Love him or hate him, and he really does split the vote, Cruise, after just over twenty five years in the business, remain one of the industry's biggest stars and most bankable names.
And he is back on the big screen this week with his latest movie Knight & Day, which sees him reunite with his Vanilla Sky co-star Cameron Diaz.
Although he began his career in 1981 it was his role in Risky Business that proved to be his breakthrough performance just two years later and a star was born. And the scene with the young actor lip-syncing to Old Time Rock and Roll in just his undies was one of the movie images of the decade.
But the role that cemented him as bona fide leading man was in Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson's American fighter pilot film Top Gun. The movie was the biggest grossing picture of 1986, grossing in excess of $354 million , and propelled Cruise to heart-throb status.
More serious role in Rain Man and Born on the Fourth of July rounded off the eighties as Cruise earnt critical acclaim for his work, securing a Best Actor Oscar nomination for the latter, and proved that he didn't just rely on his good lucks and action roles.
Despite this early success the nineties was the most successful decade for Cruise with A Few Good Men, Interview with a Vampire and the beginning of the Mission Impossible franchise, to name but a few of his successes.
Into the nineties and he had split with his first wife Mimi Rogers and, after a whirlwind romance, married Nicole Kidman becoming the golden couple of Hollywood.
More Oscar recognition followed in 1999 when he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role on Magnolia, winning the Golden Globe in the same category.
The noughties cemented him as an all American action hero with a Mission Impossible sequel, which did better than it's predecessor at the box office, Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Collateral, War of the Worlds and a third Mission Impossible all in the space of six years between 2000-06.
But in 2001 he split with wife Nicole Kidman, after ten years of marriage, before embarking on a three year relationship with actress Penelope Cruz and becoming an advocate for controversial religion Scientology.
Since a series of bizarre behaviour, which included jumping up and down on Oprah Winfrey's sofa shouting 'I Love Katie', Cruise has made movies sparingly.
Since his success with Mission Impossible III in 2006 he has made three movies; Lions For Lambs, Tropic Thunder and Valkyrie, the last time we saw him on the big screen back in 2008.
But Knight and Day sees him make his return to the action movie in the James Mangold directed picture. June Havens finds her everyday life tangled with that of a secret agent who has realized he isn't supposed to survive his latest mission.
As their campaign to stay alive stretches across the globe, they soon learn that all they can count on is each other.
And it seems that the character of Ethan Hawke will be back on the big screen as there is a fourth Mission Impossible movie on the cards as well as the actor being linked to movie The Hardy Men, which will also star Ben Stiller and be directed by Shawn Levy.
Knight And Day is released 6th August.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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