Dsylexic Superstar

" Here's how I lived my life, I've never been late to set. I make films I believe in. I feel privileged to be able to do what I love."- Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York. After developing an interest in acting during high school, he rocketed to fame with his star turns in Risky Business and Top Gun. Cruise later earned acclaim for his work in the hit film Jerry Maguire and the Mission: Impossible franchise. He also was targeted by the tabloids for his marriages to actresses Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes.

Breaking into Acting

Cruise set a 10-year deadline for himself in which to build an acting career. He left school and moved to New York, struggling through audition after audition before landing an appearance in 1981's Endless Love, starring Brooke Shields. Around this same time, he snagged a small role in the military school drama Taps (1981), co-starring Sean Penn.

His role in Taps was upgraded after director Harold Becker saw Cruise's potential, and his performance caught the attention of a number of critics and filmmakers. In 1983, Cruise appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders, which also starred Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon and Rob Lowe—all prominent members of a group of young actors the entertainment press dubbed the "Brat Pack." The film was not well received, but it allowed Cruise to work with an acclaimed director in a high-profile project.

Being Dyslexix

No one who has seen Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, The Last Samurai, or Mission Impossible would believe that Tom Cruise struggles with reading. He always seems to deliver his lines flawlessly.

Cruise spent his childhood trying to hide his dyslexia from his peers. Diagnosed at the age of seven, Cruise describes his younger self as a "functional illiterate". He could barely read in high school or through his earliest roles. Cruise got his first big acting job at the age of 19. As he started to embrace his love of acting, Cruise realized that his inability to read would hold him back if he didn’t work hard at it.

He eventually adopted L. Ron Hubbard’s learning method of "Study Technology," which helped him develop his reading and study habits. "I had to train myself to focus my attention. I became very visual and learned how to create mental images in order to comprehend what I read," said Cruise. Cruise refused to let his dyslexia stand in the way of his acting career.

Hollywood's Leading Man

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men. The film grossed more than $15 million its first weekend, and earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. He continued to demonstrate his chops as a leading man with The Firm (1993) and Interview with a Vampire (1994), which co-starred Brad Pitt.

Next, Cruise hit the big screen with two huge hits—the $64 million blockbuster Mission: Impossible (1996), which the star also produced, and the highly acclaimed Jerry McGuire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe. For the latter, Cruise earned a second Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe for Best Actor.

Cruise and Kidman spent much of 1997 and 1998 in England shooting Eyes Wide Shut, an erotic thriller that would be director Stanley Kubrick's final film. The movie came out in the summer of 1999 to mixed reviews, but that year Cruise enjoyed greater success with the release of Magnolia. His performance as a self-confident sex guru in the ensemble film earned him another Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Cruise then starred in the long-awaited smash hit Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000, alongside Anthony Hopkins, Thandie Newton and Ving Rhames. In 2002, he starred in Vanilla Sky, his second collaboration with Crowe, as well as Stephen Spielberg's Minority Report. The following year, Cruise traveled to Australia to shoot the $100 million war epic The Last Samurai, which earned him another Golden Globe nomination.