TOM CRUISE: 20 FUN FACTS

1. Tom Cruise’s full name is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. The famous Hollywood actor and producer, was born on Tuesday, July 3, 1962 in Syracuse, New York. So far, the charming superstar has been the winner of three Golden Globe awards but has failed to win an Oscar though he has been nominated three times.

2. Tom Cruise is well known as a supporter and a firm believer of “Scientology”. Tom was raised as a Catholic and even wanted to be a Catholic priest. However, Mimi Rogers, the first wife of Tom Cruise, was responsible for introducing him to this new faith and mindset. Many other famous Hollywood stars follow Scientology namely actress Kristie Alley, actress Jenna Elfman, actor Isaac Hayes and actor Jason Lee (My name is Earl star).

3. Mission Impossible, released in 1996, was the first venture produced by Tom Cruise. The movie was co-produced by Cruise/Wagner Productions, which Tom had formed with his ex-talent agent Paula Wagner in 1993.

4. There is no denying that Tom Cruise has a lot of female fans and why wouldn’t he? Magazines constantly rate him as the most appealing Hollywood actor. Hollywood star Tom Cruise is the only actor to have topped the Forbes list of most powerful people twice, both in 2001 and 2006. Premiere rated Tom Cruise thrice in the top 20 of the Power 100 list in 2002, 2003 and 2006. He has also received the titles of world’s sexiest man and most beautiful people in the world by various magazines.

5. Tom Cruise’s craze for Scientology has certainly let his popularity go down the hill. The problem is not his support but the way he has supported Scientology. It has caused him to lose the contract with Paramount after a 14-year long partnership although Tom Cruise has been the most profitable actor ever for Paramount. Apart from that, Marketing Evaluations Inc., a company famous for conducting market research and providing opinion polls, shed light on Tom Cruise’s Q score (measurement of the appeal of a celebrity). The analysis made it obvious that Tom Cruise’s popularity or in other words Q score had gone down by 40%. According to Marketing Evaluation, he is one of those celebrities that ordinary people would not like to be friends with.

6. December 25 is a day when Christmas is celebrated. 4th of July is the national day of USA and October 10? Well apparently, in 2006, October 10 was officially termed as “Tom Cruise Day” in the land of the rising sun, Japan. The reason for this declaration was that Tom Cruise is the actor that has made maximum visits to Japan, more than any other Hollywood star.

7. Tom Cruise did not have a happy childhood. His family lacked the basic necessities of life and lived in a poor state. Not only that, Tom has termed his father’s behavior during his childhood as an abusive one. He describes him as a coward.

8. Tom Cruise has been married three times. His first wife was actress Mimi Rogers. His second wife was actress Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes is his third wife. What would come as a surprise is that all three wives were taller than Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise’s height is 5’7”. However, Mimi Rogers is 5’8”, Nicole is 5’10.5” and Katie is 5’10” tall. Not only that, Mimi is 6 years older than Tom, Nicole is 5 years older than Tom and Katie is 16 years younger than Tom. Hence, with each marriage, his wives got younger.

9. Tom Cruise and his second wife Nicole Kidman have appeared together in 3 Hollywood movies namely “Eyes Wide Shut”, “Days of Thunder” and “Far and Away”. “Eyes Wide Shut” was their last movie together and brought quite unfortunate events along with it. The director of the movie Stanley Kubrick passed away soon after the release of the movie and both Kidman and Cruise filed for divorce after two years.

10. Hollywood star Tom Cruise wears braces. In 2002, he began wearing braces although during shooting he would take the braces off.

11. Tom Cruise has suffered from “Developmental Reading Disorder”, more commonly known as Dyslexia, as a child. Dyslexia is a disability in which people are unable to read or comprehend things in a way that other normal people are able to do. His condition was diagnosed at the age of 7.

12. It might come as a surprise that Tom Cruise was a wrestler during his high school years.

13. During his third marriage to actress Katie Holmes in Italy, his best man was none other than David Miscavige, the leader of the Church of Scientology.

14. Tom Cruise had a difficult childhood. He had to manage a lot going on with his life. That included his education as well. Tom Cruise was constantly bullied in the schools that he attended. During the span of 12 years, he went to 15 different schools in America and Canada.

15. For most females, there is nothing more romantic than being on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris with their soul mate. Katie Holmes was one lucky girl who was proposed to by one of the Hollywood’s most handsome stars in a restaurant, on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during the morning of June 17, 2005.

16. Who can forget the famous “Couch Incident” that happened on the Oprah Winfrey show? To show his excitement about falling in love with Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise jumped on the sofa during an interview with Oprah. The moment was rated by viewers as the #1 “Surprising Moment of TV” of the year 2005. The incident also gave rise to a number of parodies.

17. Tom Cruise only biological daughter Suri Cruise’s name stands for “pickpocket” in the Japanese language.

18. Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise star in the movie “Knight and Day”. Cameron Diaz is obviously taller than Tom Cruise. Cameron is 5’9” tall and Tom is 5’7”. However, throughout the movie, it would be interesting to note that Tom always looks taller than Cameron.

19. Due to his views regarding Scientology, one of the most famous Google searches regarding Tom Cruise is a website by the name of “TomCruiseIsNuts.com”.

20. While he was married to Nicole Kidman, it was believed that Tom Cruise is gay and that he married Nicole Kidman just to save his public image. These rumors were generated thanks to gay porn star Chad Slater, who alleged that he and Tom had an affair. However, it was soon proven that these rumors are false.