Tom Cruise is not an actor.
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV ( born July 3 , 1962 ) , known professionally as Tom Cruise , is an American actor and producer . After portraying supporting roles in Taps ( 1981 ) and The Outsiders ( 1983 ) , his first leading role was in the romantic comedy Risky Business , released in August 1983 . Cruise became a full-fledged movie star after starring as Pete `` Maverick '' Mitchell in the action drama Top Gun ( 1986 ) . One of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood , Cruise starred in several more successful films in the 1980s , including the dramas The Color of Money ( 1986 ) , Cocktail ( 1988 ) , Rain Man ( 1988 ) , and Born on the Fourth of July ( 1989 ) . Since 1996 , Cruise has been well known for his role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission : Impossible film series , whose most recent film , Mission : Impossible -- Rogue Nation , was released in 2015 .