| |  | | | |
 |
One of the top box-office stars of the 1980s
and 1990s, Cruise effortlessly projects youthful sex appeal, but has put his name
(and growing reputation) on the line more than once to prove himself an actor
as well. Overcoming a difficult childhood-during which his family moved at least
a dozen times, his parents divorced, and his father died of cancer-the young,
dyslexic Cruise spent a year at a Franciscan monastery before deciding that acting
was his true calling. By the age of 18 he had landed his first movie part, in
Endless Love (1981). Following roles of increasing importance in Taps (1981),
Losin' It and The Outsiders (both 1983), Cruise achieved true notoriety in 1983
following his engaging lead performances in Risky Business and All the Right Moves
The sword-and-sorcery opus Legend (1985) saw him marking time, but he achieved
superstar status after appearing as the cocky young fighter pilot in the hugely
|  |
| popular Top Gun (1986), and subsequently attracted favorable
notices for his work in The Color of Money (1986, well paired with Paul Newman)
and Rain Man (1988, holding his own opposite Dustin Hoffman), shedding the "pretty
boy" and "beefcake" rep he'd been saddled with. Cocktail (1988) may have been
a misstep, but he shook off criticism and jumped into his next project with characteristic
determination. | | |
|
