Tom Cruise was the only boy of four children. His family had to get by with little money after his parents divorced when he was only 12.

He arrived in LA in 1981 and met Paula Wagner, an agent at Creative Artists Agency. After his primitive roles in �Endless Love� and �Taps,� he landed the starring role in �Losin' It.� He was also cast in the 1983 Francis Ford Coppola production �The Outsiders,� where he starred alongside a talented young cast that included hotshots such as Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, and Ralph Macchio. This role became a stepping-stone for the rest of his career, especially for his role in �Risky Business� that same year. His popularity took a beating in movies like �All the Right Moves� in 1983, followed by �Legend� in 1985, but his career began to solidify during his signature hit of the 1980s, �Top Gun.�

Another big success was Cruise's role in �The Color of Money,� alongside Paul Newman in 1986. This Martin Scorsese production moved his professional image from the boy-next-door to a more confident and cocky young man with an attitude. This was later portrayed in �Cocktail� (1988) and �Days of Thunder� (1990).

He proved his dramatic talents in the 1988 drama �Rain Man,� where he co-starred with Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman. Oliver Stone's �Born on the Fourth of July� (1989) earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his hard-hitting portrayal of anti-war activist Ron Kovic.

Cruise fell short for his role in �Far and Away� (1992) with co-star Nicole Kidman, who he later married in 1990 after sharing the screen once again in �Days of Thunder.�

Cruise is a prominent member of the Church of Scientology, for which he is often criticized and ridiculed. Cruise proposed to Holmes at the Eiffel Tower after a highly publicized whirlwind romance and came in for a ribbing from pundits after he hopped up and down on the talk-show couch of Oprah Winfrey while proclaiming his love for Holmes.

Cruise's marriage to Holmes is his third. He and actress Nicole Kidman were married in 1990, separated in 2000, and were divorced in 2001. They adopted two children: Isabella (in 1993) and Connor (in 1995). Cruise also was married to actress Mimi Rogers, a fellow Scientologist, from 1986-1990. Cruise has also dated actress Penelope Cruz, his co-star in �Vanilla Sky,� from 2001-2004.