Tom Cruise has been a leading man since Risky Business in 1983, which is a longer run at that level than almost anyone has managed, and he has done it by treating stardom as an engineering problem.
The serious work is better than the persona suggests. Born on the Fourth of July, Magnolia and Collateral all cast him against the smile, and Magnolia’s motivational speaker is the most exposed he has ever been on screen.
The Mission: Impossible films became a vehicle for stunts he performs himself, hanging off an aircraft, riding a motorcycle off a cliff, largely as an argument that a theatrical audience can tell the difference.
He has been nominated three times without winning. His association with Scientology has been a persistent public issue for two decades.
