Unmasking the Real Tom Cruise

Hollywood's most bankable actor is also its most secretive. Us reveals how - and why -the biggest movie star on earth keeps his life so private

- by ISABEL MOHAN

For four decades, Tom Cruise has been working hard on our screens: sprinting across vast landscapes, leaping between rooftops and dodging explosions with the frenetic energy and dazzling grin that have become his trademark. But beyond the death-defying stunts and age-defying bone structure lies an enigmatic figure. Some call him the last true movie star. Others think he's kind of creepy. Ultimately, at 62, he's a man on a mission: to make sure his personal life never overshadows his Hollywood legacy, and so far, he's succeeding.

Behind the smile that first turned Cruise into a heartthrob in the 1980s via hits like The Color of Money (1986) and Cocktail (1988) — and remains glued to his face now in his midlife action-hero era — who is he really? What are his relationships like? Is Scientology still a huge part of his life? We spoke to experts and insiders to get a better sense of Tom Cruise, the human being — wondering along the way if we'd taken on an impossible mission of our own.

Early Days

Cruise was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1962, but his family moved around a lot, with the young Cruise attending 15 different schools. He's said that Hollywood's most bankable actor is also its most secretive. Us reveals how — and why — the biggest movie star on earth keeps his life so private by ISABEL MOHAN his father, Tom Sr., who died in 1984, was abusive and a “merchant of chaos” — which could be why the actor was drawn to religion at a young age. He even considered becoming a Catholic priest. “Tom was instantly hooked,” Father Ric Schneider told the New York Daily News about the superstar’s brief period at St. Francis Seminary School in Cincinnati. “I think he wanted a good education. With his parents going through a divorce, it was tough on him; that’s maybe one of the reasons why he came here.”