Tom Cruise’s life in pictures as he turns 60 – from teen actor to one of Hollywood’s biggest heavyweights-Nicholas Barber and Rishma Dosani-Entertainment – Metro

Tom Cruise is celebrating his 60th birthday on July 3 (Picture: Rex)

It is a big weekend if your name is Tom Cruise and you’re a massive Hollywood heavyweight, as the action hero is celebrating his 60th birthday today.

He has a lot to celebrate at the moment, as Top Gun sequel Maverick is currently flying high at the box office, easily smashing through the $1billion mark worldwide.

That’s definitely a huge gift within itself.

There is no denying that he’s still at the top of his game, but how does he do it? 

In honor of Tom’s milestone big day, we’ve taken a stroll down memory lane to relieve some of his best moments and see what makes the Cruiser the last of the Hollywood icons.

1962: Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York. His full name was Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, but he was shrewd enough to shorten it. 

One of Tom’s first – and most popular films – was 1983 classic, Risky Business, in which he starred opposite Rebecca De Mornay – who he was in a relationship with (Picture: Getty)

He was catapulted to another level of stardom after the release and his star has only continued to rise ever since (Picture: Getty)

Suddenly, he stopped sounding like an absent-minded uncle in a Dickens novel and started sounding like a super-cool movie star.

1983: Risky Business. You may not remember much about this teen comedy drama, but everyone remembers Cruise being simultaneously silly and sexy as he dances around in his shirt, pants and socks. A star was born!

1989: Born On The Fourth of July. Cruise proved that he was more than a set of shiny teeth by playing Ron Kovic, Vietnam veteran turned anti-war activist. 

Tom switched things up in Born on the Fourth of July, taking on the role of a Vietnam veteran turned anti-war activist (Picture: Rex)

He impressed with the role, showing a side of him on the big screen that we hadn’t been able to see previously (Picture: Rex)

He earned the first of his three Oscar nominations, the last of which was for Magnolia in 2000. The last for now, that is …

1999: Eyes Wide Shut. Cruise and Nicole Kidman signed up for six months’ work on Stanley Kubrick’s erotic psychodrama, but they stuck it out for 15 months, hence Eyes Wide Shut holds the Guinness World Record for the longest ever unbroken film shoot. 

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman worked together on Eyes Wide Shut for 15 months, and famously tied the knot in 1990, nearly a decade before we finally got our hands on the film (Picture: WireImage)

It wasn’t to last between the former couple, and their marriage came to an end in 2001 (Picture: WireImage)

Cruise is no quitter – although his marriage to Kidman broke down soon afterwards.

2000: Mission: Impossible 2. Cruise dangled by one hand from a cliff, 2000 feet above the Utah desert.

And that’s really him doing the dangling, even if he had a safety rope which was digitally erased. 

Of course, the scene was hardly essential to the story, but it gave the Mission: Impossible series its raison d’etre: to show audiences a Hollywood legend doing his own insanely demanding stunts. A risky business, indeed.

Tom started dating Katie Holmes in 2005 – the pair were dubbed TomKat at the time – and the world was obsessed with their whirlwind romance, which led to Tom jumping on a sofa and proclaiming his love for the Dawson’s Creek actress just weeks after they went public Picture: FilmMagic)

2005: The Sofa Incident. Here’s where things went a bit wrong. Cruise was on The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote War Of The Worlds, but he raved about Katie Holmes and jumped on Oprah’s sofa instead. 

Between this loved-up gymnastics display and his attacks on psychiatry, Cruise acquired an unfortunate reputation for being a weirdo Scientologist. 

Lesson learnt; he’s been a lot quieter about his private life ever since.

2007: Lions For Lambs. This smug political drama isn’t great, but it IS directed by Robert Redford, and it remains the most recent example of Cruise working with a really big-name director. 

Young Cruise makes a point of ticking them off: Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Michael Mann, etc. But now he prefers to be the boss himself. 

Tom went on to work on Lions for Lambs with Robert Redford in 2007 (Picture: Getty)

The actor has worked with some huge, big-time directors throughout the course of his career (Picture: FilmMagic)

Whoever the director may be, it’s Cruise’s vision of what constitutes an efficiently entertaining film that counts. Fair enough. If it weren’t for such control freakery, he probably wouldn’t have maintained his megastar status. 

But wouldn’t it be exciting if he collaborated with a challenging auteur once again?

Tom first starred as Jack Reacher in 2012, before reprising the role in the 2016 sequel, Never Go Back (Picture: Rex)

The sequel, based on Lee Child’s novel, sadly didn’t get much appreciation from fans or critics at the time (Picture: Rex)

2012: Jack Reacher. Cruise hasn’t made many iffy career choices, but deciding that he was the man to play Lee Child’s 6 ft 5 inch blonde vigilante was one of them. 

2017: The Mummy. Okay, so this is another iffy choice. Let’s move swiftly on.

Still, the film was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who has since made every instalment of Mission: Impossible, so at least Cruise got a trusty new creative partner out of the deal.

2022: Top Gun: Maverick. A sequel to the most 1980s-ish of all 1980s movies, released 36 years after the original?

Tom Cruise took our breath away in Top Gun, with the original flick hitting the big screen in 1986 (Picture: Rex)

More than 30 years later and he jumped straight back into the pilot’s seat for another flight, with Top Gun: Maverick grossing more than $1billion at the box office (Picture: Rex)

It should have been a disaster, but Cruise’s obsessive quality control paid off – and the fact that he hadn’t aged a day since the first film probably helped. 

2022: Cannes Film Festival. During an on-stage Q&A, a French journalist asks Cruise why he does his own stunts. 

Cruise’s reply: ‘No one asks Gene Kelly, why do you dance? Why do you do your own dancing?’

Yep, he’s passionate about what he does, all right.

More: Trending

TG:M has taken over $1billion at the box office, making it the year’s biggest cinema hit – and Cruise’s own highest grossing film. 

Don’t bet against him winning that long-awaited Best Actor Oscar next year.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Entertainment – MetroRead More