With his impending divorce from wife Katie Holmes grabbing headlines worldwide, he may not feel like celebrating—but the Hollywood icon turns 50 today. From Top Gun to baby Suri, see snapshots of Cruise’s life so far.
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Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Thomas Cruise Mapother IV grew up in this New Jersey home. While attending high school, he was the lead actor in a production of Guys and Dolls at 16. Three years later, he had supporting roles in the 1981 films Endless Love and Taps.
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By 1983 Tom Cruise had relocated to Brentwood, Calif., and begun to make a name for himself. He landed his first starring role as Woody in the comedy Losin’ It that same year.
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In 1986, Top Gun conquered the box office, grossing more than $344 million worldwide—and Cruise earned a cool $2 million for his role as Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. This iconic promo portrait, circa 1986, still smolders.
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That same year, Cruise got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His next project: starring with Paul Newman in The Color of Money.
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Cruise brought his family to the after-party for the Top Gun premiere. Last September it was reported that the film would be re-released in 3-D this year.
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In 1990, Cruise was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor in a Leading Role for Born on the Fourth of July. The 1989 film was an adaptation of the bestselling autobiography by Vietnam War vet Ron Kovic, who poses here with Cruise and the movie’s director, Oliver Stone.
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Cruise got rave reviews for his turn as a spy in Brian De Palma’s 1996 film, Mission: Impossible.
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And the long line of women begins: after marrying and divorcing actress Mimi Rogers—who introduced Cruise to Scientology—the actor fell in love with Nicole Kidman and married her in late 1990. The two met on the set of the action drama Days of Thunder in 1989. Here, Cruise attends the 1997 Academy Awards with an arm around Kidman.
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During their relationship, Cruise and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella Jane in 1992 and Connor Anthony in 1995. Here the clan arrives in Sydney, Australia, in 1996 for a family holiday. Cruise and Kidman divorced in 2001 after 11 years together, with the kids opting to live with their father.
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Cruise landed the cover of People magazine in 1997 as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World—an honor he also had picked up seven years earlier, in 1990. “I have a feeling he wakes up looking that good,” Kelly Preston told People at the time.
Cruise and Kidman also starred in Stanley Kubrick’s erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut in 1999. The movie made the Guinness Book of Records for the longest constant movie shoot, filmed at 400 days. That same year, Cruise starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s drama Magnolia, which earned him a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
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The actor met Penelope Cruz on the set of the sci-fi thriller Vanilla Sky in 2000, and they dated for three years. Long periods apart from each other is said to have been one reason for their separation.
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In 2004 Cruise and Oprah Winfrey co-hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. The following year, he reunited with the talk show host for an interview in which he famously showed his love for Katie Holmes by jumping on Oprah’s couch.
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The actor made headlines again in 2003, when he appeared on the Today show for an exclusive interview with Matt Lauer. Cruise told the host that as a Scientologist, he doesn’t believe in psychiatry—and faulted Brooke Shields for using medication to fight postpartum depression. “Matt, you’re glib ... you don't even know what Ritalin is,” said Cruise. The interview sparked a massive controversy, but Shields later accepted Cruise’s apology. When the actor visited Today three years later, in 2008, he apologized to Lauer, too.
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Cruise began dating the actress Katie Holmes in 2005. That summer, they arrived together at the Hollywood screening of Cruise’s War of the Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg.
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Kiss me, Kate! In 2005, Cruise and Holmes gave the paparazzi the photo they wanted at the Italian film awards in Rome, when they made their first public appearance together on April 29. A year later, their daughter, Suri, was born.
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In 2006 Cruise held his 7-month-old daughter in Rome, two days before his wedding to Holmes in Bracciano, Italy. He was married five months after the release of Mission: Impossible III. Shortly after that release, Paramount ended its 14-year relationship with Cruise’s production company.
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Cruise and Holmes were wed at the Italian castle Castello Odescalchi in November 2006. The couple shared the moment with 150 friends, including Jennifer Lopez, John Travolta, and Steven Spielberg. The couple made their marriage official in Los Angeles before departing for Italy.
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Cruise’s friendship with Will Smith made headlines, though Smith has denied he’s a Scientologist. Here, Cruise supports his fellow actor at the 2007 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, as Smith receives the Modern Master Award.
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Cruise flew solo to promote his film Mission: Impossible III in Rome in April 2006. He was paid $70 million for the first Mission: Impossible and $75 million for Mission: Impossible II and III.
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In 2011 Cruise and Holmes attended the premiere of Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol in New York. The relationship may have looked doomed from the start, but Cruise told People that he fell more in love with Holmes every day.
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