Tom Cruise. Pic via Instagram
As Charlie Babbitt in Rain Man (1988) Tom played selfish, fast-talking luxury car dealer with an autistic savant brother, acting as the emotional anchor of the film.
Tom played a bald, hairy, expletive-spewing, diet-coke-chugging Hollywood studio executive Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. He completely disguised himself for an uncredited cameo, stealing the movie from its main cast.
Tom portrayed Frank T.J. Mackey in Magnolia (1999), appearing as a swaggering, deeply misogynistic motivational speaker. He delivered a manic, explosive performance opposite to his real-life charisma.
As Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible Franchise Tom Crusie delivered some of the most defining performances and action scene of his career.
Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell skyrockted Tom to global stardom through the Top Gun franchise. He played a cocky, reckless, yet brilliantly talented naval aviator.
As the titular character in Jerry Maguire (1996), Cruise appeared as a smooth-talking sports agent who suffers a sudden crisis of conscience.
Joel Goodsen from Risky Business (1983) turned out to be one of his breakout roles. He played a high schooler who lets loose when his parents go away for the weekend.
Cruise played Lt. Daniel Kaffee, an unmotivated military lawyer tasked with defending two Marines accused of murder, in A Few Good Men (1992).
Tom played a cold, efficient, and ruthless silver-haired contract killer, Vincent in Collateral (2004), stunning the audience as a terrifying, sociopathic villain.
Tom shattered his golden boy image by playing Ron Kovic, a real-life patriotic soldier who is paralyzed in the Vietnam War and becomes an anti-war activist in Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
