerry Maguire” (1996). However, it was his supporting actor turn in Paul Thomas Anderson’s multifaceted dramatic epic “Magnolia” (1999) that became his artistic offering to cinema. In the 188-minute character mosaic, Cruise played Frank T.J. Mackey, a self-proclaimed pickup artist for men. Too big of a movie star for the “spirit” of the category, Cruise stepped into one of the finest supporting actor lineups in Oscar history, losing to Michael Caine in the less-than-average “The Cider House Rules” (who already had an Oscar for “Hannah and Her Sisters”).  

After the “Magnolia” shut out, it seemed like Cruise would still find his way into the winner’s circle. He was the kind of actor who it was tempting to think “will definitely win an Oscar one day.” But as the years fly by and he embraces mostly action blockbusters, somehow that moment of glory is looking more out of reach – just ask the likes of Peter O’Toole, Albert Finney or Thelma Ritter. This year will mark 24 years since Cruise received an Academy Award nomination.  

As he approaches his 60th birthday (are you kidding?), can we say with any definitive certainty that he’ll win one day?

Cruise has felt like a prime candidate to be awarded an Honorary Oscar. He could also become the figurehead for the film community to campaign for the Academy to add a category for stunts. Based on Oscar history, “Maverick” doesn’t suggest (nor warrant) the arrival of his overdue Oscar moment. For a nom, the movie would need to bleed into cultural zeitgeisty territory a la Johnny Depp in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003), and that seems too far-fetched.  

While Memorial Day weekend was marked by barbeques, honoring our veterans, and this year, snagging a ticket for “Maverick,” the altitude Paramount’s film climbs to will depend on its sustainability through the summer. Paramount has what are theoretically more awards-friendly vehicles on its docket, such as “Babylon” from Damien Chazelle, so if the flick hopes to go the distance, Cruise will need to take the stick and steer the film to an Oscar landing.

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Tom Cruise is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards. He started his career at age 19 in the 1981 film Taps . His first leading role was in Risky Business , released in August 1983. Cruise became a full-fledged movie star after starring in Top Gun (1986). He is well known for his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible film series between 1996 and 2011.

Nominations [ ]

Gallery [ ], oscar nominated roles [ ].

Tom Cruise flies high into the awards zone

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The critical and financial success of “Top Gun: Maverick” has returned Tom Cruise, 60, to Oscar contention after some time away. A look at Cruise’s past nominations, snubs and re-entry into the awards picture:

Cruise’s past Oscar nominations — lead for “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Jerry Maguire” and supporting for “Magnolia” — came during a …

... -year span, from 1990-2000.

Cruise’s snubbed performances in “The Color of Money,” “Rain Man” and “A Few Good Men” were treated as springboards for nominated older stars Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson.

Newman and Hoffman won lead Oscars for their roles opposite Cruise.

Nominations for the first “Top Gun,” all below the line: editing, sound, sound effects editing, original song (“Take My Breath Away,” which won).

Times Cruise has been nominated for an action film.

$700 million+

“Top Gun: Maverick’s” domestic haul, aka the amount it took to, according to some headlines, “save theaters” in 2022.

The sequel’s Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score, another indicator of the goodwill toward it, and how things might be different for Cruise and the franchise at these Oscars.

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Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including Risky Business , A Few Good Men , The Firm , Jerry Maguire , and the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Who Is Tom Cruise?

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, to Mary and Thomas Mapother. Cruise's mother was an amateur actress and schoolteacher, and his father was an electrical engineer. His family moved around a great deal when Cruise was a child to accommodate his father's career.

Cruise's parents divorced when he was 11, and the children moved with their mother to Louisville, Kentucky, and then to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, after she remarried. Like his mother and three sisters, Cruise suffered from dyslexia, which made academic success difficult for him. He excelled in athletics, however, and considered pursuing a career in professional wrestling until a knee injury sidelined him during high school.

At age 14, Cruise enrolled in a Franciscan seminary with thoughts of becoming a priest, but he left after a year. When he was 16, a teacher encouraged him to participate in the school's production of the musical Guys and Dolls . After Cruise won the lead of Nathan Detroit, he found himself surprisingly at home on the stage, and a career was born.

'Taps,' 'The Outsiders'

Cruise set a 10-year deadline for himself in which to build an acting career. He left school and moved to New York City, struggling through audition after audition before landing an appearance in 1981's Endless Love , starring Brooke Shields. Around this same time, he snagged a small role in the military school drama Taps (1981), co-starring Sean Penn .

His role in Taps was upgraded after director Harold Becker saw Cruise's potential, and his performance caught the attention of a number of critics and filmmakers. In 1983, Cruise appeared in Francis Ford Coppola 's The Outsiders , which also starred Emilio Estevez , Matt Dillon and Rob Lowe —all prominent members of a group of young actors the entertainment press dubbed the "Brat Pack." The film was not well received, but it allowed Cruise to work with an acclaimed director on a high-profile project.

'Risky Business'

His next film, Risky Business (1983), grossed $65 million. It also made Cruise a highly recognizable actor — thanks in no small part to a memorable scene of the young star dancing in his underwear.

In 1986, after a two-year hiatus, the budding actor released the big-budget fantasy film Legend , which did poorly at the box office. That same year, however, Cruise's A-list status was confirmed with the release of Top Gun , which co-starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan . The testosterone-fueled action-romance, set against the backdrop of an elite naval flight school, became the highest-grossing film of 1986.

'The Color of Money,' 'Rain Man' and 'Born on the Fourth of July'

Cruise followed the tremendous success of Top Gun with a string of both critically acclaimed and commercially successful films. He first starred in The Color of Money (1986) with co-star Paul Newman , and then went on to work with Dustin Hoffman on Rain Man (1988). Cruise's next role, as Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in the biopic Born on the Fourth of July (1989), earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm' and 'Interview with a Vampire'

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men . The film grossed more than $15 million its first weekend and earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. He continued to demonstrate his success as a leading man with The Firm (1993) and Interview with a Vampire (1994), which co-starred Brad Pitt.

'Mission: Impossible,' 'Jerry McGuire'

Next, Cruise hit the big screen with two huge hits—the $64 million blockbuster Mission: Impossible (1996), which the star also produced, and the highly acclaimed Jerry McGuire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe. For the latter, Cruise earned a second Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'Eyes Wide Shut,' 'Magnolia'

Cruise and then-wife Kidman spent much of 1997 and 1998 in England shooting Eyes Wide Shut , an erotic thriller that would be director Stanley Kubrick 's final film. The movie came out in the summer of 1999 to mixed reviews, but that year Cruise enjoyed greater success with the release of Magnolia . His performance as a self-confident sex guru in the ensemble film earned him another Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

'Vanilla Sky,' 'The Last Samurai'

Cruise then starred in the long-awaited smash hit Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000, alongside Anthony Hopkins , Thandie Newton and Ving Rhames. In 2002, he starred in Vanilla Sky , his second collaboration with Crowe, as well as Steven Spielberg 's Minority Report . The following year, Cruise traveled to Australia to shoot the $100 million war epic The Last Samurai, which earned him another Golden Globe nomination.

'War of the Worlds'

Cruise proved he remained a top draw by starring in the Spielberg-directed remake of the science-fiction classic War of the Worlds (2005), which grossed more than $230 million at the box office.

His next effort, Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), also scored well with audiences. However, Cruise was faced with a professional setback in August when Paramount Pictures ended its 14-year relationship with the actor. The company's chairman cited Cruise's erratic behavior and controversial views as the reason for the split, though industry experts noted that Paramount more likely ended the partnership over Cruise's high earnings from the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Cruise quickly rebounded and on November 2, 2006, he announced his new partnership with film executive Paula Wagner and the United Artists film studio. Their first production as a team, the political drama Lions for Lambs (2007), proved a commercial disappointment despite a strong cast that included Meryl Streep and Robert Redford .

'Tropic Thunder'

Taking a break from weighty material, Cruise delighted audiences with his performance in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Despite his relatively small role in a movie that featured Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller , Cruise stood out by obscuring his trademark good looks to play a balding, obese movie studio executive.

'Valkyrie,' 'Rock of Ages'

In December 2008, Cruise released his second project through United Artists. The film, Valkyrie , was a World War II drama about a plot to assassinate German leader Adolf Hitler . Cruise starred as a German army officer who became involved in the conspiracy.

Cruise returned to one of his most popular franchises in 2011 with Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol . Breaking into new territory, he then starred in the 2012 musical Rock of Ages . Although Cruise received some positive reviews for his performance as a rock star, the movie failed to attract much of an audience.

'Jack Reacher,' 'Edge of Tomorrow'

Returning to his mainstream action roots, Cruise starred in the 2012 crime drama Jack Reacher , based on a book by Lee Child. He then headlined a pair of science-fiction adventures, Oblivion (2013) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Showing no signs of slowing down, the veteran actor in 2015 delivered his usual high-energy performance for the fifth installment of his blockbuster franchise, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation .

Latest Movies and Familiar Franchises

In 2016, Cruise reprised the role of Jack Reacher for Never Go Back . He then headlined a reboot of The Mummy (2017), which performed respectably at the box office but was savaged by critics, before earning better reviews later that year for the crime thriller American Made .

2018 brought a return to familiar territory for Cruise, who starred in Mission Impossible —Fallout that summer. Prior to its release, he tweeted a photo to mark day 1 of production on the long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick , scheduled for a June 2020 release.

Scientology and Personal Life

Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers in 1987. It was through Rogers that the actor became a student of Scientology, the religion founded by writer L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise credited the church with curing his dyslexia, and he soon became one of its leading proponents. However, while his spiritual life flourished, his marriage to Rogers ended in 1990. That same year, Cruise made the racecar drama Days of Thunder alongside Kidman. Though the movie was unpopular among critics and fans alike, the two lead actors had real chemistry. On Christmas Eve 1990, after a brief courtship, Cruise and Kidman married in Telluride, Colorado.

Divorce from Kidman

For much of the 1990s, Cruise and Kidman found themselves fiercely defending the happiness and legitimacy of their marriage. They filed two different lawsuits against tabloid publications for stories they considered libelous. In each case, the couple received a published retraction and apology, along with a large monetary settlement which they donated to charity. The couple has two children, Isabella and Connor.

On February 5, 2001, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation after 11 years of marriage. The couple cited the difficulties involved with two acting careers and the amount of time spent apart while working. Following the divorce, Cruise briefly dated his Vanilla Sky co-star Penelope Cruz , followed by a much-publicized relationship with actress Katie Holmes. A month after his ties to Holmes became public, Cruise professed his love for the actress in a now-famous appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which he jumped on Winfrey's sofa, shouting "Yes!"

Marriage to Katie Holmes

In June 2005, after a two-month courtship, Cruise proposed to Holmes in a restaurant at the top of the Eiffel tower. In October, they announced that they were expecting their first child together. The hasty proposal and surprise pregnancy quickly became tabloid gossip. But Cruise made even bigger headlines that year as an outspoken advocate for Scientology. He openly criticized former co-star Brooke Shields for using anti-depressants during her recovery from postpartum depression. He also denounced psychiatry and modern medicine, claiming Scientology held the key to true healing. Cruise's statements led to a heated argument with news anchor Matt Lauer on The Today Show in June 2005, for which Cruise later apologized.

In 2006, Cruise and Holmes welcomed daughter Suri into the world. That year, they were married in an Italian castle, with celebrities Will Smith , Jada Pinkett Smith , Jennifer Lopez and Victoria and David Beckham among those in attendance. However, the storybook romance wouldn't last, and in June 2012, the couple announced their separation.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1962
• Birth date: July 3, 1962
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: Syracuse
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including 'Risky Business,' 'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm,' 'Jerry Maguire' and the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise.
• Astrological Sign: Cancer

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Tom Cruise Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/tom-cruise
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 26, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

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Has Tom Cruise ever won an Oscar?

• Julia Fields
• Published : 12:56 ET, May 11 2021
• Updated : 14:18 ET, May 11 2021
• Published : Invalid Date,

TOM CRUISE has received many awards and nominations for his extensive career acting career.

Cruise began acting in 1981 when he made his film debut in Endless Love. Since then, he has appeared in over 58 films.

Cruise has been nominated for three Academy Awards throughout his career.

He was nominated for Best Actor in 1997 for Jerry Maguire and in 1990 for Born On The Fourth Of July.

He was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Magnolia in 2000.

Tom Cruise has not won any of the Academy Awards that he has been nominated for.

What awards has Tom Cruise won?

Although Cruise has not won an Oscar, he has received many other accolades for his performances in the past.

While Cruise did not win an Oscar for Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, or Born On The Fourth Of July, he did win Golden Globes for all three of his performances.

He has also won two MTV Movie Awards, a Satellite Award, a People's Choice Award, and many more.

In May 2021, Cruise announced that he will be returning his three Golden Globes to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Why is Tom Cruise returning his Golden Globes?

A source close to CNN revealed that Cruise was returning his three Golden Globe awards back to the HFPA.

This comes following criticism of the HFPA regarding lack of diversity in its 87 members.

A recent investigation conducted by the Los Angeles Times revealed that the HFPA included no Black members.

The investigation also raised ethical questions about the financial benefits to some of the members.

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NBC announced that the network will not air the 2022 annual award show following the controversy.

Other actors including Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson have also spoken out against the award show and the HFPA.

Johansson even accussed the HFPA of misconduct and sexism "bordering on sexual harassment."

• Golden Globes
• US Explainers

• Born July 3 , 1962 · Syracuse, New York, USA
• Birth name Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
• Height 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
• In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. Nonetheless, this sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in 1962 in Syracuse, New York, was destined to become one of the highest paid and most sought after actors in screen history. Tom is the only son (among four children) of nomadic parents, Mary Lee (Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. His parents were both from Louisville, Kentucky, and he has German, Irish, and English ancestry. Young Tom spent his boyhood always on the move, and by the time he was 14 he had attended 15 different schools in the U.S. and Canada. He finally settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, Tom wanted to become a priest but pretty soon he developed an interest in acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, dropped out of school, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next 15 years of his life are the stuff of legends. He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences. With handsome movie star looks and a charismatic smile, within 5 years Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top-grossing films of the 1980s including Top Gun (1986) ; The Color of Money (1986) , Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989) . By the 1990s he was one of the highest-paid actors in the world earning an average 15 million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) , Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996) , for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor. Tom Cruise's biggest franchise, Mission Impossible, has also earned a total of 3 billion dollars worldwide. Tom Cruise has also shown lots of interest in producing, with his biggest producer credits being the Mission Impossible franchise. In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughtful man well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the best liked members of the movie community. He was married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth to become one of the biggest movie stars ever. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom McDonough, Grant failor
• Spouses Katie Holmes (November 18, 2006 - August 20, 2012) (divorced, 1 child) Nicole Kidman (December 24, 1990 - August 8, 2001) (divorced, 2 children) Mimi Rogers (May 9, 1987 - February 4, 1990) (divorced)
• Children Isabella Jane Cruise Suri Cruise Connor Cruise
• Parents Thomas Mapother III Mary Lee Pfeiffer
• Relatives William Mapother (Cousin) Amy Mapother (Cousin) Katherine Mapother (Cousin) Lee Anne De Vette (Sibling)
• Often plays romantic leading men with an edge
• Often plays characters caught up in extraordinary circumstances
• Frequently plays intelligent yet laidback and likeable characters
• Beaming smile and intense eye contact
• Boundless off-stage energy
• His acting idol is Paul Newman . Much to the delight of Cruise, they became good friends during work on The Color of Money (1986) . Newman got him into racing, and Cruise ultimately raced on his team.
• Stopped to help a hit and run victim and paid her hospital bills. The victim was aspiring Brazilian actress Heloisa Vinhas (1996).
• Insists on performing many of his own stunts in his films, including climbing the exterior of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, during the filming of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) , and driving during the car chases in Jack Reacher (2012) .
• Cruise earned roughly $75 million for Mission: Impossible II (2000) . He did this by turning down any upfront salary, for instead taking a back-end deal that landed him 30% of the film's gross for both his producing and acting duties.
• He did not stay for the remainder of the 2002 Academy Awards after opening them because it was his turn to look after his and ex-wife Nicole Kidman 's children. He reportedly left the Kodak Theatre by a back door after opening proceedings and dashed home to watch the rest of the event on television with his kids Connor and Isabella.
• The thing about filmmaking is I give it everything, that's why I work so hard. I always tell young actors to take charge. It's not that hard. Sign your own checks, be responsible.
• [to Jay Leno regarding his topless Vanity Fair cover shoot] I don't drink but I had a beer that night and they only did one setup like that. I'm a cheap date. What can I say?
• [on Eyes Wide Shut (1999) ] We knew from the beginning the level of commitment needed. We felt honored to work with Stanley Kubrick . We were going to do what it took to do this picture, whatever time, because I felt - and Nic [ Nicole Kidman ] did, too - that this was going to be a really special time for us. We knew it would be difficult. But I would have absolutely kicked myself if I hadn't done this.
• I have cooked turkeys in my day but when Mom's around I let her do it.
• I was 18 when I saw Akira Kurosawa 's Seven Samurai (1954) . After about 30 seconds, I realized that this was not just a cultural thing, it was universal. Years later, I read Bushido. It talked about many things that I strive for in my own life: loyalty, compassion, responsibility, the idea of looking back on your life and taking responsibility for everything you've ever done. I'm fascinated by the samurai and the samurai code - it's one of the main reasons I wanted to make The Last Samurai (2003) .
• Mission: Impossible 8 (2025) - $13,000,000 + % of back end
• Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) - $13,000,000 + % of back end
• Top Gun: Maverick (2022) - $13,000,000 + % of back end
• The Mummy (2017) - $13,000,000 + % of gross
• Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) - $12,500,000 + % of back end

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Tom Cruise missed Best Actor, but still got his first Oscar nomination in 23 years for Top Gun: Maverick

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The Academy didn't recognize Tom Cruise with a Best Actor nod, but the global superstar still landed a major Oscar nomination for Top Gun : Maverick anyway.

For his work as a producer on the blockbuster sequel that has grossed nearly $1.5 billion to date , the 60-year-old scored his fourth career Oscar nomination as the film appeared Tuesday morning among the Academy's 10 Best Picture nominees.

Paramount Pictures Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun: Maverick'

Tuesday's nomination marks the fourth time the Academy has recognized Cruise throughout his lengthy career. He was previously nominated for his work as an actor for 1989's Born on the Fourth of July , 1996's Jerry Maguire , and 1999's Magnolia .

Top Gun: Maverick , which follows Cruise as the returning Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a U.S. Navy captain and test pilot who faces his conflicting past as he leads a new team of Top Gun graduates into the air, also earned 2023 Oscar nominations for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Original Song (Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand"), Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects.

Cruise made the Joseph Kosinski -directed movie — Paramount's long-awaited continuation of the original 1986 Top Gun film — alongside veteran Hollywood producers Jerry Bruckheimer , David Ellison , and Christopher McQuarrie, who also co-wrote the movie with Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer.

The 95th Academy Awards will air Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC. See the full list of 2023 Oscar nominations here .

Check out more from EW's  The Awardis t , featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and  our podcast  diving into all the highlights from the year's best films.

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Oscars: michelle yeoh, angela bassett and more record-setters among the 2023 nominees.

Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer, Cate Blanchett, Steven Spielberg and John Williams are among the big names making history or set to break records at the 95th annual Academy Awards.

By Lexy Perez , Abbey White January 26, 2023 7:43am

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When the nominations for the 2023 Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday morning, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett and Elvis were among the stars and films setting new records or carving out unique places in Oscar history.

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Famed filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Jerry Bruckheimer, Todd Field, Alfonso Cuarón, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert all made their own marks — adding to their existing achievements, proving sequels can find success decades after earlier films were released and showing that even with Hollywood’s biggest names, there’s still excitement in a first nomination. Actors like Cate Blanchett, Ana de Armas and Judd Hirsch set records across categories, ethnicity and age, while composer John Williams continues his reign as the Oscars ‘ most nominated living person.

Several of this year’s international offerings, including Ireland’s The Quiet Girl and Germany’s All Quiet on the Western Front , had historic performances for their countries. Those honors come in the same year that the box-office grosses of the best picture nominees also set a record.

The 95th annual Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Below  The Hollywood Reporter  rounds up some of the records and fun facts about the 2023 Oscar nominations.

This year’s first-time nominees include breakout talent and industry veterans

The 2023 best picture nominees are moneymakers.

Collectively, and not adjusted for inflation, the 2023 best picture contenders have grossed more at the U.S. box office than any previous group of nominees in history at the time of nominations. The best picture nominees include: All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness and Women Talking .

Steven Spielberg continues his run as one of Hollywood’s most decorated directors

With The Fabelmans scoring a best picture nod, Steven Spielberg achieved his 12th nomination in the best picture category, extending his record for an individual producer — producers were first named as nominees in 1951 — from 11 to 12. With 12 nominations as a producer and directing 1975 best picture nominee Jaws , Spielberg has now directed 13 best picture nominees, tying William Wyler as the directors of the most best picture nominees. Meanwhile, Spielberg earned his ninth nod in the best directing category, now tying him with Martin Scorsese for most nominations in the directing category for a living person. Wyler has 12 directing nominations.

Judd Hirsch proves acting has no age limit with Fabelmans nomination

Tom cruise and jerry bruckheimer soar to first-time nominations with top gun: maverick.

Among the many first-time nominees were two notable newbies: Jerry Bruckheimer and Tom Cruise. Both joined the club of Oscar-nominated producers with Top Gun: Maverick ‘s best picture nod, marking the first-ever Oscar nod for Bruckheimer and first best picture nod for Cruise.

Avatar and Top Gun prove sequels are timeless

While franchise sequels abound in today’s film industry IP frenzy, it’s rare that a narrative released more than a decade ago gets a second chance to tell a new story. It’s even rarer that there would be two such films nominated for best picture. Thanks to Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel 36 years in the making, and James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of the Water , which came out 13 years after the first Avatar , the best picture category now has two movie follow-ups with unusually large gaps between the sequels and the original films. 

The Black Panther sequel makes Marvel history again with Angela Bassett 

Ryan coogler joins the ranks of the oscars’ best picture and best song nominees.

Angela Bassett wasn’t the only Black Panther creative to score a notable nomination. Director and co-writer Ryan Coogler scored his own Oscar nomination in the original song category for “Lift Me Up,” sung by Rihanna. This puts him in an exclusive group of Oscar nominees who have been nominated, though not necessarily from the same film, in both the best picture and best original song categories. 

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert pull double duty in the best director category

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All At Once may lead the nominees for this year’s Oscars, but the directing nomination for the filmmakers also marks the fifth time two credited directors have been nominated for the same film. Past directing duo nominees have included Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story (1961); Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for Heaven Can Wait (1978); and Joel and Ethan Coen, who won for No Country for Old Men (2007) and were nominated for True Grit (2010).

Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar nomination is already a win for Asian women

Asian acting nominees are at a historic high.

Everything Everywhere All At Once leads this year’s race with 11 nominations, including for best picture, with Asian actors achieving a historic four nominations in a single year. Best actress nominee Michelle Yeoh is joined by supporting actor nominee Ke Huy Quan, who is the first actor from Vietnam to be recognized by the Academy, and the second ethnically Chinese supporting actor to be nominated since Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields  (1985). Meanwhile in the supporting actress race are Stephanie Hsu and  The Whale ‘s Hong Chau, the first time two Asian women have shared that category in the same year.

All good things come in threes for Elvis’ Catherine Martin

Catherine Martin, Elvis director Baz Luhrmann’s wife and longtime collaborator, is the seventh woman to hold nominations in three or more award categories after earning nods for best picture, best costume design and production design for her work on Elvis . Previous women who secured multiple nominations in the same year include Chloé Zhao with four and Barbra Streisand, Sofia Coppola, Fran Walsh, Emerald Fennell and Jane Campion with three. With the nominations, Martin is the first person recognized in both the best picture and costume design categories in the same year and the second with nods in best picture and production design categories following Kristi Zea, whose nominations were not in the same year.

Mandy Walker makes history for women in cinematography

Cate blanchett is a best picture darling.

Following Tár’ s best picture nomination, the film’s star Cate Blanchett has now appeared in 10 best picture nominees, continuing to expand on her record from last year’s nine and surpass Olivia de Havilland. Thanks to her roles in  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ,  Babel ,  The Aviator , all three installments of the  Lord of the Rings  trilogy,  Elizabeth, Nightmare Alley  and  Don’t Look Up , Blanchett, a two-time Oscar winner, has now become the actress with the most credited roles tied to best picture nominees. The record had been long-held by de Havilland, who was in eight separate films nominated for best picture. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson have appeared in 10 best picture nominees, with Robert De Niro having starred in 11.

Tár’ s Todd Field is playing the long game with the Oscars

Ana de armas scores a nod for cuban representation.

Ana de Armas is also making history as the first best actress nominee of Cuban descent. Andy Garcia was originally the only Cuban to have received an acting nod after being nominated for best supporting actor for The Godfather, Part III . After her nomination, de Armas is now also the fifth Latina to score a nod in the best actress category following Fernanda Montenegro for Central Station (1998), Salma Hayek for Frida (2002), Catalina Sandino Moreno for Maria Full of Grace (2004) and Yalitza Aparicio for Roma (2018). De Armas’ nomination is for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in the Andrew Dominik-directed film Blonde . Her acting nomination also marks the second given to someone who played Marilyn Monroe, following Michelle Williams’ best actress mention for My Week with Marilyn in 2012.

Alfonso Cuarón has a wealth of nominations across categories

Earning a single Oscar nod is a significant and momentous feat for many industry members, but Alfonso Cuarón has set himself apart among his illustrious group of fellow nominees. The Mexican filmmaker is now tied with Kenneth Branagh for nominations across seven different and individual Oscars categories, translating to six broad categories. 

John Williams remains the most-nominated living person in Oscars history

With the news that John Williams is not retiring , the door remains open for him to catch or even surpass a record (thanks in part to his 2023 Oscars nomination) long dominated by Walt Disney. The composer, who has racked up a total of 53 nominations — making him the most nominated person alive in Oscars history, is just six nods shy of Disney’s record 59 nominations. His latest honor comes thanks to his work on Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans . 

Andy Nelson extends a pretty sound Oscars nomination run

When Andy Nelson attends the 95th Academy Awards in March, he’ll walk in and out — win or lose — as one of the Oscars’ most honored individuals. The Batman and Elvis sound mixer became the third most Oscar-nominated living person with his honors for both films. He now has a total of 24 nominations, winning for Saving Private Ryan and Les Misérables , breaking away from a previous tie with Randy Newman for the third-most noms.  

Roger Deakins ups his historic cinematography nomination tally

The 1917 and Blade Runner 2049 cinematographer has increased his total number of Oscar nominations to 16 with his work on Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light . The nomination follows a previous collaboration with Mendes on 1917 , for which Deakins won his second Oscar. 

The Quiet Girl is one of a wave of nominations for Ireland

Alongside The Quiet Girl , Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin — starring nominees Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan — is helping make history for Ireland at the Oscars. Thanks to the film’s nine nods, and Paul Mescal’s best actor nom for Aftersun , the country holds bragging rights to a larger record of more than 10 nominations . 

All Quiet on the Western Front makes noise among international films

Edward Berger’s WWI film, All Quiet on the Western Front, earned nine Oscar nominations, the second-most mentions ever for a non-English-language film behind Roma and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s 10 nominations each. This year, All Quiet was the also only non-English-language movie to make the list of films nominated for best picture. The Netflix drama is the eighth non-English-language film to be nominated for both international feature film and best picture in the same year. Previous films nominated in both categories include Z (1969); Life Is Beautiful (1998); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); Amour (2012); Roma (2018); Parasite (2019); and Drive My Car (2021). To date, Parasite is the only non-English-language film to win best picture.

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Silent No More

Tom Cruise Week

The Making of Les Grossman: An Oral History

The year was 2008. Tom Cruise was a national punch line. Then came ‘Tropic Thunder’ and the cameo role of a lifetime.

I n 2008, Tom Cruise needed to find a way to make people laugh. Hard. Probably at him. After two decades as a bona fide Hollywood sensation, the actor found himself in the midst of a crisis that seemed unimaginable. Over the past four years, he’d fired his publicist, who had told him to curb the Scientology talk, and made a fool of himself publicly, jumping on Oprah’s couch and lecturing Matt Lauer about psychiatry. Business had been better, too. On the heels of 2006’s Mission: Impossible III , which made nearly $150 million less than the franchise’s previous installment, Cruise’s longtime studio home, Paramount, severed ties. Company chairman Sumner Redstone delivered a public reprimand by way of a reason. “As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal,” Redstone told The Wall Street Journal . “His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”

Grossman gave even fewer fucks than Cruise had seemingly given in the years leading up to the film — and watching Cruise mock his own industry finally felt like he was back in the know. Tropic Thunder was a sendup of filmmaking itself: A troupe of actors shooting a war movie wander into a remote jungle and end up in hostile territory. They believe the dangers mounting all around them are simply there in the service of acting. One of them, Tugg Speedman, played by Thunder ’s cowriter and director, Ben Stiller, is captured and tortured. Grossman is asked to ransom the action star, but refuses. Actors can drop dead. Business is king. That’s the message. In the end, however, the film within the film — a disaster by all accounts — is ironically rewarded for its merits with Oscars. Just as unbelievably, in real life, Cruise came away from Tropic Thunder nominated for a Golden Globe and ready, Les Grossman–style, to shake his ass all the way back to the bank.

Stiller: We had an outline and about half a script. I knew how it should end. Then we brought Etan on and got a full draft.

Stiller: I had been talking to Tom about being in the movie. He read the script and actually came up with the idea for the character.

Cornfeld: Tom read the script when there was no Les Grossman and said, “I think you need another villain other than just the 12-year-old drug king. What about some greedy pig studio executive who really represents the gross part of Hollywood?”

Stiller: His idea to show the studio head actually fixed a problem we had for a long time. We never cut back to the real world for any of the previous drafts. All the Grossman scenes totally fixed the plot holes.

Cornfeld: We did a draft that incorporated that character and Ben gave it to Tom. Then, the frequency of our discussions slowed down. Tom Cruise is a busy guy.

Cohen: The character spent a year being “Studio Head.” July 2003, he becomes Todd Berlinger. October 2003, Todd Green. This was an interesting draft, because here’s the first draft where we really see the guy who became the profane Les Grossman, screaming at Flaming Dragon that if they so much as sneeze on the craft services table, he will fuck them up. Then, a couple weeks later — Phillip Green. For the life of me, I can’t remember why.

Cornfeld: Ben decided he was going to play Speedman, and then he got a phone call from Tom, who said he just couldn’t get the script out of his mind. Tom asked, “What else is open?” And Ben said, “Well, we haven’t cast the Les Grossman role yet.” Tom was like, “I’d play that.”

Stiller: And he said he wanted to dance.

Cohen: I met Tom at the table reading. It’s not a surprise that he is who he is. A lot of actors hold back at table readings. Tom was the opposite. He worked insanely hard at making that character unique. You could tell that he’d never done anything like it before and was embracing it.

Hader: Tom Cruise didn’t know who I was and was trying to figure it out. I said, “Seth Rogen’s a friend of mine and he said he went to your house.” I did a Seth Rogen impersonation for two seconds, like “Tom Cruise is amazing! We rode motorcycles in his backyard!” And it was like I did a magic trick. Tom Cruise started clapping and going crazy and he went, “You do impressions and you’re on Saturday Night Live .” Meaning, I was briefed and I now know who you are.

Connie Grayson Criswell (lead hair-puncher): It was kind of a pain in the butt because we were punching with very curly human hair. Curly hair is very hard to punch because it has a mind of its own.

Burman:   When we needed a point of reference — I didn’t even see this happening at first — people would come to me, because I may be a few pounds over what I should be and I’m sort of bald on top and at the time had a sort of scruff going. And people kept looking at me to see how my hair grows and what the weight is like and how things sit on me. At one point I thought they were trying to turn Tom into me.

Cornfeld: Some magazine said the character was based on me because I’m like, you know, fat and bald, and I thought that was hysterical. The character was an amalgam of a lot of traits. Les isn’t really based on anybody. 1

AP Photo/Matt Sayles Brandon T. Jackson, Jack Black, Tom Cruise, Bill Hader, Ben Stiller, and Matthew McConaughey at the premiere of ‘Tropic Thunder’ in Los Angeles.

Criswell: I didn’t know what the hair was for initially. I’m not fazed by actors. It’s all about the hair work.

Cornfeld: We’re doing the makeup test and it’s the first time Tom’s in the Les Grossman outfit. He stops and says, “Maybe I should dance in this. You know, I haven’t danced in a movie in a long time.”

Stiller: Tom choreographed all his own moves. I remember watching him do this stuff and thinking this is so frigging funny.

Hader: I remember him standing off in a corner just working on his moves.

Cornfeld: Most directors, if an actor in that situation said, “Maybe I should dance,” suddenly, the script has additions to it. All of a sudden the secretary is saying, “Oh, Mr. Grossman, you’ve got to practice your dance routine for your daughter’s bat mitzvah,” or something like that. But Ben was like, “Yeah, that’s good. This guy does what he wants and when he’s happy, he dances.” He didn’t need any explanation beyond that.

Hader: I had a hard time keeping a straight face when he said, “A nutless monkey could do your job.” You notice when he says that I’m not looking at him. Every time I looked at him I’d start laughing.

Burke: One day we were in the makeup room and Tom was rehearsing his lines and they were so vulgar and crass. I was taken aback and I thought something had happened to him. He’s swearing and saying these horrible things like, “Fuck you, I’m gonna fuck you!” Oh my goodness. It was not his normal thing.

Hader: When I was like 5, my dad took me out to these rain towers in northern Tulsa, where I grew up. And he had me on his shoulders and he said, “They’re shooting a movie over there called The Outsiders .” They were shooting the rumble scene in the rain and I was like, “Oh my god! They’re shooting a movie over there!” I told Tom that and he goes, “I was there. You were there. And now we’re here. How awesome is that?”

Caefer:  With such a heavy makeup and the heavy workout he was getting, we really had to tend to the actor all the time because there are risks involved — dehydration — so we had to have water for him all the time.

Hader: Justin Theroux deserves a ton of credit for the Les Grossman character. Theroux was the one when I was around who was coming up with all these Grossman lines. “You shit the money bed” was just so good.

Stiller: We shot all Tom’s stuff in like three days.

Hader: They didn’t put him on any of the posters. And when I did press I didn’t want to talk about it because I just wanted it to be a surprise. 3

Caefer: At the end of the movie, people were seeing his name on the screen, and questioning, Who the heck was Tom Cruise? Which one was Tom Cruise?

Cohen: Les Grossman was so beloved that he appeared at the MTV Movie Awards. 4

Burke: Dancing with Jennifer Lopez.

Hader: I remember even getting phone calls, saying, “Hey, we’re maybe going to do a Les Grossman movie.” And I said, “Hey, that sounds great.” I think one was written, but I don’t know. 5

Cornfeld: So much of it is about availability. Hopefully something will happen because he’s such a great character.

Hader: At the premiere, Tom Cruise was like, “Hey, Bill, how’s it going, man?” And I got a little starstruck. Like, I’d never hung out with Tom Cruise before. I’d just been with Les.

Cornfeld: The whole thing was just a gift. Seeing it come together had this weird cosmic layer. Tom comes up with the idea of the character — the dance, having big hands — and he ends up playing the character. It’s just rare that these sorts of surprises end up working. But think about Tom Cruise’s body of work. Coppola, Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Paul Thomas Anderson. You know Tom Cruise doesn’t do things by accident.  

Playing a round of “Who’s Les Grossman, really?” was a popular guessing game around the time of the film’s release. Sumner Redstone and Harvey Weinstein were front-runners. In its review of the movie, the  New York Times called out  Tropic Thunder , which also employed blackface as a plot device, for perpetuating cartoonish Jewish stereotypes with the Grossman character. “What’s most notable about the film’s use of blackface,” wrote critic Manohla Dargis , “is how much softer it is compared with the rather more vulgar and far less loving exploitation of what you might call Jewface.”

Caefer was also charged with making last-minute cosmetic fixes to Cruise’s headpiece, which included punching individual hairs into a mat of silicone one-eighth of an inch thick and already glued to the actor’s head. “That was terrifying,” Caefer says. “I started punching hairs into this appliance and everybody was suddenly silent. Tom closed his eyes and for half an hour, nobody said anything until I was through.”

After photos of Cruise in a fat suit leaked during filming, Cruise’s lawyers reportedly threatened to take legal action against any publication that used them.

The 2010 MTV Movie Awards, two years after Tropic Thunder’s premiere.

Three days after the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, Entertainment Weekly and Nikki Finke’s Deadline reported that a Les Grossman movie would be made by Paramount — the same studio that had dropped Cruise four years earlier. Ben Stiller is quoted in the release as follows: “Les Grossman’s life story is an inspiring tale of the classic human struggle to achieve greatness against all odds. He has assured me he plans to quote, ‘F**king kill the sh*t out of this movie and make Citizen f**king Kane look like a piece of crap home movie by the time we are done.’ I am honored to be working with him.” A series of reports in 2012 quotes screenwriter Michael Bacall ( 21 Jump Street ) about drafting a Les Grossman script.

Filed Under: Tom Cruise Week , oral history , Tom Cruise , Tropic Thunder , Ben Stiller , Les Grossman , Sumner Redstone , paramount , Justin theroux , Etan Cohen , Bill Hader , Robert Downey Jr.

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 Born on the Fourth of July  

Tom Cruise’s powerful performance as Ron Kovic, the Vietnam veteran who became a prominent anti-war activist, earned the star his first Oscar nomination in Oliver Stone’s searing film version of Kovic’s memoir. This epic drama about the impact of the war on American soldiers and their families received eight nominations including Best Picture and winning for Directing (Stone) and Film Editing (David Brenner, Joe Hutshing). John Williams was nominated for his emotional score which combined stirring Americana with more experimental music for the film’s traumatic war sequences; he would work with Stone again on JFK (1991) and Nixon (1995), receiving nominations for both scores. 

DIRECTED BY: Oliver Stone. WRITTEN BY: Oliver Stone, Ron Kovic. WITH: Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Willem Dafoe. 1989. 144 min. USA. Color. Scope. English. Rated R. 35mm.  Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.

Academy museum film programming generously funded by the richard roth foundation. .

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• What Is Cinema?

Tom Cruise Really Could Finally Win an Oscar for Top Gun: Maverick

By Katey Rich

Let’s start here: It’s entirely likely that Top Gun: Maverick will win multiple Oscars. With her ubiquitous power ballad and an Oscar already in hand, Lady Gaga is perfectly poised to steamroll the best-original-song category with “Hold My Hand.” And though there are blockbusters yet to come, including Black Panther 2 and Avatar 2, the best-sound category basically exists for the zooms and crashes of Top Gun ’s aerial spectaculars.

There’s one more honor that’s a little bit more out of reach, but irresistible to imagine for fans of both the movie and one of the oldest Oscar narratives: the overdue reward. Tom Cruise has already been celebrated as the sole savior of moviegoing, thanks to Maverick ’s incredible returns. But what if he also got a best-actor statue for his effort?

The idea was floated back when Maverick first opened, and at the time, it seemed a little fanciful. But as Maverick has continued its box office dominance, to a degree that seemed impossible for any movie about non-superpowered human beings, Cruise and his Herculean efforts to entertain the world remain difficult to ignore. Would an Oscar really be so outlandish at this point?

Hear more about this not-so-wild idea on this week’s Little Gold Men podcast.  

Yes, this is a narrative that, with a few details changed, seems to resurface every year. There was the quixotic campaign for Spider-Man: No Way Home to get a best-picture nomination, largely on the strength of its own box office success. There are the summer hits that hold out hope of being remembered when the Oscars roll around six months later, from tiny triumphs like The Farewell to the notorious case of The Dark Knight . There’s the whole mess of the #OscarsCheerMoment for the Snyder Cut , which we just cannot get into right now. But pretty much as long as there have been Oscars, there have been pushes from various corners to reward populist hits, with the somewhat persuasive argument that millions of fans can’t be all wrong.

And every once in a while, it works. Following its splashy premiere at Cannes in May, Top Gun: Maverick was compared fairly favorably to Mad Max: Fury Road, which began its own unlikely road to Oscar dominance at the same festival. Black Panther won three Oscars. Get Out, a horror movie released a full year before the ceremony, was nominated for four Oscars and won best original screenplay. When critics, audiences, and Oscar voters line up so completely, it can be genuinely thrilling—a throwback to the days when Tootsie and E.T. were the highest-grossing films of 1982 by the time they lost best picture to Gandhi.

But the Mad Max: Fury Road comparisons only went so far, even at Cannes. Top Gun: Maverick is an achievement on many levels, but not quite the same as George Miller ’s wild directorial vision, or even Fury Road ’s metaphorical resonance. ( Maverick goes out of its way to avoid any connection to real global politics, which, fair enough.) And even though Maverick is far and away the biggest box office hit of the year, cultural dominance now doesn’t mean quite the same thing that it did for E.T. The urgency to celebrate a hit, even one this big, is not likely to mean as much to the globally spread, future-minded Academy voters of the moment.

But that brings us back to Tom Cruise, the man without whom Maverick would not exist for many reasons. Nominated for three career Oscars—two for definitive leading-man roles in Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, one for transformative supporting work in Magnolia —he’s been on quite a journey since his last nomination in 2000. On the brink of irrelevance by the time Jeremy Renner was tapped as his fresh, young colead in 2011’s Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, Cruise instead wrested that franchise back into his control, building up box office clout so strong that even a long-gestating, seemingly implausible Top Gun sequel suddenly became real. His non– Mission: Impossible work—two Jack Reacher movies that barely exist, an attempt to reboot The Mummy, whatever American Made turned out to be—has been almost uniformly irrelevant, but every Ethan Hunt movie has reset the clock. Watch Tom Cruise in his element, and it is impossible not to be in awe. There is still truly no other movie star like him.

By Anthony Breznican

By Julie Miller

By Richard Lawson

And though the physical challenges of the Mission: Impossible franchise are not the stuff Oscar nominations are made of, there’s more going on in Maverick. Cruise gets to play the lingering anguish over Goose’s death that informs Maverick’s relationship with Goose’s son ( Miles Teller ); his continuing struggle to follow orders, barely containing a smirk in the face of Jon Hamm ’s imposing admiral; even a surprisingly robust romantic subplot with Jennifer Connelly, whose chemistry with Cruise feels genuinely well-earned. The spectacle of Maverick ’s flying sequences may be the big selling point, but it’s not hard to imagine audiences returning again and again to see the bracingly emotional reunion between Cruise and Val Kilmer ’s Iceman, an almost 40-year-old, famously homoerotic tension transformed into a deep—and sad—understanding.

Maverick is not Cruise’s best performance, sure. But as a distillation of everything that has made Cruise a generation-defining star, Maverick is pretty much perfect. If the Academy wants to finally award Cruise a statue, it’s not likely there will be a better opportunity to do so.

The question, of course, is how much the Academy really wants that—and how hard Cruise is willing to work for it. Long protected by his tower of mega-fame and Scientology, Cruise would need to embark on some kind of authenticity tour for an awards campaign, different from the exhaustive work he already did to promote Maverick. It’s one thing for Cruise to fly onto an aircraft carrier or hold court in front of a crowd in Cannes, and another entirely to open up for the kind of profiles or roundtable conversations that are ever-present in modern Oscar campaigns. There’s a very, very recent precedent for this: Will Smith was more visible, and vulnerable, than he has been in years in his promotional duties for King Richard, and his carefully calibrated campaign worked beautifully (until, of course, it didn’t). The path megastars must walk in the Oscar circuit is different from the path for fresh-faced newcomers or even previous winners, but Cruise could make it all look as natural as clinging to the side of an airplane.

Many, many factors—including the slew of films that will premiere at the early fall festivals in Toronto, Telluride, and Venice—will determine Cruise’s Oscar chances, far more than the quality of his work; that, unfortunately, is always the way. And it’s possible that there’s a much easier path for him, parlaying the success of Maverick —and maybe some outrage over an Oscar snub—into a win for a juicy, more Oscar-friendly supporting role in the next year or two.

But in this period before we really know what’s on the horizon, it’s worth just floating the idea of Cruise as a serious contender. As The Hollywood Reporter ’s Scott Feinberg pointed out back in June , if Paul Newman could win for The Color of Money and John Wayne for True Grit, why not this? The reward for making a giant blockbuster is the money and the cultural impact, but every once in a while, the stars align to merit something more.

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TOM CRUISE is a global cultural icon who has made an immeasurable impact on cinema by creating some of the most memorable characters of all time. Having achieved extraordinary success as an actor, producer and philanthropist in a career spanning over three decades, Cruise is a three-time Oscar® nominee and three-time Golden Globe Award® winner whose films have earned over $10 billion in worldwide box office—an incomparable accomplishment. Eighteen of Cruise’s films have grossed over $100 million domestically, and a record 23 have made more than $200 million globally. His latest film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout has made over $775 million worldwide becoming Cruise’s most successful film to date.

Cruise has starred in numerous legendary films such as Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, Risky Business, Minority Report, Interview with the Vampire, A Few Good Men, The Firm, Rain Man, Collateral, The Last Samurai, Edge of Tomorrow, The Color of Money and the Mission: Impossible series, among many others. Combined, the Mission: Impossible franchise has brought in over $3.5 billion since Cruise conceived the idea for a film adaptation of the classic television series and produced the first in 1996. He is currently in production on the long-awaited sequel to Top Gun.

A consummate filmmaker involved in all aspects of production, Cruise has proven his versatility with the films and roles he chooses. He has made 43 films, contributing in a producing role on many of them, and collaborated with a remarkable list of celebrated film directors including Francis Ford Coppola, 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, Ed Zwick, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, J.J. Abrams, Robert Redford, Brad Bird, Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie.

Cruise received Academy Award® nominations for Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire. He was a Best Supporting Actor nominee for Magnolia and won Golden Globes (Best Actor) for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, in addition to a Best Supporting Actor prize for Magnolia. He also received Golden Globe nominations for his roles in Risky Business, A Few Good Men and The Last Samurai. Cruise has earned acting nominations and awards from BAFTA, the Screen Actors Guild, the Chicago Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review.

Cruise’s previous few films include the critically acclaimed American Made, The Mummy, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Oblivion and the suspense thriller Jack Reacher, which earned $218 million worldwide. Prior to that, he made a memorable appearance in Ben Stiller’s comedy smash Tropic Thunder, as the foul-mouthed Hollywood movie mogul Les Grossman. This performance, based on a character Cruise created, earned him praise from critics and audiences as well as his seventh Golden Globe nomination.

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. In addition to his artistic contributions, Cruise has used his professional success as a vehicle for positive change, becoming an international advocate, activist and philanthropist in the fields of health, education and human rights. 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 2011 Cruise received the Simon Wiesenthal Humanitarian Award and the following year he received the Entertainment Icon Award from the Friars Club for his outstanding accomplishments in the entertainment industry and in the humanities. He is the fourth person to receive this honor after Douglas Fairbanks, Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra. Empire magazine awarded Cruise its Legend of Our Lifetime Award in 2014. Most recently, Cruise was the first actor to receive The Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation’s Pioneer of the Year Award in 2018.

• Top Gun: Maverick (2021)
• Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018)
• American Made (2017)
• The Mummy (2017)
• Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
• Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015)
• Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
• Oblivion (2013)
• Jack Reacher (2012)
• Rock of Ages (2012)
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
• Knight and Day (2010)
• Valkyrie (2008)
• Tropic Thunder (2008)
• Lions for Lambs (2007)
• Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
• War of the Worlds (2005)
• Collateral (2004)
• The Last Samurai (2003)
• Minority Report (2002)
• Vanilla Sky (2002)
• Mission: Impossible 2 (2001)
• Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Jerry Maguire (1996)
• Mission: Impossible (1996)
• Interview with the Vampire (1994)
• The Firm (1993)
• A Few Good Men (1992)
• Far and Away (1992)
• Days of Thunder (1990)
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
• Rain Man (1988)
• Cocktail (1988)
• The Color of Money (1986)
• Top Gun (1986)
• Legend (1985)
• Risky Business (1983)
• All the Right Moves (1983)
• The Outsiders (1983)
• Losin’ It (1983)
• Taps (1981)
• Endless Love (1981)

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Tom Cruise Gave June Squibb and Director Josh Margolin His Blessing for Their ‘M:I’ Homage in ‘Thelma’

Ryan lattanzio, deputy editor, film.

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Believe it: “ Thelma ” is the first leading role in the great character actress June Squibb ’s four-decade screen career.

She plays a version of Josh Margolin’s own 103-year-old grandmother in “ Thelma ” as Thelma Post, who with a Lifeline wristband and a stolen scooter zooms off toward justice after becoming the unwitting victim of a mail scam. Thelma is deeply close with her directionless but sweet-meaning layabout of a grandson Danny (“The White Lotus” Season 1 scene-stealer and ultimate hero Fred Hechinger), with whom she shares the secret code of understanding recognizable to anyone who’s close to their grandparents.

After Thelma’s duped out of $10,000 by a caller claiming Danny has been arrested and needs bail money, her family (Parker Posey and Clark Gregg) chalk it up to senility in need of a nursing home. So Thelma — despite a valve replacement, double mastectomy, and a benign but steady tumor, much like Margolin’s grandmother — entreats a fellow senior (“Shaft” icon Richard Roundtree in his final role) to chase down the culprits, family micromanaging be darned. And as the movie establishes in its opening moments, Thelma is emboldened by the does-his-own-stunts derring-do of Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible,” which now in retirement, she watches on TV at home while doing needlepoint.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

IndieWire: Josh, not to be weird, but I looked at your Instagram, and your real-life grandmother even looks exactly like June Squibb in “Thelma.”

Josh Margolin: She’s 103. She’ll be 104 on July 23. She’s hanging in. She lived alone until she was 99. Now, for the past couple years, basically since Covid, she’s been living with my parents in LA. She lives in my old bedroom, so there’s kind of been a full-circle thing happening now. The room is this funny mix of all my high school stuff mixed with her stuff, so it’s a very unique blend of teen boy and hundred-year-old woman.

June, did you get to spend time with the real Thelma as well?

June Squibb: I did. We kept trying to meet, and it didn’t work, and then about a few weeks ago, Mo Rocca was interviewing me for “CBS Sunday Morning,” and the next day he interviewed Josh and Thelma, and they had me come over. So they actually filmed my meeting her, and it was wonderful. I had never met her before and I walked in and said, “I’m Thelma Post,” and she said, “No, I’m Thelma Post.” And then we both giggled and laughed a lot. We thought we were so funny together.

June Squibb: I don’t think I thought of it until everybody started talking about it. If I had gotten this script and Josh had said, “Will you work for one day with us?” I would’ve said yes. I mean, it has nothing to do with that, but it’s lovely. It’s lovely to be the leading lady of a film.

You’re quite busy. What’s the proportion between scripts you turn down and scripts you take on?

June Squibb: [It has to be] something that just interests me. If I can say, “I’ve already done that sort of role,” so I won’t do this, or “I’ve done that sort of role,” and I liked it, and I have more to say about it, then I would do it. It’s crazy because I do have somebody else read all my scripts, but she and I usually agree on what I should do or not do, and I turn down a great deal. When I get an overwritten film script, I almost always say no to it. I just feel that that bodes badness for me. And Josh’s script was so lean that he didn’t overwrite for one minute, and that, to me, is gold if you’re going to do it.

Josh, Tom Cruise gave you permission to use “Mission: Impossible” with a sort of pithy “go forth.” Has he seen the film?

June, have you ever met Tom Cruise?

June Squibb: No, I’ve never met him. I think we might’ve been at one thing during the award season 10 years ago, but I never met him.

Little moments in “Thelma” struck me, like when Danny’s mother, played by Parker Posey, is prattling on about a friend’s son who’s become “addicted to Don Julio” and vaping as a sort of cautionary tale for Danny’s waywardness. He and Thelma share a look of, like, “Oh, this woman is crazy.”

June Squibb: Oh my God, I’m so glad you caught that. I think people do catch it. I think it’s there. I love that moment. I just felt that it shows how close we are and how we understand each other and these two crazy people, my son and daughter and his father and mother. We don’t need them. I just love that moment.

June, you did all your own stunts for this movie, including riding the scooter but also, yes, climbing the stairs! Which has got to be hard. Was this your first time doing your own stunts?

Josh Margolin: June did just so much more than we anticipated, which was wonderful for the movie. It is the ethos of the movie. It is the Tom Cruise of it all, doing it yourself, throwing yourself in there as much as possible. And we had a great stunt team. Ryan Sturz, our stunt coordinator, and June’s double [Heidi Pascoe] were so highly involved and stepping in as needed. But June was just like she was a dancer and Broadway performer for years. She’s a physical performer, too, in a way that I didn’t totally have an awareness of going into the project.

June Squibb: It’s really hard to go up and down stairs when you’re 92 years old. That was not acting basically. I mean, I was climbing those stairs!

Ellen Burstyn, who is 91, recently said she’s busier than ever because all her peers who could’ve played great-grandmothers are now dead. And that’s not, true, June, because you’re also available! Do you feel busier than ever in your career?

When was the last time you had to audition?

June Squibb: Before “Nebraska.” Before “Nebraska,” I was auditioning for everything, and then after you’re nominated for an Academy Award, everybody says, “He doesn’t have to audition, or she doesn’t have to audition anymore,” and they give you scripts.

Does retiring interest you?

June Squibb: No. I wonder myself how long I am going to keep working, and I have no answer for it. I think, “Well, maybe ‘Thelma’ will be last,” but then I was asked to do “Eleanor the Great.” I could do voiceover work crawling on my knees. ‘Til I can’t do it anymore, I guess! I’ve never done a Western, and I would like to do that.

“Thelma” is now in theaters from Magnolia Pictures.

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The 32 greatest Tom Cruise movies

Posted: 21 June 2024 | Last updated: 21 June 2024

The Mission: Impossible and Top Gun star has had us all at "Hello"

For decades, the name Tom Cruise has been synonymous with Hollywood movies. With so many classic movies under his belt, it's not hard to understand why.

Though his career has had its share of controversies, Cruise has maintained high altitude as one of Hollywood's most bankable movie stars in its history. Raised in near poverty under an abusive father, Cruise took up acting in high school after he was cut from the varsity football team when he was caught drinking beers before a game.

After starring in his school's production of Guys and Dolls, Cruise caught the acting bug and moved away - first to New York, then to Los Angeles - to pursue a career in TV and movies. He made his movie debut in the 1981 movie Endless Love, and then had a supporting role in the film Taps. After several more small parts, he starred in Paul Brickman's Risky Business, where Cruise won over audiences everywhere with a killer lip-sync routine.

With numerous accolades and just as many controversies to his name, Tom Cruise is the definition of a Hollywood superstar whose presence alone can move mountains.

Oblivion (2013)

Well into his career as a top-tier Hollywood star, Tom Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski aimed to prove that the old ways of original, star-driven spectacles could still draw audiences without attaching a known superhero IP. Enter: Oblivion. Based on Kosinski's own unpublished graphic novel (which Kosinski said was always just a pitch for a movie anyway), Tom Cruise stars as a maintenance technician in the far future who, on the brink of retirement, is drawn into the mystery of both himself and the true nature of the war that destroyed Earth. Oblivion was a modest success at the box office and drew mixed reviews from critics. But it has aged very well, being an expansive original sci-fi epic with breathtaking imagination.

Knight and Day (2010)

From director James Mangold comes Knight and Day, a satirical action romp that set fire to romantic comedy conventions. Tom Cruise leads the movie as a spy on the run from the CIA who bumps into, and then whisks away, a beautiful vintage car dealer played by Cameron Diaz. (The two previously starred together in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky.) Although Knight and Day was just the first of many Hollywood rom-coms that felt obligated to double as action movies to attract a wide demographic, the movie succeeds with legitimately impressive set-pieces that violently whip Tom Cruise across the screen.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Tom Cruise being unrecognizable in heavy makeup and prosthetics, all while playing a sleazy Scott Rudin-type caricature, is like only the fourth or fifth funniest thing about the R-rated comic blockbuster Tropic Thunder. In Ben Stiller's napalm-coated parody of Vietnam War films and the pampered lives of Hollywood stars, Cruise features in a minor supporting role as Les Grossman, a truly gross man and ruthless studio executive. Cruise's role was meant to be a secret, though leaked paparazzi photos and internet blogs ruined that fun by spoiling it ahead of time. Nevertheless, Cruise's sharp and venomous performance was and still is hailed by critics and audiences as one of Cruise's all-time best movie roles.

The Firm (1993)

In 1993, two movies were based on John Grisham novels. The first was The Pelican Brief, a legal thriller starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. The other was Sydney Pollack's The Firm, with Tom Cruise leading in an adaptation of Grisham's 1991 novel. Cruises plays a young, talented Harvard Law grad who is recruited by a prestigious Tennessee firm who specialize in mob clients. Soon enough, Cruise finds himself in the crossfire between the FBI, the mob, and his own colleagues ready to sell him out. Although The Firm is one of Cruise's more overlooked movies in his career, it makes a solid case for being one of his greatest.

Valkyrie (2008)

In this solid World War II thriller from Bryan Singer, Tom Cruise leads as one of several German Nazi Army officers, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who seek to enact Operation Valkyrie – a national emergency plan to take control away from Adolf Hitler. In preparation for the role, Cruise spent months devouring history books and even interviewing members of the real von Stauffenberg's family. Because von Stauffenberg had several physical disabilities including a lost left eye and a missing right hand, Cruise spent a lot of time affecting those ailments while doing things like dressing himself and writing letters. The results speak for itself, with Cruise dependably engaging as a soldier loyal to his country and not a political ideal.

Days of Thunder (1990)

While Tony Scott's Days of Thunder was criticized during its 1990 release as a derivative copycat of his own box office smash Top Gun, Days of Thunder still burns rubber like few movies can. Set in the world of professional NASCAR, Tom Cruise plays hotshot rookie driver Cole who clashes with veteran driver Rowdy (Michael Rooker). Eventually these rivals become brothers on the track, with Cole driving Rowdy's car against their common enemy, a cheat named Russ Wheeler (Cary Elwes). Even if Cruise is basically playing Maverick again, Days of Thunder easily satisfies anyone with a need for speed.

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

After Hong Kong director John Woo made his way to Hollywood in the '90s, the legendary action filmmaker collaborated with Tom Cruise on the first sequel to Cruise's 1995 mega-hit Mission: Impossible. The follow-up sees Cruise return as daredevil agent Ethan Hunt, who teams up with a beautiful thief (Thandiwe Newton) to secure a modified disease held by her ex-lover and rogue IMF agent (Dougray Scott). While a box office hit, Mission: Impossible 2 remains divisive among M:I aficionados, being one of the more elaborately designed and even melodramatic entries in the otherwise stone cold sober series.

Legend (1985)

Mystifying but magnetic in equal measure, Legend is basically a dark Disney fairy tale through the eyes of master filmmaker Ridley Scott. Tom Cruise stars as Jack, a free-spirited forest dweller who must stop the demonic Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry in the illest devil makeup you've ever seen) from plunging a fantastical world into eternal night. Although Legend was praised for its gorgeous production design, critics complained the movie was nothing more than a pretty storybook in motion. Honestly they are kind of right, as Legend severely lacks forward movement and meaty action. Still, the movie is drop-dead gorgeous to look at, with a score by Tangerine Dream that feels otherworldly.

Jack Reacher (2012)

While it's true that Lee Child's literary antihero Jack Reacher is a walking, talking slab of meat and that Tom Cruise is decidedly not that, Cruise still kills it in the role. In the first Jack Reacher movie from director Christopher McQuarrie, which adapts the ninth Reacher novel One Shot from 2005, Cruise plays the title hero, an ex-U.S. Army Major and military police investigator who is mysteriously named by a mass shooting suspect in custody. Never mind that Cruise is several shirt sizes smaller than what Reacher is supposed to be. His movie has all the muscle and swagger to make up for it.

Magnolia (1999)

In Paul Thomas Anderson's celebrated (and quite long) ensemble drama inspired by the music of Aimee Mann, a number of interrelated characters look for happiness in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. While the movie features a number of actors like Jeremy Blackman, Philip Seymour Hoffmann, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, and John C. Reilly, a standout among them all is Tom Cruise, a misogynist motivational speaker who lectures rooms full of men how to pick up women. While Cruise's character Frank lacks humanity on paper, Cruise's performance imbues rare pathos into the role that you might find yourself pitying him instead of spitting at him. The Oscars seemingly agreed and nominated Cruise for Best Supporting Actor at the 72nd Academy Awards. In a 2015 interview on Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, Anderson revealed that the inspiration for Cruise's role was pickup artist Ross Jeffries.

Minority Report (2002)

In Steven Spielberg's blockbuster adaptation of Philip K. Dick's sci-fi novella from 1956, Tom Cruise plays a psychic cop in the future year of 2054. While his department of "Precrime" use the power of foreknowledge to apprehend criminals before they actually commit a crime, Cruise's John Anderton winds up being accused of a crime yet to happen and races to prove his innocence. A dizzying mix of crime noir, speculative science fiction, and whodunit mysteries, Minority Report entertains as a strange hybrid of Total Recall and The Fugitive, made sublime simply because of a master like Spielberg present on directing duties. Eerily and quite fittingly, a lot of the movie's speculative future technology like multi-touch interfaces, eye scanners, and autonomous cars have come to fruition in our real world.

Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)

Before J.J. Abrams took on both Star Trek and Star Wars, he made his directing debut with the third Mission: Impossible installment. Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, now retired from the IMF, who is forced back into action to hunt down a sinister arms dealer played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. While Mission: Impossible 3 was a hit when it opened in 2006 and considered by many much better than John Woo's previous film, Mission: Impossible 3 struggles to stand out in the shadow of other sequels like Ghost Protocol and Fallout. Still, M:I 3 is solid popcorn fare with Cruise doing what he does best.

The Last Samurai (2003)

Despite its awkward optics of Tom Cruise in samurai armor, The Last Samurai is a majestic period drama that teeters between prestige war epic and pulpy action movie. (When a film stages Tom Cruise in a fist fight with ninjas, you know you're dealing with something that's hard to pin down.) Directed by Edward Zwick and following in the tradition of stories like Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai sees Cruise play an American captain who bears witness to the last generation of samurai amid the Meiji Restoration of 19th century Japan. An elaborate metaphor about modernization and adaptation, The Last Samurai is one of Cruise's most dad-core movies of his career, a high-grossing blockbuster that also earned several Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, including a Golden Globe Best Actor nomination for Cruise.

Vanilla Sky (2001)

In Cameron Crowe's sci-fi psychological drama Vanilla Sky, itself a remake of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 movie Open Your Eyes, Tom Cruise stars as the playboy owner of a major publishing company in New York City who becomes disfigured in a vehicular crash caused by an obsessive lover (Cameron Diaz). In the aftermath, Cruise becomes smitten by a beautiful woman (played by Penélope Cruz) as his sense of reality starts to fracture. With a memorable plot twist and ambiguous ending, Vanilla Sky blew moviegoers away to become a massive box office hit despite being unpopular with most critics. In the years since its 2001 release, Vanilla Sky has become a must-see cult movie.

A Few Good Men (1992)

You can't handle the truth, but Tom Cruise can. In Rob Reiner's acclaimed film version of Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play, Cruise stars alongside other acting heavyweights like Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Kiefer Sutherland. Cruise plays a Navy lawyer who must defend two Marines accused of killing another soldier. Memorably explosive and gripping with nary a single bullet fired, A Few Good Men culminates in an iconic courtroom confrontation that reveals the difference between following orders and fighting for justice.

The Color of Money (1986)

You can almost feel Paul Newman hand the torch of Hollywood heartthrob to Tom Cruise in Martin Scorsese's smoky and cool 1986 picture The Color of Money. A sequel to The Hustler, Newman returns as Fast Eddie Felson, who partners with an up-and-coming pool shark (Cruise), and his tough girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) as they play their way to an Atlantic City tournament. While The Color of Money was compared unfavorably to The Hustler at the time of its release, it has earned greater appreciation as yet another showcase of Scorsese's talent - not to mention longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker's - and the pairing of Newman and Cruise representing the changing of the guard between two generations of Hollywood.

Rain Man (1988)

In this acclaimed drama directed by Barry Levinson, Tom Cruise plays a selfish and arrogant Lamborghini dealer who learns, after his estranged father's death, that he has a grown autistic savant brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman, in an Oscar-winning performance). As the two embark on a cross-country roadtrip in their late father's 1949 Buick convertible, they develop a bond long past due. Rain Man was a massive critical and commercial success in 1988, and it's a movie that still holds power to thaw even the most cynical hearts.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

In 2014, Doug Liman helmed a cult classic sci-fi that paired Tom Cruise with Emily Blunt, making a real movie star out of her in the process. Essentially Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers, Tom Cruise plays a public affairs military officer, Major William Cage, who is forced to the frontlines of humanity's war against a violent alien race. Somehow, Cage ends up in a time loop, forced to repeat his first day on the battlefield until he teams up with a war hero (Blunt) to break the cycle. Despite mismanaged marketing including a clunky title, Edge of Tomorrow impressed a lot of critics and performed well enough at the box office. But its high production budget meant it wasn't the heroic success it could have been. In the end, Edge of Tomorrow maintains appealing status as a muscular, one-and-done sci-fi.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

With J.J. Abrams lost in the final frontier with 2009's Star Trek, the job of directing the next Mission: Impossible was accepted by Brad Bird. Previously a director of animated family movies like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, Bird revived the Mission: Impossible series with a clear eye and sharp sense of spectacle, helming an installment that saw Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt climb the Burj Khalifa and ingeniously sneak past guards at the Kremlin. The fourth Mission: Impossible was no reboot, but it was without question a rebirth that kicked off a new era for the aging franchise.

War of the Worlds (2005)

In a 2005 interview with Empire magazine, Steven Spielberg said that for the first time in his movie career, he was making "an alien picture where there is no love and no attempt at communication." We don't dare correct Spielberg, but he's wrong about one thing. In his magnificent and harrowing remake of War of the Worlds, Tom Cruise plays an estranged father who tries to get his children to safely reunite with their mom (and his ex-wife) in Boston. Only love can make a father go to the extreme lengths that Cruise does in War of the Worlds, which is still one of the darkest and finely crafted movies ever by Spielberg.

Mission: Impossible (1995)

The original movie that lit the fuse to one of the most dominant movie franchises in Hollywood history is still a mighty sight to behold. In the first Mission: Impossible, directed by Brian De Palma, Tom Cruise makes his first appearance as Ethan Hunt, an agent for the Impossible Missions Force who tries to figure out who framed him for the murder of his team. Being an adaptation of the popular 1960s television show (which is where the franchise's iconic theme song came from), the '95 Mission: Impossible established the formula and standards for all of its subsequent sequels. Throughout the 1990s, you couldn't throw a rock without seeing a parody of the memorable "wire scene." It can still make audiences sweat even now.

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

In one of a handful of movies where Tom Cruise plays the antagonist, Neil Jordan's 1994 film version of Anne Rice's 1976 novel features Cruise as the sinful vampire Lestat, who bites and transforms a Louisiana plantation owner named Louis (Brad Pitt). Together the two spend hundreds of years drinking human blood, eventually adding a little girl named Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) to their circle. Moody and atmospheric, Interview with the Vampire is a mid-'90s gem that feels most effective around autumn time. While the picture mostly belongs to Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise is unavoidably handsome and haunting as a seductive vamp who can really sink his teeth into all who look at him.

Risky Business (1983)

You only need a pair of white socks, a white button-up shirt, and Ray-Bans to dress as one of Tom Cruise's most memorable movie characters for Halloween. In 1983, a young Tom Cruise became a movie star overnight with the release of Paul Brickman's Risky Business, which is about an overachieving high school senior who parties up with a sex worker while his parents are on vacation. Often compared to The Graduate in its timeless portrayal of promising youth indulging in self-destructive vices, Risky Business launched Tom Cruise to Hollywood stardom, and for good reason. He's simply sensational, an instant star in the making who makes it impossible to hate him while he's kicking his feet up to some old time rock 'n roll.

Collateral (2004)

With an off-putting blonde dye job and a steel gray suit that never wrinkles, Tom Cruise inhabits the part of a disturbing and charismatic hitman who hires an unsuspecting L.A. cab driver (Jamie Foxx) to take him up and down the City of Angels for one violent night. Arresting and unstoppable, Collateral is a fine demonstration for both Michael Mann as a filmmaker and Cruise as an actor, the latter keenly locked in as a man so skilled at his deadly job that he seems inhuman. Collateral is simply one of the coolest movies ever made. It makes a complimentary double-bill with Mann's own Miami Vice, both being emotionally-charged neo-noir action thrillers whose digital camera lenses harness an abstract uncertainty of the new millennium.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

It may be the lowest grossing entry in the Mission: Impossible series, but that doesn't mean Dead Reckoning doesn't soar. While being so late into his career, Tom Cruise proves he can still hang - or ride off cliffs - with the best of the industry in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the first of a two-part installment. With a plot centered around Cruise's Ethan Hunt and the IMF fighting against a rogue artificial intelligence, Mission: Impossible existentially wrestles with the precipice of Hollywood cinema's imminent evolution (or extinction) as an artform. With a diverse cast of exceptionally beautiful people, including Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Pom Klementieff, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One feels like an old school action epic in spirit that executes with cutting-edge style.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

In Stanley Kubrick's last movie as a director and released posthumously after his heart attack, Tom Cruise plays an affluent New York doctor who infiltrates a masked orgy hosted by a dark and secret society. And it's all because his wife, played by Cruise's then-real spouse Nicole Kidman, admitted she almost cheated on him. With loads of sexually explicit imagery that really tested the boundaries of the MPAA's R rating, Eyes Wide Shut was initially divisive among critics and audiences before earning retrospective praise as a sterling classic of the 1990s. Its reputation still precedes it, being one of the most provoking and captivating movies Kubrick ever made.

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

The second installment of movies that illustrate Oliver Stone's artistic interest in the Vietnam War (of which Stone himself is a veteran), Born on the Fourth of July sees Tom Cruise play an eager volunteer for the U.S. Marine Corps who changes his tune during his deployment and physical paralysis in Vietnam; returning home, he becomes a vocal anti-war activist. Revered by critics and a smash hit at the box office when it opened in December 1989, Born on the Fourth of July earned Cruise's first Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Stone was initially dismissive of Cruise, finding his appearance in Top Gun "fascist." In an L.A. Times interview from 1989, Stone said he changed his mind when he thought Cruise's "golden boy" image would be interesting to see shatter. Said Stone: "I thought it was an interesting proposition: What would happen to Tom Cruise if something goes wrong?"

Jerry Maguire (1996)

When Tom Cruise yelled "Show me the money," audiences responded with a massive $273 million box office gross for a modest movie about a sports agent in love. In one of Cruise's all-time greatest movies, the star plays a hotshot sports agent whose crisis of conscience leads him to swing for the fences with just himself, a loyal accountant and single mother (Renée Zellweger), and a middling player for the Arizona Cardinals (Cuba Gooding Jr.). A warm time capsule of mid-'90s era professional sports and Hollywood romances, Jerry Maguire made us all learn how to say: "You complete me." Honestly, it had us at hello.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

When movie theaters were struggling in the era of COVID-19, Tom Cruise flew to the skies and saved the industry for all. With $1.4 billion gross in ticket sales, Cruise's return to the cockpits made sonic booms to keep theaters open, all while delivering an effective and emotional story about legacy and personal limits. Set over 35 years after the original Top Gun, Cruise's "Maverick" is assigned to oversee Top Gun at NAS North Island, where he must train a new generation of students for a very dangerous mission. As close to dying and seeing heaven as cinema can get, Top Gun: Maverick takes all our breaths away.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

When Tom Cruise hung on to the side of a moving airplane in the first 10 minutes of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, we knew instantly this is a sequel that was built different. In the first of several M:I films helmed by Christopher McQuarrie, the IMF reunite after their disbandment to fight The Syndicate, an international black ops group made up of rogue agents from around the world. Not only is Rogue Nation just a fist-pumping great time, it also introduces franchise favorite Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, a disavowed MI6 agent working undercover. 2015 was a crowded year for tent poles, with blockbusters like Mad Max: Fury Road, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens all vying for attention. Rogue Nation didn't sell the most tickets, but there's no arguing it wasn't one of the year's best.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Man, even just its trailer can get the adrenaline going. In Christopher McQuarrie's second Mission: Impossible film, Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt and the IMF race against time after a job in Berlin to obtain dangerous plutonium cores away from terrorists goes belly-up. Forced to pay for saving his team over saving the world, Ethan must stop a terrorist mastermind, played by Sean Harris, from blowing everything up. Among the people standing in his way: August Walker (Henry Cavill), a muscular CIA assassin. Featuring some of the most intricately designed set-pieces in the entire franchise, Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the platonic ideal for all M:I sequels by doing one thing and one thing well: Letting Tom Cruise run wild.

Top Gun (1986)

Sometimes, a movie comes along and changes everything. Top Gun, directed by Tony Scott and starring Tom Cruise, isn't just a perfect summer movie only Hollywood could deliver; it's a movie that understands what moves people, what draws them into dark rooms and casts spells to make them feel like they can fly. Set at the U.S. Navy's Fighter Weapons School - aka, Top Gun - in San Diego, the movie stars Cruise as a young pilot who sets out to prove himself among the best of the best. While critics in 1986 didn't heap universal and unanimous praise on Top Gun, the movie soared to become one of the biggest commercial hits of all time. Mirroring its own story, Top Gun permanently cemented Tom Cruise's status as a Hollywood titan. At the time Cruise was a rising talent, but through Top Gun, he brandished a killer smile and scorching charisma that made him find his place among the stars.

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