Tom Cruise (born July 3, 1962) is the stage name of Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, an American actor, producer, and Scientologist who has starred in a number of top-grossing movies and remains one of the biggest movie stars in the world. His first leading role in a blockbuster movie was in 1983's Risky Business.

Cruise was born to Thomas Cruise Mapother III and Mary Lee Pfeiffer in Syracuse, New York. His paternal ancestry is Welsh: his great great grandfather Dylan Henry Mapother emigrated from Flint, in north Wales, to the United States in 1860. Cruise also has German ancestry from his paternal great-grandparents, William Reibert and Charlotta Louise Voelker. Cruise's parents moved frequently when he was a child, residing in a number of locations throughout the United States and Canada, including Ottawa; Louisville, Kentucky; Glen Ridge, New Jersey (where he attended Glen Ridge High School); and Wayne, New Jersey. Before going into acting, Cruise attended a Franciscan seminary and aspired to become a Catholic priest.

Links
Tom Cruise at the Internet Movie Database
Tom Cruise at the Notable Names Database
Tom Cruise Fansite



For more information about Tom Cruise, please visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cruise

Biography courtesy of the brilliant Wikipedia!