• Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006.
• He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards.
• October 10, 2006 was declared "Tom Cruise Day" in Japan; the Japan Memorial Day Association said that he was awarded with a special day because he has made more trips to Japan than any other Hollywood stars.

Tom Cruise, Hollywood’s most popular actor and celebrity was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse in New York on 3rd July 1962. Robbed of an ideal childhood by a father who was abusive partly for suffering from dyslexia, Tom at 12 along with sister Lee Anne and his mother left him to make various cities including Ottawa, Ontario his home. He attended eight elementary schools and three high schools and finally graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey in 1980. Cruise's aspiration towards acting started when he successfully performed in his high school production "Guys and Dolls".
Tom Cruise's acting career started in 1981 with small roles in 'Endless Love, 'Taps', 'The Outsiders' and 'Losin' It'. It was ‘Risky Business' in 1983 that propelled Cruise to stardom. It was however ‘Top Gun’ in 1986 that saw the cash registers ringing and Cruise was a celebrity. In the same year he starred in Martin Scorsese's 'The Color Money’ which earned Paul Newman his co-star 'Best actor Academy Award'. In 1989 he was nominated for 'Razzi award for his work in 'Cocktail'. In the same year 'Rain Man' that he co-starred with Dustin Hoffman was nominated for 8 Academy awards and won four, including best picture and best actor.
The next decade saw Tom Cruise through many successful ventures which bagged him many awards. Based on the autobiography of Vietnam war hero, Ron Kovic, Cruise was nominated for Academy Awards for his role in 'Born on the Fourth of July'. Cruise's next film 'Days of Thunder’ in 1990 was personally important as he met his second wife Nichole Kidman who also co-starred with him in 'Far and Away’. ‘A few Good Men' was received well and earned him a celebrity status with a Golden Globe and MTV nominations. His other hits were Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best selling novel, Brian de Palma's Mission: Impossible, the title role in the comedy-drama Jerry Maguire and erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut. Magnolia in 1999 was one of Cruise’s high that got him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
Mission: Impossible II continued to be the 'blockbuster success at the box office', 'Minority Report' based on Philip Dick's science fiction directed by Steven Spielberg received rave reviews. Crime-thriller film Collateral, Spielberg's War of the Worlds, Mission: Impossible III, Lions for Lambs were other great hits for the actor. Cruise will star in the 2008 thriller Valkyrie.

Cruise is an advocate for Scientology. Introduced to Scientology in 1990 by his first wife, Mimi Rogers, Cruise publicly said that it helped him to overcome his dyslexia. His criticism of psychiatry and anti-depressive drugs had attracted controversy and media interest.

Tom Cruise had a fall out with Paramount Pictures in 2006 thus ending a 14 year relationship.