One thing we know about Tom Cruise is that he has, without a doubt, lead an incredibly fascinating and exciting life.
Between his filmography, his three marriages, and his faith, there is certainly nothing even remotely boring about him!
Here are a few of our favorite fun facts about him that you might not know!
1. Cruise is not his last name.
Plenty, if not most , people in show business choose to use stage names and Tom Cruise is no different!
While that’s how we’ve known him for the entire duration of his career, ‘Cruise’ is actually his middle name, and his last name is ‘Mapother’.
2. He had an unfortunate relationship with his father.
In the past, Tom has described his father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III, as being a “bully” and a “coward”.
“He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life — how he’d lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!,” he said .
“For me, it was like, `There’s something wrong with this guy. Don’t trust him. Be careful around him.’ There’s that anxiety.”
He revealed that he eventually reunited with his father on his death bed in 1984.
“When I saw him in pain, I thought, `Wow, what a lonely life,'” he said . “He was in his late 40s. It was sad.”
3. His iconic dance moves in *Risky Business* were improvised.
The famous dance scene in Risky Business was entirely done on the fly! With the script vaguely instructing: “Joel dances in underwear through the house,” Tom decided to wing it!
4. He used to be bullied when he was a kid.
For one reason or another, Tom was regularly bullied by his classmates and had to change schools more than 10 times.
“So many times the big bully comes up, pushes me. Your heart’s pounding, you sweat, and you feel like you’re going to vomit … I don’t like bullies,” he told TODAY .
5. He once dressed up in a brasier and high heels to accept a Harvard drama group award in 1994.
After winning ‘Man of the Year’ by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals, Tom slipped off his shoes in exchange for high heels while two other students strapped him in a bra.
“This is how you turn people crimson,” he said upon accepting the award.
6. He broke box office records.
Tom Cruise was the first-ever actor to appear in five consecutive movies that earned more than $100 million in the US, with his roles in A Few Good Men, The Firm, Interview with the Vampire, Mission: Impossible and Jerry Maguire .
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7. He was almost *Iron Man*.
Instead of Tony Stark being played by Robert Downey Jr., Marvel Universe almost cast Tom Cruise!
However, Tom turned down the role, and it’s probably a good thing he did because Robert did an amazing job with it!
8. He doesn’t want to be turned into an action figure.
While Tom has a history of partaking in action films, he isn’t crazy about toy companies or video game companies turning his likeness into a doll or character.
So, you can expect not to see his Mission Impossible character turned into a video game character or action figure anytime soon!
9. He prefers to workout outside instead of at a gym.
He told Men’s Health that instead of going to a gym, he prefers to use the great outdoors as his own, personal jungle-gym.
“Sea-kayaking, caving… fencing, treadmill, weights… rock-climbing, hiking… I jog… I do so many different activities,” he said .
10. He can hold his breath for a crazily long time.
While filming Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation , Tom was able to hold his breath underwater for a total of six minutes.
I can’t even hold my breath for one minute?
“I have done a lot of underwater sequences,” he explained in an interview with *USA Today*.
“But we wanted to create a suspense underwater sequence without cuts. So doing that sequence was really interesting,”
11. Disney modeled *Aladdin* after Tom Cruise.
Believe it or not, Disney actually borrowed some of Tom’s facial features when they were building the beloved character, Aladdin , in an attempt to make his character more likable.
I guess it worked!
12. He divorced all three of his former wives when they turned 33 years old.
While this might be a total coincidence, it’s definitely a bit strange!
He split from all three of his ex-wives, Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes, when they were 33 years old.
13. He has a day named after him in Japan.
You know you’re a true star if you’re big in Japan, amirite?
In Japan, October 10th is what is known as Tom Cruise Day .
